whoops

[junkhound]

Midwest central IL wind storms, over 50% of city power out, brother who lives there expects to be out another few days.

the whoops: poco substation near brother blew and caught fire. as part of temporary power restoration, poco* installed HV xfmr on trailer in brothers back yard (just a week after he resedeed!). Power back on for a few hours, BUT, told that in the rush a ground wire was draped over a HV line, which arced when HVinsulatin failed after a few hours (rubbed thru after a few hours of additional winds?) and caught the wood power pole on fire, FD cannot put out fire till power turned off so arcing does more damage. Another big mess, so now a few days still to go to get power back.

guess moral of story is don't forget the details when doing a 'quick, temporary" power restoration task.

Brother says one kind neighbor still has gas water heater with pilot light, so has made a basement shower available for the neighborhood folks.

* I worked for the poco involved 56 years ago, name omitted to avoid association <G>

 

[don_resqcapt19]

Midwest central IL wind storms, over 50% of city power out, brother who lives there expects to be out another few days.

the whoops: poco substation near brother blew and caught fire. as part of temporary power restoration, poco* installed HV xfmr on trailer in brothers back yard (just a week after he resedeed!). Power back on for a few hours, BUT, told that in the rush a ground wire was draped over a HV line, which arced when HVinsulatin failed after a few hours (rubbed thru after a few hours of additional winds?) and caught the wood power pole on fire, FD cannot put out fire till power turned off so arcing does more damage. Another big mess, so now a few days still to go to get power back.

guess moral of story is don't forget the details when doing a 'quick, temporary" power restoration task.

Brother says one kind neighbor still has gas water heater with pilot light, so has made a basement shower available for the neighborhood folks.

* I worked for the poco involved 56 years ago, name omitted to avoid association <G>

Other than municipals and and the rural utilities, there is only one major utility in downstate Illinois

 

[Joethemechanic]

Do you ever think that the water & electricity is overblown? Too many hollywood movies where dropping an electrical device of any type into water results in everyone in the vicinity getting fried like they are in an electric chair

 

[jim dungar]

Other than municipals and and the rural utilities, there is only one major utility in downstate Illinois

Last Thursday my son lost power on the east side of Urbana. About four or five houses on his side of the street. Took over 24 hours before they gave him an estimatre of 3 more days to fix it. So, he booked a hotel for the family and power was restored about 10 minutes after he checked in.

 

[hillbilly1]

Back many years ago when the remains of a hurricane hit Atlanta, Georgia Power said it would be weeks before they got the power back on. So I was hooking up Big Orange stores to generator. As soon as I would get one hooked up, the power would come back on. Unhooked it, moved to the next one, as soon as I got it hooked up, power came back on! LOL!

 

[Joethemechanic]

Back many years ago when the remains of a hurricane hit Atlanta, Georgia Power said it would be weeks before they got the power back on. So I was hooking up Big Orange stores to generator. As soon as I would get one hooked up, the power would come back on. Unhooked it, moved to the next one, as soon as I got it hooked up, power came back on! LOL!

How big of a genset did they need? I'm thinking no refrigeration, so a 125 or a 150

 

[hillbilly1]

How big of a genset did they need? I'm thinking no refrigeration, so a 125 or a 150

They run everything, all of the hvac, displays the whole nine yards. Most of the stores already have permanent 150 to 250’s depending if they have a fire pump. Usually less than a meg. Since they have changed the lighting to LED, they have moved more lighting to generator power already present. The Blue boxes usually have 350-500’s, some have Meg’s as permanent backup power.
I haven’t seen a Walmart with a permanent generator, they have a yard with a bunch of 1-2 megs they send out to the stores when needed. They have manual (Kirk key) transferswitch set ups.

 

[Joethemechanic]

They run everything, all of the hvac, displays the whole nine yards. Most of the stores already have permanent 150 to 250’s depending if they have a fire pump. Usually less than a meg. Since they have changed the lighting to LED, they have moved more lighting to generator power already present. The Blue boxes usually have 350-500’s, some have Meg’s as permanent backup power.
I haven’t seen a Walmart with a permanent generator, they have a yard with a bunch of 1-2 megs they send out to the stores when needed. They have manual (Kirk key) transferswitch set ups.

I didn't realize they needed that much. Especially Walmart needing 1 and 2 meg sets. My buddy down in philly had a one meg set that I used to move for him. Mounted in a semitrailer. Powered by a 149 series Detroit Diesel. I never took it over a scale, but it seemed pretty heavy. It might have been a 1200RPM set, so that would be the reason it was heavy. He's been dead for over 30 years, so it's been so long I forget

I would think that a 2 meg would have to move on a 7 axle combination with an overweight permit

 

[electrofelon]

Do you ever think that the water & electricity is overblown? Too many hollywood movies where dropping an electrical device of any type into water results in everyone in the vicinity getting fried like they are in an electric chair

Definitely. The NEC is certainly guilty of it too. For example that stupid new rule that finished basements have GFCI.

 

[Joethemechanic]

Definitely. The NEC is certainly guilty of it too. For example that stupid new rule that finished basements have GFCI.

I wonder how many firemen have been electrocuted by squirting a stream of water from a distance in distribution level voltages.

 

[PaulMmn]

Last Thursday my son lost power on the east side of Urbana. About four or five houses on his side of the street. Took over 24 hours before they gave him an estimatre of 3 more days to fix it. So, he booked a hotel for the family and power was restored about 10 minutes after he checked in.

Sounds like a 'Scotty' estimate-- give a long estimate but deliver early and they'll think you're a miracle worker!

 

[junkhound]

folks in town not nice people, brother loaded a generator to his son, son was running refrigerator - refigerator stops..... WTF

looks outside and there goes his generator down the street in back of a 'backyard shopper's' truck, such wonderful people.......