Fuse or bullet

[mack10]

Afternoon Gentlemen and Ladies
I am looking for information and examples of incidents involving fuse components being ejected from fuse barrels. If you have any to share, feel free to email me at alsullins@gmail.com
At some locations around the nation, I am hearing of some rather unusual issues involving fuse components.

[loodvig]

And you are............................................... ...........................?

[shaun]

Afternoon Gentlemen and Ladies
I am looking for information and examples of incidents involving fuse components being ejected from fuse barrels.

I thought that's what they were supposed to do?

[Squizzy]

Drop out fuses have been blamed for starting a few bush fires over here, the utility is now using sparkless type fuse units in fire prone areas is this the problem you want to look at....???

[CHICAGO HAND.]

I thought that's what they were supposed to do?


FUNNY, THATS WHAT MANAGEMENT TELLS US ABOUT THE ARRESTORS.

AND THEY DONT SEE A PROBLEM WITH GUYS PUTTING THEM ON WITH RUBBER GLOVES.

[mack10]

Squizzy, not exactly. Just think if a blown barrel can cause a fire from 35 ft or greater, how is it doing that?

Shaun, no it is not designed to propel a projectile out the end of the barrel but from time to time it happens.

The issue is; what happens when you close in on a barrel and your good friend who is assisting you is on the ground and a projectile from the barrel hits him or her in shoulder from 40ft up. Where are the issues when closing a line switch as far as personal safety besides stay clear of the primary?
Where should you be when closing a barrel?

[Stick-it]

I make the lowest step app stand either directly under the door i am closing or under the phase i am energizing. That way he can catch whatever is going to hit the ground. Afterall, you wouldn't want to start a fire.

[Koga]

least make em wear thier rubber gloves when catching the phase or what ever else hits the ground ! Also have one of the other guys stand by with the fire extinguisher just in case he misses.:D
Chicago, please tell me your kidding about putting them on line by hand ??

Koga

[CHICAGO HAND.]

Not Kidding, Another Issue With No Support From Local 15.
Management Say's It Is A Safe Practice So Local 15 Is Rolling Over To Get Warm Next To Management.

[Pootnaigle]

Chicago hand
If you guys are energizing Litenining arrestors by hand you are either crazy or just plain ignorant. These things are nothing more than bombs if you happen to get a bad one.And if your local union wont back you on this I would hafta say a brand new BA is necessary. The polymer arrestors are bad enough from a flash standpoint but Porceline is a bomb.I would advise using a stick to energize em or energize em with a cutout from the ground, The current trend is to place arrestors as close as possible to the equippment being protected which usually puts em behind a fuse. On anything else they should only be energized with a stick and from a distance.

[scammy]

porcilian if a friggan bomb,,,,just had one go off on me in the last storm,,closed a 140 fuse and down range was a wye delta bank it went off with the force of a claymore mine ,,I was surprised that the crossarm was still there,,,,if a man were next to it ,,he would have bleed to death before resque,,there was not a piece of it bigger than a quarter,,after we went on top of the building to see why thier ac was not working ,,pieces as far as you could walk,,,always close from the ground if you can ,,if you cant ,,use a 20 ft stick,,and if you really have to,,,,, tap on with a shotgun ,, and always wear your ppe,,,,,,,,,,,,,be carefull brothers ,,,this is no trivial matter,,,,scammy

[CPOPE]

Squizzy, not exactly. Just think if a blown barrel can cause a fire from 35 ft or greater, how is it doing that?

Shaun, no it is not designed to propel a projectile out the end of the barrel but from time to time it happens.

The issue is; what happens when you close in on a barrel and your good friend who is assisting you is on the ground and a projectile from the barrel hits him or her in shoulder from 40ft up. Where are the issues when closing a line switch as far as personal safety besides stay clear of the primary?
Where should you be when closing a barrel?

MACK,

Where you gettin your info from? You are just plain wrong or have never seen a cutout operate. They are essentially a single vented cannon expelling the molten fuse link cardboard and metal with the force of up to 10,000 amperes fault current.

