J-BAR #18287 Posted October 30 Share Posted October 30 Our home in a typical urban neighborhood lost power for about 35 minutes this morning. We were awakened by a loud "bang" when the electricity went out. I assumed it was the transformer on the pole in our backyard blowing out, and figured the power would be off for several hours before the transformer could be repaired or replaced. But power was restored quickly and no utilities workers came to our house. So my questions are Can a transformer make a "bang" and be repaired remotely? Or did the bang come from some other transformer nearby? I was surprised that power was restored so quickly. Could a utilities crew working on something nearby have caused the outage? Thanks for any thoughts you have and for letting me display my ignorance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted October 30 Share Posted October 30 Usually when the power goes out around here (middle of a city) I immediately hear fire trucks and it means someone hit a pole. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eyesa Horg Posted October 30 Share Posted October 30 The bang may have been from a circuit breaker tripping. Seen it a few times where it was loud like a 10ga. magnum and all kinds of sparks! A few years ago I was walking the dog and one blew about a hundred feet from us. Fire all over the place at the base of the pole! I managed to run home, get a shovel to beat the fire back and keep it from the pine forest right next to it. The FD showed up as I got it out. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cactus Jack Calder Posted October 30 Share Posted October 30 (edited) The local power distribution lines are usually laid out with a main trunk and spur lines feeding side streets or in your case backyard lines. To minimize outages to the entire circuit the side spurs are often fed through a fuse. Think of you breaker panel, there is a main breaker that would disconnect the entire house and individual breakers that feed separate circuits. If you have an issue in your bedroom, you don’t want it to shutdown your refrigerator. In addition to side spurs there may be an automated switch that will divide the main trunk line in half. This way if the fault is past the mid point only half the circuit need remain out of service until crews can repair the problem. Both the fuses and the automated switching devices can make loud noises when they interrupt load. The heavier the load the louder the noise, in most cases. Remember a short circuit is a strong contact to ground and the current will be high, a heaven HEAVY load. CJ Edited October 31 by Cactus Jack Calder OTTO STRIKES again. Even in the comments 1 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Original Lumpy Gritz Posted October 30 Share Posted October 30 No, the power was rerouted. Suggest you have all electrical items on surge protectors. 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted October 30 Share Posted October 30 (edited) 53 minutes ago, The Original Lumpy Gritz said: No, the power was rerouted. Suggest you have all electrical items on surge protectors. My computer, router and modem are in UPS. )))) and at least three screens… Edited October 30 by Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-BAR #18287 Posted October 30 Author Share Posted October 30 1 hour ago, The Original Lumpy Gritz said: No, the power was rerouted. Suggest you have all electrical items on surge protectors. The important things are. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdeacon Joe Posted October 30 Share Posted October 30 Timely. Our power went out yesterday about 1545. Entire mobile home park was out because of a squirrel. We heard the pop. I checked our breakers, fine. Checked PG&E for outages, and reported it. Checked the FB page for our park, read about the squirrel. Power was back on in about an hour. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted October 30 Share Posted October 30 Crows love instaburnt squirrel. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chickasaw Bill SASS #70001 Posted October 30 Share Posted October 30 I lose power , due to suicidal tree rats 3+ times per year , on average this year they have been over achievers , 6 so far this year CB electro fried tree rat anyone ? 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Riot Posted October 30 Share Posted October 30 3 hours ago, Subdeacon Joe said: Timely. Our power went out yesterday about 1545. Entire mobile home park was out because of a squirrel. We heard the pop. I checked our breakers, fine. Checked PG&E for outages, and reported it. Checked the FB page for our park, read about the squirrel. Power was back on in about an hour. We had a raccoon take out the overhead catenary power for the south end of our light rail line in Charlotte back in ‘08. He somehow got into the power substation and took out the 12,500 volt feed. It turned out that an external panel was loose and that’s how the raccoon got in. