Not boring in the least...at least when you get a callout it is sometimes to a beautiful area surrounded by nature, not city traffic and noise. Plus I enjoy and learn from your narrative!
Not a boring episode. As always, I love your videos. I've always been interested in electricity and power grids so I'm so glad to have found your channel. You do an excellent job and I love your attention to detail and dedication to following all the procedures. I'm very thankful and have the utmost respect for people like you who are willing to do this kind of work. Much appreciated.
Nothing is ever boring during through to after trouble-shooting. They all require awarness, critical thinking, knowledge, skills, safety, materials, tools, double checking, etc Nice fishing to get fuse holder with long pole from ground, more dexterity fun when breezy. 🎉😅
No need to be sorry for a "boring" video. Just shows that sometimes things just happen with little to no explanation. Could have been a lot worse. Another excellent video! 👍 🤝 and a 🍺 for ya 🍻
"There was supposed to be an earth-shattering Kaboom! That darn rabbit has stolen the PU-36 explosive space modulator!" Glad that turned out ok, but yeah sometimes seeing a cutout blow is educational, so hopefully people will quit saying "a transformer blew" when it was just the fuse.
This is the lineman equivalent of when I get a service call for a popped GFCI. Not the most exciting or fun calls, but it's part of the job. Stay safe out there bud!
Two paws current orbit unstable, expecting full environmental digest concluded. always visually inspect fuses first as the tail is found there, equivalence principle, allowance of secondary arc flash potential denied, install no shedding for isolation.
I just had a very similar scenario inside the home. Breaker popped on the grounded 220 V circuit running the appliances in the kitchen. Unplugged all appliances and reset breaker which held. Plugged all appliances back in and activated one by one. Circuit good. Two days later the induction hot plate wouldn't turn on. The old 'it's good unless/until it isn't'
You must have had fun Saturday night. 😉 My husband likes barbecued tree rat. I'm not a fan. At least you had a beautiful sunny morning. Thanks for the not boring video. I hope the dog bite is healing well. Stay safe, and God bless.
Always gut wrenching closing something in when you aren't 100% certain of what the fault was. Had a 1200A/208V switch trip in a building on the downtown grid, wasn't sure if the old Federal switch had a mechanical failure or was tripped by the ground fault relay. Fuses were fine and had no readings to ground. Called city utility provider to isolate the building, cycled the switch a few times and it was fine so they reconnected the building. Cranking the switch to close it in live had a sphincter pucker factor of 15/10.
Thank you for showing your trade. I am an inside electrician by trade and in the government they had me doing hi volt work. It was underground fed and it was loop feed. I had no knowledge and they never taught me anything, but had me pulling off cables and parking them on a parking bushing. I wised up a little over a year after that and switched agencies. I wish this was around before now because I would still be there . Once again thank you for your video contributions.
Excellent, and not boring at all. As an "IT guy" I get stuff like this constantly. Apparent serious problem, looks like a major coding change, fix one small issue, "serious problem" immediately goes away. It's all part of the job. I seriously appreciate you, and all the linemen out there. Thanks!
I hate to see those LA's on a bracket, but that's the construction I guess. Lot more opportunity for a squirrel to get on top of the la. The red light is it overload light for those who are asking
Hey Aaron, Thanks for having this informative channel! I am watching your videos for a few months and it motivated me to apply for a job at our power company in the Netherlands. Most of our cables are underground but in my area we have a few above in the poles. You're videos informed me very well and i was approved for the job to start 1 july. Thanks and I will keep watching!
Would love to see a video about the challenges of SOLAR FLARES and the AURORA! What little I understand is that is induces ground currents messing with the potential between the grid and ground? Maybe I am way off?
Love your videos, it gives me greater understanding and appreciation for what you guys do! I'm a computer design engineer, work mostly with 5V and 12V, but gotten surprises and shocks from 110/240 power systems. but you guys have have to deal with KILOVOLTS!
