This is getting ridiculous. Having my coffee this morning, and the power went out. Blue skies, no wind....WTH? Called the Co-op and get the disclaimer that there may be a charge if the problem is found on my side of the meter. I counted to 5 and said okie-dokie. Had already checked the panel and outside lines. It's almost always a transformer at the end of the road. Same one. Almost every time we lose power. Anyway, took the crew about 1.5 hrs. to get here, they drove up and down the road a couple times, then didn't come back. I figured they were down at that same transformer, so I walked down to the road to check. Sure as shootin', that's where they were. Went back in the house, and as I was about to grab another cup of coffee, things began beeping, and whirring and stuff, so I knew the power was back on. I'm quick like that. Anyone else have this happen? I get it if there's a ton of ice, or high winds, but not in these conditions. Neighbor lady (who I've NEVER talked to, although I do wave as she drives by) walked the several hundred feet to my house to find out if we had power. She was pizzed. Turns out she's not actually a witch. Hmmm. Call me confuzzled. Good day to cut wood.
"things began beeping, and whirring and stuff, so I knew the power was back on. I'm quick like that." … I bet ya Jet man has a theory about the transformer issue.
Not to be a smart azz but are you sure its a transformer. Can you take a pic. A lot of times people think its a transformer when its not. If only a few houses are out its probably a pot (transformer) but if a lot of people are out its probably the tap fuse or a recloser. Its amazing how little it takes to knock the power out. Birds, squirrels, little tree limbs or vines, random homeowner with a musguided chainsaw. Its hard to say.
I have that happen ALL the time at my house! AEP told me it was a blue sky outage......... I asked what that meant and she said it's when the sky is blue, there are no storms and there is no reason for your power to be out. I just about lost it since it was the fifth or sixth outage that week!
Yea I could understand being mad on that one. Just don't take it out on the lineman. Sometimes people are down right ignorant to us. During big storms they don't realize we are fixing there stuff while half of us don't have power either. You start to hate going to certain neighborhoods cause they think they should get what they want when they want no matter what. Not to offend but usually the affluent side of town.
Hey jet, thanks for the info. The pole is down the road a few hundred feet. I'll take pic of what I'm calling a transformer. BRB Here ya' go. Pretty much every house has a pole with one of these. Of all the outages we've had, the vast majority have been at that pole down the road. I'd never blame the messenger. Quite often, this road (there's only 5-6 houses) loses power, but right around the corner don't. I get that they could be on a different "line" or whatever it is. What's the solution? Is there one?
Yea that's a transformer. In the long run there is no real way to say yes this or that will fix it. I am going to say its probably a wildlife issue. Looks like an old pot but those things last for a long time. I see it looks like they use csp pots and I am not real familiar with them. We have some older ones on our system but still use fuse protection on them. They may be more sensitive than a fused transformer like I am familiar with.
Found a bald eagle at the base of a pole with a transformer near my home. Had to call the game warden to come collect the bird. It goes to the Native Americans who use the feathers.
When this end of the street loses power, it usually is the inline breaker (I hope that is correct) that pops in front of the neighbors house out front, one summer it took them six hours to pop it back in, we never had any storms that day.
Just had another look at those pics dave and i'm thinking they are the same pole? Have another beer loon!!
I may be wrong on the csp transformer sensitivity. Does that transformer just feed your house? Looks like only one loop coming off that pole. Close enough we call the tap fuses or inline fuses. Could have been a lot of reasons. Tree limbs get tired and break whenever they want. Fault current can burn down lots of wire. Overload can cause wire to burn down also. Lots of variables and takes longer to fix if its lot line.
Couple years back my brother hooked up a clothes dryer at his place and it blew the transformer fuse. Fired it up, and BOOM from outside and the power shut off! His wife's uncle is the lineman for the area. The transformer and fuse was original to the house circa 1910s and was only designed for a small load.. (Couple lights, radio?,etc). 30amp service I think. They ended up redoing everything from the pole to the house. I was surprised 100+ yr old equipment was still in service but he can't get Internet because the phone lines are too old to support the signal.
Wait a minute why is it that your always drinking coffee when it happens. I think its your coffee pot. Seriously though it could be an overload issue on blue sky days. I'm no expert and without seeing it I am just taking shots in the dark. Its amazing how old some of the stuff is that's still in service.
I have worked in the service industry before so I would never take it out on the linesman, especially since I want my power back on. It was bad enough that I made AEP send my wifes place of employment a letter stating the dates and outages since she works from home and missed so much work one month. They were reluctant to do it but I convinced them. After a year of constant outages they finally trimmed all the lines and it hasn't been bad for the last year now.
