I have a buddy who lives in Maine and moved into a new house a couple of years
ago. He lost power to the house back in the middle of the summer last year and
determined that the problem was somewhere between his house and the power
pole. He started digging up the line and got all the way to the middle of the
street where he found the dirt he was digging up was still warm. (power had
been off several hours by that time) The power junction in the middle of the
street was where the fault was found.
In his case he found that he was responsible for all the circuit all the way
back to the distribution pole and had to bite the bullet and pay for a new line
installation. I know that in my case in North Texas, the power company is
responsible for the line all the way to my meter box, but in his case, this was
not so.
73 - Jim W5ZIT
--- On Thu, 1/8/09, DCFluX <dcf...@gmail.com> wrote:
From: DCFluX <dcf...@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Repeater-Builder] Site Generator - First 09 War Story
To: Repeater-Builder@yahoogroups.com
Date: Thursday, January 8, 2009, 11:08 AM
I'll see your genset woes and raise you 2 breaks in a sites power
line.
This is at KZKE-FM. In 1975 some idiot buried at least 4640 feet
(measured with a GPS) of 00 gage aluminum. I should also mention that
this is spliced together power pole drop line and was not meant to be
buried.
When the ground gets wet the weight shifts and rocks skin insulation
off the line. The result is what can only be considered an electrical
leak. Electricity conducts literally to ground. The result is the
aluminum wire reverts back to alumina, a fine white powder based on
bauxite that is a ceramic.
The current conditions are text book classic for frozen tundra, But
things have improved. Last week it was ankle deep snow in most places
and knee deep in some. Now it is just mud. Mud, mud, sticky mud, mud
in the water, do you understand that? I even found mud in sealed
containers there was so much of it.
We spent all day yesterday digging holes and still didn't find the
break, and there are 2 different breaks by my reckoning. Station has
been without power since Christmas. Pretty much my weekend is going to
be shot. Planning on renting a Bobcat with a hoe and tracks. The
ground is still too wet to efficiently dig with a shovel.
__,___