As always, an enlightening look into the work of a lineman! Thank you for sharing this "boring" call with us. As a telecom tech, I know that sometimes it's the simplest, boring thing that has caused the outage! I do have a question, @bobsdecline, if you get a chance to answer it. I heard you complain about the black flies bothering you, but do you wear some kind of bug repellent when you have to go into the woods to prevent ticks? I only ask because I never used to, and it was fine, but this year I have been getting eaten up by ticks!
I’ve got a year in now. I can start to relate to some things going on now in your videos 💪🏼 love your content and I tell the boys about all your videos especially the crazy weather you deal with. Our winters are no match down hear in Florida 😂
My reaction when it didn't blow "huh...". I'm in a different industry, but when what appears to be a major outage incoming and its just something simple and fixed before any major complaints roll in, its always a good day.
About to begin my inside wire apprenticeship, I watch your videos every night when I go to bed though. Maybe one day ill give this side of the field a try.
When you say grounding the primary, you hook the primary to neutral. Is this a direct short? So the object is any stray back-feed will open a fuse upstream?
That was interesting. No leader and the ID of the fuse holder used up tells me a relatively high current for a relatively long duration. What ever sustained the current long enough to result in that damage to the fuse holder is also charred.
I'm amazed you don't carry a small branch clipper just to get the stray stuff out of your face when working. I kept one in my kit when doing calls over the years and used it almost daily.
I began watching your videos a while back. Your videos give a Non-electrician/lineman more respect for line electrical work. Thank you for your service, Be Safe as always... ⚡👋👍⚡
Thanks for taking us along on your service calls, pretty cool. Just an observation I noticed you often leave your line truck running and unattended even inside substations. I realise it is a pretty remote chance but if it ever popped into gear and started moving. What are your thoughts?
In one of your last videos while replacing a transformer you had those squirrels caps to prevent crispy squirrels. Was it an option to add that on this transformer too? Greetings from the Netherlands, where all cables are stuffed away in the ground. And what we say; what’s not vissible, it isn’t there 😂
Thank you for another good episode, Aaron. Your face looks thin, working out for a triathlon? Stay safe,👊🏻. Headed up your way at the end of the month.
Great video as always! Out of curiosity, what exactly does the little red light on the side of the self-protected transformer do? There are several of these types of transformers near me in Ohio and I've seen many with their red lights on while driving at night. Someone told me the light indicates the transformer is nearing overload but if that's the case, how does it know? I'm assuming there must be some sort of current sensor inside the transformer? I realize this is probably a rather dumb question but I've always been curious about this, since not every self-protected transformer I've seen has its light on.
That's correct, it's an overload light. I'm not sure how it knows to be honest. We haven't installed them for over 25 years (still quite a few in the field). I'm assuming there's a CT built into the breaker.
@@Bobsdecline Those red lights on transformers are always overload lights, and when it's on is there some internal breaker that needs to be reset or something? there is a transformer up the road from where I live that has had a red light on it, I want to say, (but can't prove) that it wasn't always on, until a very hot summer night with lots of ACs running... I don't know how to tell how old it is, like if it was ever replaced or not, but the neighborhood was built in the 1950s.
So given it might have been a critter that popped the fuse, and the transformer near the house is all in the trees, why not add a squirrel guard on top of the transformer?
"sometimes it doesn't kill the animals rightaway and they run off" -I have been briefly hit with 15kV. And lived. But I only fell 2 feet, not 30 feet. OTOH squirrels (and porcupines) do fall from trees and sometimes survive.
I see lineman as cops of the power line and they don't like civilians wanting to talk to them. My disarm is, "My Dad was a linemen and he got stuck in Antarctica." We had a mystery transformer blow a fuse and wanted a reason why. "Things get old, fuses too!" I assured him that BGE doesn't send bad linemen to Antarctica, it's something they want to do.
Coincidentally, as you were walking up the driveway, it reminded me of the dog incident. I had a bad experience back when I was in grade school. It took years for me to get over, mentally. Is pepper spray legal in your area? I wonder if that shouldn't be part of your arsenal. Milwaukee Animal Repellant 😄
Was that a dusk to dawn light wired in between the can and the meter? Legal light? A friend of mine moved into a house that had one on a power pole wired in like this.... come to find out it was illegal.