Take a look at the operating instructions:
http://www.sandc.com/edocs_pdfs/EDOC_001342.pdf

Hot gases and fuse link particles can be expelled at high velocity during interruption. When closing a fuse cutout, all personnel should be positioned well clear of its exhaust.

The older Dual Vented expendable cap fuse cutouts were even scaryer than the single vented. The cap would blow off sending a quarter size peice of metal hundreads of yards in the air. After the fuse blew you would wait to hear the cap land. It would come down with the force of dropping it off of a sixty story building. Dented quite a few cars and broke plenty of windsheilds. I'm glad about the only ones used today are the single vented style.

[mack10]

CPOPE, you are right, but the key word was by design. As we know most things don't function as the designer wanted it to, due to a number of factors.
You are also right on the expendable cap type of barrel.
The fuse barrel combination is suppose to extinguish the arc
and expend the excess gases and fiber glass from the barrel.
If it is a low amp fault, by design the aux tube of the fuse should be
able to handle it. If it is a high amp fault the aux tube along with the
barrel liner extinguishes the arc.
Did you read the section on checking your fuse barrel for excessive ware
before refusing?
Glade you did some research.

How can we as lineman protect our self and the general public when closing in on line switches knowing what kind of potential issues?

[rat1369]

anytime ya'll close any fuse there's a chance something will blow up. Whether the fuse or the entire cutout. Plenty of new doors I've thrown in have failed, as I'm sure has happened to most of you. In regard to arrestors, the companies I have worked for have all required putting them on with sticks. Whereever this is not the case, the men need to all refuse to do it and get the owner of their company off his fat ass and do it himself.

[scammy]

what rat said,,scammy

[KyLineman]

we had a guy refusing a cutout, and was strunk by the fuse element, when it blow back on him. It hit him in the chest, when he felt it hit him, he found a small amount of blood and just wiped it off, thinking nothing more about it. Later that night his wife had to call for an ambulance, he had, had a stroke, they done exploratory surgery and found the fuse element near his heart causing the stroke. I will see if I can find the accident report on it this week.

[Genoin NW]

Hey Mack...
In the past 30 years I have seen fuse barrels do just about everything but what they are supposed to do. I wear a scar on my right bicep from a fuse barrel that let go while I was on the end of a 10foot switch stick. Lots of velocity! The situation was: I just closed in on a long run of underground primary... We had just made repairs on a "dig-in" and were energizing. Little did we know that the contractor that dug into it had done so in another location and buried it without telling anyone. The fuse held for about 15 seconds... just when I relaxed and started heading down the pole when it let go. This was a 100 amp fuse! Scared the shit out of me! Part of the barrel went into my right bicep through a sweatshirt and long sleeve shirt.
I have seen grass fires caued by the hot metal of the fuse, I have seen pole fires caused by the same, and saw a convertible car top destroyed by a fuse. The function of the barrel is to expel the energy in a controlled way and direct it through the barrel. These barrels are made of fiberglass composite in many layers to absorb the outward energy and cause it to go down the barrel much like a gun. If this barrel is under repeated fuse failures the barrel weakens and ultimately fails. Even new barrels will fail.
Note: If you are under it or anything is under it... I will cause damage!
Our linemen wear ear protecton, glasses, gloves, clothing and use long sticks and try to aim our cutouts away from from anything when installed.

Arrestors??? That's another story that I have experience with.

I hope that helps

[PA BEN]

Never had it happen to me. But I do know it happens. At my utility when we close a cutout, eather from the pole or on the ground, you don't place yourself under the door. And we have ground personal not stand under the door. Just a safe practice.;)

[Patriot]

QUOTE: AND THEY DONT SEE A PROBLEM WITH GUYS PUTTING THEM ON WITH RUBBER GLOVES. QUOTE:

Suicide or you don't care about your apendages!


As for fuse doors and injuries. Since expulsion caps have gone away I have seen more and more fuse parts being blown down and onto people. Good reason to use a long stick.

Years ago, in Montana, a truckee was sitting on the turret seat, outside of a substation, near the fence, they were using the digger truck to lift out a B/O recloser, while a journeyman replaced a by pass fuse and it blew, from a line fault, blowing pieces of the fuse into the truckees leg. Nothing life threatining, but as far as I know they never removed the fragments!