ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area EXTREMELY heavy street mains.

We did a rewire last week in an old industrial area that had been converted to housing,found the street mains to consist of 3 crossarms 3 wires on top from lighting,2 x 4 wires extremely thick cu,6 poles with links joining upper and lower consisting of 2 split bolts with links to upper and lower each side of the 33kV insulators,why the odd parallel arrangement ad why hv insulators for a 425v max circuit?

What was the previous industry? They may have needed high current previously and the existing cables were repurposed when the buildings were remodeled.

A plating works,fed by a 100mva transformer must have cost a lot in the 40s,had a look in the old plating factory,looked like something out of a horror movie,boiling lead,arsenic,chromium,4 foot x 1 foot thick copper bus bars with things swords hanging down into the tanks,frankenstein room with huge knife switchs,RF transmitting tubes with 12kv on the plates for their 2Kw PA system,with the fumes they could have used as a gas chamber for criminals,an armed guard to keep scrappers away,i would've thought the value of scrap alone would pay for new gear,but as everything was owned by the old lady who rose from being a ***** to a wealthy woman,they could do nothing,she provided free power water,phone,medical care and gas for the employees,had a sewing factory,used to get street *****s chained down to their machines pay them slave wages,then after 4 years she would tell them that they had almost paid off a house and gave them a new car,allstayed,naturally,unlike other so called ''vice queens'' she flew under the radar,told the girls,2 chances,if you mess up 3 rd time,a shotgun for you.