Any thoughts on starting a Substation Electrician section?

[chadweasel]

I'm a Substation Electrician and I would like to see if we could start a section dedicated to that. Being my first post maybe I'm out of line here. If so I apologize.

[reppy007]

I'm a Substation Electrician and I would like to see if we could start a section dedicated to that. Being my first post maybe I'm out of line here. If so I apologize.

Can you give us some info that might concern the lineman that work on the circuits....how many seconds the circuit takes to come back hot when there is a small fault.....things that you have seen or heard about that actually happen....things that can happen which we dont know of or not told about.....even accidents that you know of in your dept....thanks.

[chadweasel]

QUOTE=reppy007;137701]Can you give us some info that might concern the lineman that work on the circuits....how many seconds the circuit takes to come back hot when there is a small fault.....things that you have seen or heard about that actually happen....things that can happen which we dont know of or not told about.....even accidents that you know of in your dept....thanks.[/QUOTE]

I will have to check on the re time on our breakers. I want to say 30 seconds 3 times until lockout but don't quote me on that. I will post back with other answers tomorrow when I'm not doing this on my phone. Thanks guys

[reppy007]

Thanks,I somehow forgot the timing on ours,been awhile.

[Pootnaigle]

Umm you cud title it " Rag squeezers R us

[reppy007]

Umm you cud title it " Rag squeezers R us

:D:D:D I was wondering why they carried lots of rags....I figured that they were just window washers looking for a highrise....kidding.

[Pootnaigle]

:D:D:D I was wondering why they carried lots of rags....I figured that they were just window washers looking for a highrise....kidding.

Ummm no they constantly sop up spilled oil from all the breakers n transforers

[reppy007]

Ummm no they constantly sop up spilled oil from all the breakers n transforers

Lots of dusting too,they carry a diddy bag just for that.

[T-Man]

Think about it, if they don't get their job right our work is for naught. We need them to get the blue dragon out on our stuff.

[Pootnaigle]

Umm I bleve everthang lectric comes with smoke sealed innit n when you let the smoke out its ruint

[chadweasel]

Can you give us some info that might concern the lineman that work on the circuits....how many seconds the circuit takes to come back hot when there is a small fault.....things that you have seen or heard about that actually happen....things that can happen which we dont know of or not told about.....even accidents that you know of in your dept....thanks.

I was wrong. The first reclose is instantaneous, then you get 2 more tries before lockout.

[chadweasel]

I can't say that I carry a rag on me but we do get in to the oil often. Climbing into a transformer or a OCB will make you stink like that oil for days.

[reppy007]

I can't say that I carry a rag on me but we do get in to the oil often. Climbing into a transformer or a OCB will make you stink like that oil for days.

I can smell it now,theres been many of times that Ive been coated with oil.......capacitor oil is the worse.....just my opinion.

[Pootnaigle]

Umm breaker operations usually are timed in cycles n since theys60 cycles inna second 10 cycles is purdy quick n i wud venture to say the norm is faster than that

[chadweasel]

Umm breaker operations usually are timed in cycles n since theys60 cycles inna second 10 cycles is purdy quick n i wud venture to say the norm is faster than that

That is not the question that I was asked. I was asked what the timing was between operations before lockout.

When we speed test a breaker I believe we are looking for 3 cycles or less.

[Gumbi]

I'm an apprentice substation electrician. Our breakers trip instantaneous, wait 30 seconds, try to close in and trip again if the fault is still present, wait 30 seconds and try again, then lock-out. Thats for distribution.... might be different for transmission.

Jeff

[reppy007]

I want to say ours was 45 seconds after the first two....then is locked out and troops are sent to have a look.

[Lineman North Florida]

30 and 45 seconds for a reclose seems awful long, on our system the first re-close is instantaneous the next is 15 seconds and then breaker lockout.

[Lineman North Florida]

I'm an apprentice substation electrician. Our breakers trip instantaneous, wait 30 seconds, try to close in and trip again if the fault is still present, wait 30 seconds and try again, then lock-out. Thats for distribution.... might be different for transmission.

Jeff Ours are set for 3 trips and 2 reclose's, if I read your post right your saying that yours are set for 4 trips and 3 reclose's, is that right?

[thrasher]

I have worked on two different systems . They both were four shots to Lockout, three recloses. Where I used to work most circuits had dead times of 2, 5, 15 seconds. Some of the commercial circuits were on instantaneous, 2, 2. Where I am now all of ours are set for dead times of 2,2,2 although we are looking at extending those times if we have a three phase recloser downline on the distribution circuit.

[chadweasel]

I think a post was deleted from this thread. What is it that I would have to do to get a Substation Electrician section in this forum? I have some questions on practices from different operating companies.

[chadweasel]

Does anyone here know about their company policy on gassing SF6 breakers while energized? The company I work for is wanting this to be common practice. From our prior training this is a big no no.

[reppy007]

Please explain this gassing of the breakers...with or without them being energized....what exactually does this do....Its new to me.