If you're on a serious emergency, call Aunt, you're running overtime on your clock out. Will they allow you to stay to complete the job? If it's an unexpected delay. And it doesn't want a lot longer to complete the job.
Do y'all ever have transformers that catch on fire, if so can you record you putting a transformer fire out and then putting up the new transformer after the fire.
You solved the power outage problem so all is good however I'm a little confused. At the beginning you said two customers were out but it looks like that primary only served a single residence or was there another house hiding in the woods?
So let me extrapolate for a minute: Computer doesn't work -> find the bug Medium voltage line tripped -> find the squirrel High voltage line tripped -> find the bear?
Can a short on the secondary cause the primary fuse to blow open like this? It didn't seem like the drop to the house was checked when there was no other cause found, but maybe that was edited for privacy?
Unlikely. The transformer can't draw more current than its rated kVA, even if the secondary is shorted. It could blow internally, but that was excluded.
I'd say it's plausible as the 7200 line to the transformer near the house was fused 6A. That's 43kVA - not impossible to load the 240VAC with that (would take a stout piece of conductor lasting for a couple seconds) and the transformer wouldn't have time to get too hot before the fuse blew. But - I'd go with the ghost squirrel.
Aaron, it could have been a weak fuse? It might have been partially burned? I can’t tell you how many times I didn’t find anything & just refused & closed. I just wear headphones & throw it in. What’s the worst thing that happens? It pops the fuse.
@@Bobsdecline When I report for duty tomorrow. I'll check to see what we use? I'll let you know then. Ear plugs don't cut it for me either. Ear buds fall out of my ears too.
Not boring in the least...at least when you get a callout it is sometimes to a beautiful area surrounded by nature, not city traffic and noise. Plus I enjoy and learn from your narrative!
I like to think that somewhere there’s a fox enjoying a crispy treat for dinner.
Those two flash marks on the top of the bushing looked to be squirrel paws.
An easy fix! That transformer could use a wildlife guard on the bushing.
Given the state of the fuse, I doubt there's anything left of that squirrel to be found. They make great lightbulbs... albeit briefly.
Not a boring episode. As always, I love your videos. I've always been interested in electricity and power grids so I'm so glad to have found your channel. You do an excellent job and I love your attention to detail and dedication to following all the procedures. I'm very thankful and have the utmost respect for people like you who are willing to do this kind of work. Much appreciated.
Nothing is ever boring during through to after trouble-shooting.
They all require awarness, critical thinking, knowledge, skills, safety, materials, tools, double checking, etc
Nice fishing to get fuse holder with long pole from ground, more dexterity fun when breezy. 🎉😅
No need to be sorry for a "boring" video. Just shows that sometimes things just happen with little to no explanation. Could have been a lot worse. Another excellent video! 👍
🤝 and a 🍺 for ya 🍻
Appreciate it! 🍻
The green of that forest is refreshing.
"There was supposed to be an earth-shattering Kaboom! That darn rabbit has stolen the PU-36 explosive space modulator!" Glad that turned out ok, but yeah sometimes seeing a cutout blow is educational, so hopefully people will quit saying "a transformer blew" when it was just the fuse.
I have yet to see a "boring" video from you. It's ALL interesting to us that are unfamiliar with your trade. Thank you!
This is the lineman equivalent of when I get a service call for a popped GFCI. Not the most exciting or fun calls, but it's part of the job. Stay safe out there bud!
Two paws current orbit unstable, expecting full environmental digest concluded.
always visually inspect fuses first as the tail is found there, equivalence principle, allowance of secondary arc flash potential denied, install no shedding for isolation.
I just had a very similar scenario inside the home. Breaker popped on the grounded 220 V circuit running the appliances in the kitchen. Unplugged all appliances and reset breaker which held. Plugged all appliances back in and activated one by one. Circuit good. Two days later the induction hot plate wouldn't turn on. The old 'it's good unless/until it isn't'
You must have had fun Saturday night. 😉 My husband likes barbecued tree rat. I'm not a fan. At least you had a beautiful sunny morning. Thanks for the not boring video. I hope the dog bite is healing well. Stay safe, and God bless.
