Scotty

Greetings. I was going to make some of those turtle burgers but its still 31C with a humidex of 37C...I think that is 92F And 104 humidex. Sky is getting dark with clouds...storms on the way. No wind.

Had more electrical problems at work again. The one legg of the 480 coming into the building snapped the contact for one of the 400 amp fuses and then it took out a 3 phase 70 amp breaker upstairs along with some compressors and another AC unit. I just want to know the cause of all of this. I still think its the one transformer. I placed a bet with the one electrician.
When a transformer does what this one did on Saturday and then they say its still ok, I say no way. Its fried and melted. It is rated for 120 amps and just the two AC units draw 60 amps each. Add the rest of the stuff and its supposed to handle 200 amps? No wonder we are having failures there. There is probably some dirty power coming in on the main feed too...voltage spikes and drops well over 10%.

Back to the storm watch.

Might as well adjust the ph0o0 and set it up on a timer for the morning crew.

Polaraco

You're speaking my language here Scotty. I did Power distribution for 8 years at Cutler Hammer/Westinghouse.

I need to know what happened Saturday again.

I am unclear on the transformer rating and the load. But it sounds like there may be too much on one leg. Have to ran an amprobe across the legs when you are at full load.

Now The transformer is 480 to what? 208/120?

Are you saying the wire broke off the lug? If thats the case, again, there is too much on the one leg and it's over heating. Everytime you throw a load on the wire flexes and eventually fatigued. That said, you may not see a hot lug, but the heat may be there. Especially if that leg is the one that has the most load.

Without all the information, I am guessing, but as a EE, it makes sense.

Send ya my bill in the morning

Bark

Im sorry he got hurt a little but we cracked up when we read that one. This was from the Anch Daily News ""it happened Sunday afternoon on a dirt and gravel road near Fairbanks. It was raining, and the former governor had to lay the motorcycle down to avoid losing control,

I learned something from that. In my over 35 years of street bikes it never occured to me to lay the bike down to avoid losing control. In my younger years I have laid a bike down to avoid hitting big objects (like cars and trucks) and from going too fast for road conditions. At the time I kind of felt out of control but I now realize I hadn't lost control at all!
Politicians can put a good spin on anything.

Scotty

Its a 45KVA transformer. Yes 480 to 208/120.
Its only one of a few transformers. I will touch base on this when I am at work...and get more specific details. We had three incidents...last Thurs, Sat and Tues

Polaraco

has anything been added recently? I'm not talking about a coffee pot.

That's a 200 Amp Transformer 216 to be exact. There's your 10% fudge factor

ofcmarc

Evenin' All!

75* and raining........


Tuck your pant legs into your waders and it'll be alright.

Gotta love a good spin!

Friday night for me. Of course we're back to lots of OT again. I get to pull 2 days so far.

Z-MAN

Congratulations for your advancement GYSGT Madhat ! and thank you for introducing me to DTR. Have a great Navy day...

ofcmarc

Mornin' all!

3 Hours to go and I'm off duty!

Coffee is on. Fresh as it ever is in here. I left a new mug on the counter for the Janitor. Should make him feel special.

chaikwa

Oh God, another one. Welcome to the breakroom! Try not to leave a mess.




Morning.

Late.

Today is Thursday, June 30th.

On this day in 1841 - The Erie Railroad rolled out its first passenger train.

1908 - An explosion in Siberia, which knocked down trees in a 40-mile radius and struck people unconscious some 40 miles away. It was believed by some scientists to be caused by a falling fragment from a meteorite.

1915 - During World War I, the Second Battle Artois ended when the French failed to take Vimy Ridge.

1930 - France pulled its troops out of Germany’s Rhineland.

1934 - Adolf Hitler purged the **** Party by destroying the SA and bringing to power the SS in the "Night of the Long Knives."

1950 - U.S. President Harry Truman ordered U.S. troops into Korea and authorizes the draft.

1951 - On orders from Washington, General Matthew Ridgeway broadcasts that the United Nations was willing to discuss an armistice with North Korea.

1953 - The first Corvette rolled off the Chevrolet assembly line in Flint, MI. It sold for $3,250.

