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So THAT'S why power companies are supposed to trim trees

submitted by SFOGuy

6 years 9 months 3 weeks ago

Oh boy--so, this is why power companies (Pacific Gas and Electric---the home company for the California wild fires last fall--I'm looking at you) are supposed to keep trees trimmed back from power lines.

I don't understand why power transmissions lines don't have the equivalent of GCI circuit breakers that cut power more quickly and isolate shorts...

9 Comments

ant

*wtf *fire *nature

Adding video to channels (Fire, Nature, Wtf) - requested by ant.

Power lines are protected by breakers, although the max current is obviously very high compared to the household sort. Apparently some power companies have installed "reclosers", which attempt automatically to close breakers that have tripped, restoring power. These have been implicated in the recent California fires:

http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Power-line-restart-device-implicated-in-past-12324764.php

Sounds totally nuts, but customers do hate to lose power.

greatgooglymoogly says...

The automatic reclosers are so power can be restored quickly if a stick or debris hits the lines and can be quickly destroyed by the electrical arc. This saves a trip by a lineman to inspect the area before restoring power.

Thank you for that explanation!

Power lines are protected by breakers, although the max current is obviously very high compared to the household sort. Apparently some power companies have installed "reclosers", which attempt automatically to close breakers that have tripped, restoring power. These have been implicated in the recent California fires:

http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Power-line-restart-device-implicated-in-past-12324764.php

Sounds totally nuts, but customers do hate to lose power.

And thanks for your elaboration---I didn't know.
Not sure how you solve the engineering problem ---no one likes to lose power and sticks hit lines but...
Maybe there needs to be some sort of clever answer?

greatgooglymooglysaid:

The automatic reclosers are so power can be restored quickly if a stick or debris hits the lines and can be quickly destroyed by the electrical arc. This saves a trip by a lineman to inspect the area before restoring power.

00Scud00 jokingly says...

Billy! Stop flicking the goddamn light switch!

Interesting how there is a jacob's ladder effect. It appears the main arc is branch-branch and the arc rises in the smoky plasma, as with a jacob's ladder.

Throw the switch! It's alive!

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