Still can't strap my hooks on but it's coming slowly! Can walk pretty much normal now :)
Man that must have been painful @Bobsdecline
Always gut wrenching closing something in when you aren't 100% certain of what the fault was. Had a 1200A/208V switch trip in a building on the downtown grid, wasn't sure if the old Federal switch had a mechanical failure or was tripped by the ground fault relay. Fuses were fine and had no readings to ground. Called city utility provider to isolate the building, cycled the switch a few times and it was fine so they reconnected the building. Cranking the switch to close it in live had a sphincter pucker factor of 15/10.
aww was waiting for a loud pop.... need to carry pack of wipes and clean boxers for times like this....nervous tension! 😁
Thank you for showing your trade. I am an inside electrician by trade and in the government they had me doing hi volt work. It was underground fed and it was loop feed. I had no knowledge and they never taught me anything, but had me pulling off cables and parking them on a parking bushing. I wised up a little over a year after that and switched agencies. I wish this was around before now because I would still be there . Once again thank you for your video contributions.
Be safe ooooooooooooot there
The elusive ghost squirrel...
...
🤣🤣🤣
You need to carry a dead squirrel, just to prove you had an animal contact
I think I saw tiny paw prints on the top of that transformer primary insulator
How come you didn't install a squirrel protector on that transformer?
Boring is safe, safe is good.
Excellent, and not boring at all. As an "IT guy" I get stuff like this constantly. Apparent serious problem, looks like a major coding change, fix one small issue, "serious problem" immediately goes away. It's all part of the job. I seriously appreciate you, and all the linemen out there. Thanks!
Mannn.....I was covering my ears ready for some pre-Juy 4th. fireworks.
A safe day is never boring! Same for your videos.
Just put the application through for the powerline tech program at NSCC I’m beyond excited!
Nice to have an easy one. Days and nights out in all sorts of weather. Ill take some not too difficult troubles.
Not boring at all. Problem solved.
Never boring much respect
I hate to see those LA's on a bracket, but that's the construction I guess. Lot more opportunity for a squirrel to get on top of the la. The red light is it overload light for those who are asking
Hey Aaron,
Thanks for having this informative channel!
I am watching your videos for a few months and it motivated me to apply for a job at our power company in the Netherlands.
Most of our cables are underground but in my area we have a few above in the poles. You're videos informed me very well and i was approved for the job to start 1 july.
Thanks and I will keep watching!
Brother this channel is great
Would love to see a video about the challenges of SOLAR FLARES and the AURORA! What little I understand is that is induces ground currents messing with the potential between the grid and ground? Maybe I am way off?
Wasn't boring at all this is what we want keep it real always that's never boring of all I have too watch yours was the first 👌
You never know what you will come across. Great video, Thanks.
Love your videos, it gives me greater understanding and appreciation for what you guys do! I'm a computer design engineer, work mostly with 5V and 12V, but gotten surprises and shocks from 110/240 power systems. but you guys have have to deal with KILOVOLTS!
As always, an enlightening look into the work of a lineman! Thank you for sharing this "boring" call with us. As a telecom tech, I know that sometimes it's the simplest, boring thing that has caused the outage! I do have a question, @bobsdecline, if you get a chance to answer it. I heard you complain about the black flies bothering you, but do you wear some kind of bug repellent when you have to go into the woods to prevent ticks? I only ask because I never used to, and it was fine, but this year I have been getting eaten up by ticks!
Maybe thats why you couldn't find the squirrel, it drew so much power as evidenced by that fuse, that it evaporated
Not a boring episode for us because anything could have happened and it would have been an early 4th of July Fireworks spectacular. 😬👍🙏
Not boring at all I find these very interesting
I’ve got a year in now. I can start to relate to some things going on now in your videos 💪🏼 love your content and I tell the boys about all your videos especially the crazy weather you deal with. Our winters are no match down hear in Florida 😂
"I think it's going to blow", Sike!!😅....