1957 - The American occupation headquarters in Japan was dissolved.

1958 - The U.S. Congress passed a law authorizing the admission of Alaska as the 49th state in the Union.

1971 - The Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 11 returned to Earth. The three cosmonauts were found dead inside.

1971 - The 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified when Ohio became the 38th state to approve it. The amendment lowered the minimum voting age to 18.

1998 - Officials confirmed that the remains of a Vietnam War serviceman buried in the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery were identified as those of Air Force pilot Michael J. Blassie.

2000 - U.S. President Clinton signed the E-Signature bill to give the same legal validity to an electronic signature as a signature in pen and ink.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Everybody's tongue print is as unique as their finger print.

Scotty

I had to shut down the puter last night. We got hit with 60 mph plow winds and power outages. Oh yeah...more rain too.

When they checked the line voltage coming in, its 460. Apparently they can step it up outside, to 480.
All I can see that is coming off of that transformer are a couple of 120 outlets and the Roof AC units...two of them that draw 60 amps each. When they had the cover off of this transformer you could see [and smell] the damage to the windings...all three were black and the windings were sagging.
Make sense?
The roof ac units are way under rated for the room they cool. Each unit has 3 compressors and usually we lose one or two on each every summer. They are at least 20 yrs old. I am not sure if its just the compressors that are drawing the 60 amps or if its the entire AC...fans, compressors etc.

I would not be surprised if the wire is not a heavy enough gauge running from the basement to the roof. I think its about 200 feet...maybe more.

When the one electrician put his meter on the wires we watched the voltage spike to 213 and then drop to 176...lots.

I am thinking that when that 400 amp fuse blew on the 3 phase power coming in, it did damage to everything down the line that was still trying to run when it tripped to single phase. That fuse blew twice. The wire going into that fuse link was so loose you could pull it out of its connector.
Temp readings at that fuse were over 280F. Now they are 86F.

Everyone keeps saying there is not enough voltage coming in and that this transformer is fine. On Saturday I was in my office above the power room when I heard a loud hum that lasted for about 3-4 seconds followed by a loud bang. About 5 minutes later it did it again.

Since the first blown fuse we have lost several compressors, fan motors, light bulbs, etc etc. I know that when stuff goes to single phase and tries to run it can get nasty.

If I find out anymore I will let you know.

Right now I am pouring bacon drippings into the pho0o pot along with some [censored] to kick it up a bit.

I love the smell of sizzling bacon in the morning.

Totallyrad

What was it screaming? Let me out of here?

They do try to spin it but this one wasn't so good.

That's the source of the "filtered" water he uses for the coffee.

Scotty, it sounds like they need to fire the maintenance guys and hire an electrician and an EE.

Morning!

Scotty

I am learning some more which for me is always nice. Sometimes I think the 'approved' contractors like to patch rather then totally repair so that they may return for more work.

dssimecek

Mornin' all,

Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.
Scotty been here, Dragon won't go near the ph00 pot. Message there somewhere.
good.
Have not had my tongue print taken yet, supposed that will be next.

Scotty looks like the bean counters will have to spend some money to bring the electrical system up to be able to handle the loads. Good luck with that. Stay safe working on that stuff.

Hot and sticky again today. FO got out of houston, don't think OK is much better.

Chaikwa hope your innards are back to normal.

Have a good un and be safe out there.

Polaraco

That's not good

The coils will brown from useage. But they shouldn't have a noticeable oder.

Now the popping, that is definitely a problem. I guess you may be right about the Xfmr being ready to pop. Wire gauge has some bearing, you have that figured out. What gauge are they using?

I'd say you made a good call. Where did this breaker pop? At the source, or at the Xfmr? You should have branch circuit protection in there. . . In the last 30 years or so, all the manufacturers were doing that. That should at least prevent fires.

Bark

Pulling OT is a good way of guaranteeing nice weather for the days you were supposed to be off.

I have a couple of good stories about printing body parts.

The simplest scientific explanation is that you have poltergeist's. They like to clog up electrical wires, burn out light bulbs, mess up your shorts and things of that nature.