whats your company's policy on feeder trips?

[kooman]

What is everyones company policy on feeder trips, does everyone patrol the circuit after a 3 shot or do some places "try it" once first?

[Pootnaigle]

Ummmmmmmmm Once it locks out its kinda pointless to shoot it before patrolling it

[reppy007]

Here you scramble that way,dispatching will direct you to a switch,in most cases there might be 2 or 3 guys involved......at night if its been off awhile,you can request them to heat it up,thats when you have a good place to observe....most wont ask though.But to answer your question,yes they will sometimes try it,mostly if there is a storm passing by,and have dozens more locked out.........I really wouldnt want to be at the trouble board when a good storm blows in.....I can imagine the confusion.

[kooman]

Ummmmmmmmm Once it locks out its kinda pointless to shoot it before patrolling it

I simply asked for your company's policy, i never asked for a smart ass answer.

[Pootnaigle]

I simply asked for your company's policy, i never asked for a smart ass answer.

Nor did I give one. Its kinda obvious at that point the fault isnt gonna clear itself. shooting it again risks damage to the wire,starting a fire, or injury to the public.I would think every company would understand that and the legal ramifications if they were found negligent.

[reppy007]

Nor did I give one. Its kinda obvious at that point the fault isnt gonna clear itself. shooting it again risks damage to the wire,starting a fire, or injury to the public.I would think every company would understand that and the legal ramifications if they were found negligent.

That is true poot,although they still do it....in a court of law a jury would spank a wee wee pretty stiff if they knew the facts,and the public was hurt in any way.........we had a case here ,but it was behind a fuse after a storm....a friend of mine refused a linefuse ,burning up a house.....but that was due to his wiring going bad cause of a tree falling on his drops and screwing up the meter/breaker box......anyway when they energize a circuit and if someone gets hurt ,a supervisor isnt going to say he told them to heat it up....he would just about lose it all,fired is the correct word

[thrasher]

When I started in the business in the late 70's it was common to try a fuse one time without patrolling, especially after a lightning storm. However after welding a 6 ACWC copper line to a car on blocks in a consumers driveway and setting a small fire in the woods, there was a policy change. Took awhile to really break the old habits but everyone here is going to eyeball the wire or the fault indicators (where it crosses a swamp) before they try a line nowadays.

[duckhunter]

Too many negatives are possible.

[kooman]

the reason i ask is because we have allways ran the line to look for the problem before trying it, now we have some newer managment that doest think it is necessary to do so, he claims that alot of utilities will try it once first and i just cant go along with that so i wanted to hear about these companies first hand, but i a pretty sure they are hare to find.

[Pootnaigle]

Ummmmmmmm your "newer management" wont be around long with that attitude.I would even help him out the door with a little conversation with your Safety dept. I wont go so far as to say it never happens , But there should be some extenuating circumstances before its even considered.I would ask him what his response to me was if I just took a shot in the dark without a clue what would happen and it turned out bad.I suspect he would agree that it would be irresponsible on my part.And if that bad included a personal injury or loss I suspect he would be the first in line to wish me well in my future endeavors wherever they mite be.

[duckhunter]

If you have a safety committee, have them discuss it. I'm not sure how anyone can come up with any justification for doing anything but patrolling first.

Ask what the company's insurance company says about such a practice. The liability of not patrolling is huge.

[reppy007]

If the circuit locks-out,usually it already has tried to to come back on with the relays at the sub,two more times after the initial fault,so I do understand a policy that has its people patroling after that......you know theres a fault,weather its been cleared is anyones guess.....Ive never heard of a case where a company has been determined negligent,while heating up the circuit,but Im sure it has happened,or will happen.

[Koga]

U have no idea why it locked out ,whats down, or who maybe on the end playin with it when ya come hot. Dont wanna even think of the possibilities!