Question On Cleaning Insulators On Hot Line

[borgerslineman]

I Seeking Info On Pressure Washing Insulators On A 13,200/22,840 Volt System While It Is Hot. The System Is Sheilded Neutral With All 3 Phases On 10 Ft. Arms And 25 Kv Glass. I Found A Little Info In My Handbook, But I Was Wanting To Talk To Someone Who Has Actually Done It Before. Any Input On Procedures Would Be Appreciated.

[BULLogna]

I've used this thing that shot a gritty sand like material that I was told was ground corn husk to clean ainsulators on 34kv hot. We covered the surounding conductors with hardhogs and the arm with a plastic. it went all right but the spray gun belt up a hell of a lot of static and would knock the s##t out of you through your class 2 gloves. It polished the glass real well.

[borgerslineman]

How Did You Ground Your Nozzle?

[BULLogna]

I don't remember grounding the nozzle which is probably why the static ate us up. I only used it on two poles that we couldn't have out and it might have been delta. sounds like swamprat is the guy

[BULLogna]

If your using a altec insulator washer they will provide you with manuals and probably send someone out to a safety training meeting

[Special ED]

Its the water for sure.. Some people dont realize de-mineralized water is the perfect insulator. They even used water in the tanks of some older transformers. Thats why Ice and snow storms are dangerous.. 19.9 could be hot on the ground in the snow and you wouldn't know it until its too late.

[BigClive]

Pure demineralised water does have a very high resistance, but it really doesn't take much impurity to raise its conductivity significantly. Do you keep the water in sealed containers to avoid contamination?

[Bull Dog]

When I done it the main thing was to have a fine spray so that lots of air is mixed in with the water. Air is a great insulator. We just used water right out of the tap. I've used the fireman's hose and we had a rig the company owned also. All worked fine on high voltages. We used to energize a grid at 34k and show the firemen that you could do it but we never let them touch the hose. Pole fires we would use what ever fire company was at the site. For routine cleaning we had a rig you could pull behind the truck.

[lewy]

I have never done it, do not realy want to do it.
We use these guys along with most of the province http://www.k-line.ca/section/view/?fnode=29

[barehander]

There is a lot of info here....
http://www.powerlineman.com/lforum/showthread.php?t=2225

Since this was posted, our manual has been updated. Our 500kv water resistance has been raised from 550 ohms per sq. in. low, 20000 high, to 3000 & 50000 respectively.
For Swamp, we don't use " de-mineralized" water, we use de-ionized water and as we speak, are having a de-ionizing filtration system installed at our yard for 500kv washing by Culligan. Any type water in, 50000ohms per sq in out. Pretty slick system. Will post pics when installed....
As far as Dry wash, I'm kind of an expert on that, having written the procedure for it in our Insulator Wash Manual and being the first in our company to use this system.
Hope this helps......

[borgerslineman]

This System Is In A Meat Packing Plant. The Contamination Is From Bone Meal And Lard That Is In The Air. I Believe That Hot Water Will Cut It The Best. They Tried Spraying The Glass With Silicone And It Just Made The Contamination Worse. Do Yall Have Any Ideas On Anything That We Might Try To Prolong The Time Between Cleaning. Right Now We Have To Clean The System Every 3-6 Months. We Have Been Doing It De-energised, But It Is Very Costly To Shut Down The Whole Plant And You Only Have A 4-5 Hr Window Because Of The Coolers.

[JAKE]

i could belive it being INSIDE the building the general dynamics building in san diego has open wire 4kv inside the building its pretty hairy!!

sounds like they need some of that enclosed medium voltage bussduct. i put a crap load of that in sony's mfg building its pretty neat stuff and good to 25kv

[barehander]

Any of these systems work on Dist. & Trans. voltages.....

Out of a bucket...
1255
A production washer...
1254
A helo washer...
1253
Or dry-washing
1252

[borgerslineman]

You say, this system is INSIDE a meat packing plant. Do you mean "Literally"...INSIDE a meat packing plant....Like "Under Roofs and shit"?

Or just...."Inside the Property" of a Meat packing Plant?

SORRY ABOUT THE CONFUSION I MENT THAT IT IS A CUSTOMER OWNED SYSTEM

[barehander]

Cool Picts BH.

Done all of that. EXCEPT the "Dry Wash". Can ya tell me a bit about that?
I told ya about the "Corn Cobs"...but buy your picture of "Dry Wash"...I ain't got a clue man. Hope you didn't think I was jokin about the Corn Cobs, I wasen't.

What is that? Like, Presurized hot air or somethin?

Tell me about "Dry Wash" Please.:confused:

Swamp, it's the same thing. It's a sandblaster with some air dryers on it, a non-conductive hose, and a hollow stick with a special tip. We use ground up corn cob and walnut shells to spray.....works great on really contaminated insulators that you might not want to spray water on. We also use it in Subs. after a transformer fire or explosion to clean oil off of insulators and the structures.
Yep, corn cobs........

[wtdoor67]

If by chance you reload for your rifles and other firearms you know that the more common media for your brass polishing tumbler is corn cobs or walnut hulls.