[chadweasel]

SF6 is used to extinguish the arc when the breaker trips. If the SF6 gets too low the breaker can trip on low gas. If something goes wrong while gassing the breaker energized like a fitting getting broken or something along those lines then you have a problem. The gas could be exiting at a high rate and when the breaker trips there could not be enough SF6 to extinguish the arc resulting in BOOM. If you have the chance to open the breaker and the disconnects before you gas the breaker then you eliminate that problem.

[Pootnaigle]

Ummm every breaker i ever werked on hadda switch ahead of it to kill the incoming feed and if you have a loop feed system its no prollem to backfeed the breaker

[chadweasel]

Ummm every breaker i ever werked on hadda switch ahead of it to kill the incoming feed and if you have a loop feed system its no prollem to backfeed the breaker

So you guys have some sort of check valve that won't let the gas flow out while you are pushing gas in?

Your gauges need to read the pressure from the breaker. The gas has to be able to flow backwards.

Are you talking about a Dillo fitting?

[Pootnaigle]

uMM i know nothing about putting in the gas I just know it must be chesked before opening the breaker There is a lil ball inna glass tube that indicates the charge of gas in the breaker

[rob8210]

Us lineman do not gas up sf6 breakers, in fact we have very little to do with station breakers of any kind. Most places have a station department or a contractor maintain this little gems all we do is hope they work right. As for trips and recloses most places I have worked will set them up according to their desires, every place is different for whatever reason. Sf6 gas is deadly , I hope you guys are handling this crap properly.

[HiStrung]

I would love to start a substation section. Seems like a lot of substation technicians are ex-linemen. I love to talk about both worlds... they all work together anyway. I was a great lineman/climber, but now I work in substations (and miss linework) the older I get. I like talking about both!

[reppy007]

I know lots of substation guys....all good people .....and they get treated better by the company than the lineman do.....Id say laid back....good hours too.

[chadweasel]

I know lots of substation guys....all good people .....and they get treated better by the company than the lineman do.....Id say laid back....good hours too.

We aren't treated bad by my company but the linemen hands down have it better. We are still driving 1994 vehicles while the linemen get new trucks all the time. My hours are 7-3:30pm Monday-Friday. 2 or 3 times a year I have to work 2nd shift/on call. Most of our guys are laid back but we have a few nutcases also.

[reppy007]

Nutcases also??....no such a thing as a lineman nutcase.....ummm ahhhh well....might be a few....never met any....hope Clive doesnt read this.;)

[chadweasel]

Nutcases also??....no such a thing as a lineman nutcase.....ummm ahhhh well....might be a few....never met any....hope Clive doesnt read this.;)

Not saying anything about nutcase linemen. Sorry, I might have said that wrong. We have good guys and we also have nutcases.

[HiStrung]

You all seem to be interested in timing of reclosers (recloser intervals). Someone wrote theirs was up to 45 seconds. Wow! That is a long time to wait before re-energizing the line. I'm not saying that is wrong, but I personally think that is a long time. If a car hits a pole and the driver notices the arcing stops, he may begin to get out of the car. After some 45 seconds, the line will re-energize. We teach the public to stay in the car, but the reality is... some don't after the arcing goes away.
Our recloser intervals are: 2, 5, 15 and reset after 30 seconds. That means after the first trip the recloser closes in 2 seconds, after the second trip it relcoses in 5 seconds, and after the third trip the recloser waits 15 seconds to re-energize. The fourth sequence is lockout. If the fault condition goes away somewhere in the middle of all those sequences (before lockout), then the recloser will start from the beginning on the first trip after 30 seconds.
Someone asked about stuff that would help linemen. Well, I can tell you that recloser handles don't need a lot of force to close the recloser. I have seen linemen really crank on these plastic handle (I used to be one of those linemen). Fuses in a cut-out need slammed, but recloser handles don't need slammed. Some guys think the harder they crank on the handle, the more likely the recloser will stay closed. Some circuits are only designed for momentary energy. That means if you hold the handle for a long period of time, then you can actually burn-up a close coil in the recloser.

[HIVOLTS]

Can you give us some info that might concern the lineman that work on the circuits....how many seconds the circuit takes to come back hot when there is a small fault.....things that you have seen or heard about that actually happen....things that can happen which we dont know of or not told about.....even accidents that you know of in your dept....thanks.
0-15-45 are common settings for recloser times out of the sub, regardless of fault magnitude.

[HIVOLTS]

Does anyone here know about their company policy on gassing SF6 breakers while energized? The company I work for is wanting this to be common practice. From our prior training this is a big no no.
That's a big NO, NO. Manufacturers won't sanction it, (no surprise) but it can stir up contaminates that may be in the tank or admit contaminates out of untested cylinders and filling rigs. I've heard of pressure gauges not working properly and over filling causing the rupture diaphram to blow. Any of which could lead to failure, and you don't want to be around when it does.