Lol
My reaction when it didn't blow "huh...". I'm in a different industry, but when what appears to be a major outage incoming and its just something simple and fixed before any major complaints roll in, its always a good day.
About to begin my inside wire apprenticeship, I watch your videos every night when I go to bed though. Maybe one day ill give this side of the field a try.
Thanks for posting. Mundane is good once in a while.
Thanks for your time
Another Great Video
Great job with getting the power back on and be safe out there especially around power lines
Tkzz for sharing.,.,.,peace
When you say grounding the primary, you hook the primary to neutral. Is this a direct short? So the object is any stray back-feed will open a fuse upstream?
Nice video Aaron. Thanks for sharing.
There was no squirrel guard in place. Put your ear against the pole. You should hear the transformer humming.
Primary feed fuse was open.
Thanks 👍
Not ranting, love your content ....I was just wondering..
That was interesting. No leader and the ID of the fuse holder used up tells me a relatively high current for a relatively long duration. What ever sustained the current long enough to result in that damage to the fuse holder is also charred.
I'm amazed you don't carry a small branch clipper just to get the stray stuff out of your face when working. I kept one in my kit when doing calls over the years and used it almost daily.
I began watching your videos a while back. Your videos give a Non-electrician/lineman more respect for line electrical work. Thank you for your service, Be Safe as always... ⚡👋👍⚡
Great video!
Thanks for taking us along on your service calls, pretty cool. Just an observation I noticed you often leave your line truck running and unattended even inside substations. I realise it is a pretty remote chance but if it ever popped into gear and started moving. What are your thoughts?
In one of your last videos while replacing a transformer you had those squirrels caps to prevent crispy squirrels. Was it an option to add that on this transformer too?
Greetings from the Netherlands, where all cables are stuffed away in the ground. And what we say; what’s not vissible, it isn’t there 😂
Not all calls are exciting. Sometimes it's just a simple thing like this one
What do you clean your extendo stick with?
Thank you for another good episode, Aaron. Your face looks thin, working out for a triathlon? Stay safe,👊🏻. Headed up your way at the end of the month.
I think they need just a touch of tree trimming 👍
Why isn't there a squirrel guard on the transformer?
Great video as always! Out of curiosity, what exactly does the little red light on the side of the self-protected transformer do? There are several of these types of transformers near me in Ohio and I've seen many with their red lights on while driving at night. Someone told me the light indicates the transformer is nearing overload but if that's the case, how does it know? I'm assuming there must be some sort of current sensor inside the transformer?
I realize this is probably a rather dumb question but I've always been curious about this, since not every self-protected transformer I've seen has its light on.
That's correct, it's an overload light. I'm not sure how it knows to be honest. We haven't installed them for over 25 years (still quite a few in the field). I'm assuming there's a CT built into the breaker.
@@Bobsdecline Those red lights on transformers are always overload lights, and when it's on is there some internal breaker that needs to be reset or something?
there is a transformer up the road from where I live that has had a red light on it, I want to say, (but can't prove) that it wasn't always on, until a very hot summer night with lots of ACs running...
I don't know how to tell how old it is, like if it was ever replaced or not, but the neighborhood was built in the 1950s.
Do you normally leave engine running when walking line to find problem?
What was the primary voltage on this line? I would guess it's 7200V.
Some fox had a hot lunch lol
If there is a secondary short, how long do things hold before the fuse blows again?
So given it might have been a critter that popped the fuse, and the transformer near the house is all in the trees, why not add a squirrel guard on top of the transformer?
I really think that sometimes it doesn't kill the animals rightaway and they run off
"sometimes it doesn't kill the animals rightaway and they run off" -I have been briefly hit with 15kV. And lived. But I only fell 2 feet, not 30 feet. OTOH squirrels (and porcupines) do fall from trees and sometimes survive.
You guys trim trees about the same as we do!
I see lineman as cops of the power line and they don't like civilians wanting to talk to them. My disarm is, "My Dad was a linemen and he got stuck in Antarctica." We had a mystery transformer blow a fuse and wanted a reason why. "Things get old, fuses too!" I assured him that BGE doesn't send bad linemen to Antarctica, it's something they want to do.
