ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Trouble Call From Hell

265/460?

..Yeah, thats what the old xfrmr was rated at..now we have to go in and change the primary taps on all 3 of the step-down xfrmr's in the building..they are now set at..460,and we have to change them to 480...

My question is ...where did this catastrophe start..? ..in the 4" pipe,which by the way,had about 30 gallons of water in it and the inspector said that THW isn't water resistant..isn't it tho'?? or did it begin in the CT cabinet,with the one phase grounding out and backfeeding,therefore blowing up the pots??..or was it the old xfrmr itself..??

Yes, THW is rated for underground (wet location), however, I see alot of problems with buried AL. It tends to turn into powder, causeing high resistence=heat=burnt wires. We run into this all the time. By the way, if one of my customers had no power, my guys wouldn't be going home until the lights were back on. Cheaper for the customer to pay our overtime and opening charges at the supply house than to reimburse 3 tenents for there down time.
Richard

Well, the worst is over....we tied everything in last nite, and was actually ahead of schedule...The power co. messed us up by not sending a crew on New Years Day..I watched and crossed myself as the lineman threw the switches up at the pole...We received an applause once the lights came on,and we were happy too,..happy it was finally over that is...Bad part of the saga is that some S.O.B. came and stole the wire we left for taking to the salvage yard the next day...I hope it serves them well....NOT!!!

At least he stole the salvage after the job was completed, and not your new stuff after delivery!

Glad to hear you made it through. Couple of questions. Did you have to excavate and if so how did it go? Did you finally rent a tugger to help you through the pull?Again congrats on "pulling through" (no pun intended )

[This message has been edited by elektrikguy (edited 01-04-2004).]

AR — Very Long Shot, but maybe a few calls to local scrap dealers with a head’s up/description of material/question... In NorCal, scrap dealers are wary of folks off the street with sudden ‘goldmines.’ It’s sort of a cat-and-mouse game, but law enforcement can indirectly ‘pressure’ dealers into questioning goods origins.

...
Thanx,elektrikguy,
..Yeah,we tore up the lot a bit,and repaired what we had to,..My buddy had an electric hoist/winch,whatever ya callit,and with some swearin' and fightin', we got it out...until those motherless crack-heads stole our salvage wire...burns me up,...nothing is ever safe...ya gotta watch it like a hawk....they'll steal from their own families...

Anything that is not nailed, bolted,or locked is fair game for those ______thieves and that may not be enough.

I have a question,how common was 265/460?Buying 265 volt ballasts has to be as easy as finding ZINSCO bolt on breakers.