ECN Forum Forums Photo Discussion Forums Photos for General Discussion Bad CT Cabinet

What a mess !!

Besides of wiring completely wrong, It looks like instant fireworks here, if each conduit represents a phase each.
Also its undersized for 1600 Amps anyway.

Then it's a fire hazard in on this wooden panel.
CT's supposed to be in a sealable metal enclosure.

Very poor protection on these, I think PT fuses wiring.( red orange grey ) A fault on these will evaporate the latter, there the fuses are not mounted nearby the point of supply.

No bonding either

Am I interpreting this correctly? All the cables in the first conduit are connected to the xfmr A-phase, all in the second to B-phase, and so on?

How on earth could he think that's right?




[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 01-30-2006).]

This is scary! This is what separates mechanics from electricians.

I don't even see locknuts on the bottom conduits.

If he was consistant with the color codes on the wires, it looks like he did not separate each phase in its own conduit. But each current transformer will only see a difference of source and return currents, like a giant GFCI. That would make for very low power bills And this guy does work for the POCO? (I assume that these transformers are for measuring power consumption for billing?).

Or is it that that he wired each conduit and current transformer so they see only one phase, ignoring his color codes? Then there are dead shorts between phases at the terminals in the upper parts of the picture, where the red and blue coded wires connect?

[This message has been edited by wa2ise (edited 01-30-2006).]

Larry, I see no locknuts, either, and no bushing on the 4th conduit. It was just too close to the middle conduit to thread anything onto it. Poor supervision during the initial conduit placement, I suppose.

That's the sort of thing that makes me furious -- it would have been trivial to place the conduits correctly in the first place had someone paid even a little attention. Since they didn't, it becomes impossible to make it right later. Like a bird turd hitting a snowy slope and starting an avalanche.

So, all those cables in the 5th (rightmost) conduit must be connected to the transformer neutral lug, and that's why they don't pass through the CTs on their way to shorting everything the hell together. There's just so much wrong here, it's amazing.

Well the first thing to say is the CT cabinet is ok it is open right now to take the picture. The ridged conduit coming up in the can is tied to PVC in ground all the way to the xfmr. And the xfmr is bonded correctly, and there is a grounding bar on the right of the CT cabinet that the meter ground #6 solid is going to, you just can't see it becuase of the door being open. this CT cabinet is also located inside the electric room.For those who thought it was outside.

Glad to be here, thank you for for the welcome

JAKEE,
Which one of the wrong ways were the conductors connectred?
Dead Short, or Cheap Metering?

electure it is both

How flammable is that wood its all mounted on ?

Thats the worst CT chamber I've ever seen.

Is this work subject to inspection ? How did it pass ?