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cactus Jack Calder Posted October 30 Share Posted October 30 I worked for 15 years as an Engineer in an Electric Utility. This utility served a community of high value homes. The residents of this community were very concerned that the luxurious trees be preserved in all their glory. This made tree trimming to maintain adequate clearance for the electric lines difficult at best. One logical result of this verdant tree cover was a high density of squirrels. The second logical result was a higher than normal level of outages to the electric system due to squirrel contacts. The fuzzy little tree rats liked to chew on the insulation of the transformer terminals. Naturally the local human residents were annoyed by the increased number of outages. Some went so far as to contact the State Board of Utilities and claim that the company was deliberately failing to do proper maintenance of the system. But, don’t trim those trees and stop trying to blame the poor innocent squirrels for the companies incompetence. As a result of this situation it became standard practice in the Line Department to gather all damaged equipment and any culprits involved in an outage for analysis. The Dispatch Radio Room actually had to get a freezer to store the electro fried squirrels until they could be authenticated as the culprits. This went on for several years until enough evidence accumulated that the State Board of Utilities issued an ultimatum to the town to stop interfering with the tree trimming maintenance by the company. End of story? NOPE!! The word got passed down to the line crews to stop collecting squirrels. Most of the crews heard and complied. Then there was a really big outage with a mid circuit gang operated air break switch (GOAB) being totally destroyed. The crew picked up all the broken porcelain and metal operating parts, boxed them up and sent them to the Engineering Department for analysis. This was standard practice as GOAB’s were expensive pieces of equipment and there had been a rash of failures. Analysis of failed equipment was the province of the Standards Engineer. The Standards Engineer was away on vacation at the time, so the box of broken parts was stowed under his desk for his attention when he returned. After a few days the other Engineers, me being one, began to notice this slightly unpleasant odor in the office. The second or third day it was located as coming from the Standards Engineer’s office. As a friend of his, the investigation of the source of the smell fell to me. Thanks Pal! Anyway as you might have surmised, the box containing the broken parts also contained one electro fried squirrel well past his use by date. An emergency order went out over the radio dispatch for everyone to “STOP COLLECTING SQUIRRELS.” I’m pretty sure there were a lot of catcalls on the radio net that day. CJ 1 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kloehr Posted October 30 Share Posted October 30 Had once where a squirrel got across the lines. A loud crack, a bright flash, a few flaming bits of fur floating to the ground. A cloud of smoke drifted off. Called it in. Crews turned the breaker back on in less than a 1/2 hour. Just happened to be in the back yard looking that way at the right moment. A bit sad. A few months later, a tree crew came through and cleaned up the entire neighborhood. I asked them cut deep and they did, spent five days dealing with a bunch of pine trees, one of them so full of dead branches and needles that it took a day just to get fully up in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texas Lizard Posted October 30 Share Posted October 30 4 hours ago, Subdeacon Joe said: Timely. Our power went out yesterday about 1545. Entire mobile home park was out because of a squirrel. We heard the pop. I checked our breakers, fine. Checked PG&E for outages, and reported it. Checked the FB page for our park, read about the squirrel. Power was back on in about an hour. How is the squirrel??? Fried..... Texas Lizard 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cypress Sun Posted October 30 Share Posted October 30 While sitting at a stop light many years ago, I witnessed a squirrel get fried on some power lines. The squirrel somehow clenched his front claws on the power line and hung there for many months. Slowly, over time, part of him would disappear until only its front legs hung there. After a while, those disappeared also. Over my 45 years as a electrician, I repaired/replaced literally hundreds of rodent damaged wiring/items over those years. Seeing the disappearing squirrel skeleton almost every day for six months didn't bother me at all. It's unbelievable how much damage they can cause....little bastards. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sedalia Dave Posted October 30 Share Posted October 30 A few places here have the power poles wrapped with what appears to be a slick plastic sleeve. It looks to be 3 or 4 feet tall and is located about 2/3rds the way up the pole. I assume it is some sort of anti climb device to keep animals from climbing the poles and causing problems. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted October 30 Share Posted October 30 Unitil attributes 11% of their outages to squirrels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sedalia Dave Posted October 30 Share Posted October 30 (edited) Many years ago my neighbor was a lineman. One day were were visiting and the conversation got around to power outages. He said that the weirdest one he ever encountered goes as follows. One particular circuit was recording a lot of arc faults. Some days the system cleared and reset its self and other days the system would trip and have to be manually reset. This had been going on for several months. The problem always occurred mid to late afternoon, Monday through Friday and never on the weekends. Lots of manpower and resources were being expended on the system with no success. Then one day he was headed back to the office and had to wait for a school bus as it dropped off several kids. While he was waiting he saw a the kid that had gotten off at the previous house, stop under the power line, pick up something and toss it into the air. Curious he drove a little closer to see what the kid was doing. As he watched the kid had a bicycle rim and was throwing it up into the air trying to hit the power lines. After several throws the rim hit the lines and created a big arc. Satisfied with the show, the kid continued to walk down the drive and disappeared into a farm house. He called his supervisor and the supervisor called the manager and they all met at farm house together. Turned out the house was where his grandparents lived and when the kids parents wouldn't be home, he would get off the bus at grandma's house and wait for his parents. To alleviate boredom, he discovered that throwing the rim up into the lines made for a great light show. Once his parents and grandparents found out what the kid was doing the mysterious arc faults and power outages ceased. He figured the kid got a good paddling but couldn't say for sure. Edited October 30 by Sedalia Dave 3 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rip Snorter Posted October 30 Share Posted October 30 I suppose it is priorities and where you live. I live out in the country, have an excellent power co op and few tree rats because few trees with leaves. On the relatively rare occasions when my power goes out, 15 seconds later the generator kicks in. I have another dual fuel in the machine building for worst case. I would no more be without a generator than I would be without a gun. A wonderful feeling when you have power of your own. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abilene Slim SASS 81783 Posted October 30 Share Posted October 30 Years ago we had a power outage that just affected 4 houses. I called it in and a crew came out. I pointed out the pole that connected our houses. The crewman spent the next several minutes looking around the base of pole. I asked what he was doing, since he never looked up at the transformer. He said, “I’m looking for the squirrel.” Then he said, “Got it.” Sure enough, in the pile of leaves was just a fried tail standing straight up like a Wile E Coyote cartoon when he’d been electrocuted. 😁 2 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdeacon Joe Posted October 30 Share Posted October 30 1 hour ago, Texas Lizard said: How is the squirrel??? Fried..... Texas Lizard Yep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-BAR #18287 Posted October 30 Author Share Posted October 30 I called our City Utilities office this afternoon, thanked them for restoring power so quickly, and asked what caused it. Are any of you surprised he said, "Squirrel." 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 Posted October 31 Share Posted October 31 AHHH, the cute little tree rats. If they aren't shorting the hydro lines, they find a way into someone's attic and make a nest: Defecating, urinating, having litters and dying in the insulation, as a lady in my old neighbourhood discovered. Very $$$$$$$ having it remedied. Hantavirus etc. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cactus Jack Calder Posted October 31 Share Posted October 31 Squirrels are not the only rats that cause outages to electric systems. Early in my working life I was a ground hand on a line crew for another electric utility. One area this company served was a small city with an underground distribution system in the heart of down town. I was working in the stores warehouse gathering supplies for the line truck, when we heard that the entire down town district was out. There had been an explosion that blew the covers off of every electric manhole on Main Street. They said the manhole covers were flipping through the air like tiddlywinks. Several cars were damaged by the tiddlywinks, but no on was seriously injured. It turns out that rats, real mouse type rats, dearly loved the taste of hand wrapped tape splice insulation. They had eaten so much of the tape that when one finally failed the surge in current blew several nearly failed splices up and down the street. Downtown was out for more than a week as the company scrambled to get enough new cable and splices to rebuild the entire network. They upgraded from oil impregnated paper wrapped cables to thermoset plastic insulated cables and pre-molded splices. For those who wonder at the word “thermoset”. Most plastics become soft when heated, but there is a class of plastics that set up when heat is applied. Crosslink Polly-Etheline (sp?) is one type of thermoset plastic that has been used as insulation for underground cables. CJ 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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