ECN Forum Forums Photo Discussion Forums Photos for General Discussion Interesting Transformer Vault

It wouldn't fly here.It would stay underwater
....Where was this located?

High Pucker Factor and then some. Is this located in the US?

Coming across something like that would give me a heart attack…unless it was one of those “11-year temporaries.”

In the first two frames, could that possibly be NM-B or SEU sagged across the ground into the pit?




[This message has been edited by Bjarney (edited 11-12-2002).]

This must be a Halloween spoof from those hilarious, always joking “Call Before You Dig” guys.

{If you phone in the first 48 hours, you win a free clown nose and a pack of those illegal-even-in-Louisiana fire crackers.}




[This message has been edited by Bjarney (edited 11-12-2002).]

That is the rebuild.

Here is what it replaced. ;-(




[This message has been edited by Bjarney (edited 11-12-2002).]

The piece of 12/3 UF did not enter the pit. It was coming out of the house going to a garden shed.
The transformer from what I understand was there for quite sometime. Thank goodness it is finally be eliminated. It was a horrific site to say the least.

Kinda wish i had my own transformer in my backyard, lol, It could actually increase the home's value, sell it to someone that intends to bypass the meter for homegrow

Based on primary bushing height--looks like roughly 7200V ø-grd.

How much EMF radiation do you get from living that close to one of those things?

Just my luck trying to slide the metal cover off and one corner “dips” into the pit. {A perfect Monday.}

The disappointing thing was the power company was more concerned with making sure they had a grant of easement for the new proper pad transformer location than they were about eliminating this hazard as soon as possible.

Now what if you take Wirewrassler's sump pump from this other post....



and put it in this transformer pit? Solves the problem of flooding, thats for sure!!!

Just to be safe, plug it into a GFCI socket

[This message has been edited by SvenNYC (edited 11-13-2002).]

Bjarney:
I may be all wet here, but the orignal looks like a slice of heaven compared to the rebuild. The thought of having something like this lurking in my back yard is frightening.

Kinda reminds me of my younger days when I would see something like this pit in the ground and lift up the cover to see what was inside. Did that one time and almost got bitten by a snake. This "fire in the hole" scenario is a lot more treacherous!

Mike (mamills)

[This message has been edited by mamills (edited 11-14-2002).]

Bjarney,


LOL! Pucker Factor = 100%, with greater than or equal barbeque factor


Double LOL!!!

I just love the smell of ...BZZZZZZZ... in the morning!

As to the "Upgrade" image, have seen this in Simi Valley next to the freeway. Two poles [one on each side] and each has a 4 wire Wye setup.
Primary / Secondary feeders do the same "Underground - To - Underground" thingee.

Quite the mind blower when passing at 65 + MPH for the first time! (AKA "Whaddaheckwazdat?!?!?!").
Worthy of a hometrip detour to investigate!

Scott s.e.t.

“Here” in this case is due north of Pendleton, Oregon—and yes, I did a doubletake. Fairly sure it fed a small cathodic-protection power supply for an underground steel pipeline in the area.

There is something unforgettable about the ‘grunt’ that electrical stuff makes under stress, that sometimes accompanies 60Hz arcing noises. Sorta' like the hair-raising rattling that cables make in a metal conduit when a downstream fault {or a big motor startup} shakes things up.

[In the vault photo, I can't figure out how the wood pallet helped anything.]

I would love to see what kind of shape the bottom of the transformer is in.

I wonder if the neighborhood kids used it as clever hiding spot in a game of hide and go seek.

So, what happens when the bottom rusts out and the oil leaks away until it exposes the line side windings?

It a timebomb in the literal sense!



Kinda like when one gets shot by a .22 but the bullet doesn't quite penetrate to the windings. No fireworks for a good few minutes..

Not that I've ever done anything like that... Really.

Update:

and you have a new root cellar to boot....

Where are those two black wires coming out of those grey open pipes (at the left hand side of the green box) going to?

They seem to be going into the ground. Are they just chopped-off stumps or are they actually connected to something?

Sven, I can't speak for spyder but my guess would be phone and/or cable tv lines. The power lines stub up into the x-former enclosure (obviously).

A lot of phone and cable companies require a 2" or larger conduit for an underground service.

That hi-side cable is a real peach.

The black wires exiting the conduits by the transformer are TV and Telephone wires. The respective companies could have done something to make the installation neat and workmanlike.

Doesn't this kinda make you think twice about walking over those steel vault covers???

"Doesn't this kinda make you think twice about walking over those steel vault covers???"

I don't know how you could ground a vault cover well enough for that!

That's the scariest thing I've ever seen by far. I remember when I was an apprentice, I lived in an apartment with a warehouse behind. The warehouse had open-bushing transformers sitting on the ground behind a chain-link fence. My foreman came to pick me up one day, and he shuddered at the sight of it. But at least you could see it!

Randy,
It does, if there was a half decent explosion in there, I'd be thinking of a "magic carpet" scenario.

Mike,
I printed the picture of the pole pig out and showed it to our linecrew supervisor at work.. He about blew his lid! (Electure would blow his lid if I actually wrote what he said ) I seriously can't fathom what went through the mind of a professional linecrew to think throwing this thing in a hole was a good idea... or even an "OK" idea!

Yaktx, there's a 3phase transformer bank just like the one you described out here along a main highway with 12KV primaries dipping down to metal crossarms all but maybe 10-12' above the ground. The whole setup looks maybe about 50+ years old.. The fencing is right along the back of the transformers... I'll have to go get some pics this weekend and send them in