Power Outage During Storm

[Little Bill]

What exactly happens during a lightning storm that causes the power to go out but usually comes back on in a few seconds to a minute?

 

[LarryFine]

What exactly happens during a lightning storm that causes the power to go out but usually comes back on in a few seconds to a minute?

Usually, a handy-dandy programmable self-resetting device called a recloser.

 

[electrofelon]

So what makes the recloser shut off initially? Does it sense a surge?

 

[Little Bill]

Usually, a handy-dandy programmable self-resetting device called a recloser.

At a substation?

 

[Dennis Alwon]

At a substation?

I believe at the pole or transformer

 

[ActionDave]

Spark arresters (sp?) are on the power poles. Reclosers are at the substation.

 

[Dennis Alwon]

Spark arresters (sp?) are on the power poles. Reclosers are at the substation.

From Eaton https://www.eaton.com/content/dam/e...ecloser-definition-information-td280027en.pdf

Reclosers are used throughout the power distribution system,from the substation to residential utility poles. They range fromsmall reclosers (Figure 1) for use on singlephase power lines, tolarger three-phase reclosers (Figure 2) used in substations and onhigh-voltage power lines up to 38,000 volts

 

[ActionDave]

Reclosers are used throughout the power distribution system,from the substation to residential utility poles. They range fromsmall reclosers (Figure 1) for use on singlephase power lines, tolarger three-phase reclosers (Figure 2) used in substations and onhigh-voltage power lines up to 38,000 volts

Interesting. It's the latter that I am aware of. My boss set one off one evening due to a misadventure at the municipal water treatment plant.

 

[kwired]

At a substation?

They are at substations as well as various points throughout the distribution system.

By placing them throughout the system, when a fault occurs that doesn't get cleared happens it isolates a section of the circuit rather than the entire circuit being down. Substations out here usually have one recloser per circuit leaving the substation. In rural areas the main trunk of the circuit may not have many reclosers on it, but will have one near the tap to each major branch off that main trunk.

If you only had one at the source, every time something happens the entire circuit would be down and there would be that much more line to have to investigate to find the problem.

 

[mbrooke]

What exactly happens during a lightning storm that causes the power to go out but usually comes back on in a few seconds to a minute?

Auto reclosing.


And in some cases rewiring of the system after lockout (reclose attempts made and none of them held):


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VGs7FdrSIE