Coincidentally, as you were walking up the driveway, it reminded me of the dog incident. I had a bad experience back when I was in grade school. It took years for me to get over, mentally. Is pepper spray legal in your area? I wonder if that shouldn't be part of your arsenal. Milwaukee Animal Repellant 😄
Was that a dusk to dawn light wired in between the can and the meter? Legal light?
A friend of mine moved into a house that had one on a power pole wired in like this.... come to find out it was illegal.
In that area, the resident pays a small monthly fee for that light.
Most power utility companies can provide a street light over your driveway, etc.
surprised you don't have a meggar on the truck.
Probably not your normal megger if it's testing the HV side - likely expensive and requires additional training and qualifications to operate.
Boring is best. Glad it was not worst-case, either shorts or dogs.
Oh man. Definitely no more dogs :😟. Still can't climb a pole yet
What does the red light mean? We have a red light, lite up on the transformer outside our camp.
Time to convert to a pad mount transformer.
Troubleshooting is probably half the job. It got fixed but no evidence found this time. All good.
What's the red light on the transformer for?
warning light for overload.
@@Drealias Thanks!
been binge watching all your linemen episodes man and I love it ! how would you recommend someone getting into the trade with no experience ?
Can do you another pole climbing video soon?
That squirrel got smoked. Glad it worked out otherwise.
Do fuses fatigue over long in use? And they just pop because?
Pop because of a short in the line somewhere.
Trees right by lines got to be most annoying thing to deal with....isnt they supposed to be like a minimum clearance requirement like 15ft?
What is the red light next to the "CSP" switch for on the transformer?
overheat / overload warning.
What does the red lens on the transformer indicate?
Overload light. If lot, means the tx is running over capacity
been a union lineman 38 years and a "trouble man" 25 years and sometimes fuses just blow..there's no rhyme or reason..
If you're on a serious emergency, call Aunt, you're running overtime on your clock out. Will they allow you to stay to complete the job? If it's an unexpected delay. And it doesn't want a lot longer to complete the job.
Have some patches id like to send you do u have a po box?
Can you show us how to wire a Delta Delta bank?
Wye?
Wye?
Do y'all ever have transformers that catch on fire, if so can you record you putting a transformer fire out and then putting up the new transformer after the fire.
You solved the power outage problem so all is good however I'm a little confused. At the beginning you said two customers were out but it looks like that primary only served a single residence or was there another house hiding in the woods?
Could have been two homes after the blown fuse. We didn't see everything with all of those trees.
No blackflies died in the making of this video.
(cough).
A couple may have been digested lol
So let me extrapolate for a minute:
Computer doesn't work -> find the bug
Medium voltage line tripped -> find the squirrel
High voltage line tripped -> find the bear?
" we will be testing the transformer here in a min" LOL Sometimes you just have to listen for the bang!
Yup!
Can a short on the secondary cause the primary fuse to blow open like this? It didn't seem like the drop to the house was checked when there was no other cause found, but maybe that was edited for privacy?
Unlikely. The transformer can't draw more current than its rated kVA, even if the secondary is shorted. It could blow internally, but that was excluded.
I'd say it's plausible as the 7200 line to the transformer near the house was fused 6A. That's 43kVA - not impossible to load the 240VAC with that (would take a stout piece of conductor lasting for a couple seconds) and the transformer wouldn't have time to get too hot before the fuse blew.
But - I'd go with the ghost squirrel.
@@AlanTheBeast100 Especially with the scorched paw marks,
@@dfirth224 The smoking gun, so to speak...
Aaron, it could have been a weak fuse? It might have been partially burned? I can’t tell you how many times I didn’t find anything & just refused & closed. I just wear headphones & throw it in. What’s the worst thing that happens? It pops the fuse.
That's what I need to get is a pair of head phones! I've got ear plugs, but they're kind of a pain in the butt
@@Bobsdecline When I report for duty tomorrow. I'll check to see what we use? I'll let you know then. Ear plugs don't cut it for me either. Ear buds fall out of my ears too.
Check your messages?
ZAP! roast squirrel