When I was a kid, visiting my aunt in the Upper Peninsula, she took me to a small hydro plant where a friend of hers worked. He explained everything and even demonstrated bringing the second generator on-line. I was fascinated. On the way home, she gave me a lecture about how I had "better pay attention in school or [I] might end up working in a hot old power dam." That actually sounded pretty good to me!
It would have been better than working where I did. I worked in a hot engine room of a Diesel powered pump station. It not only was hot and humid, it was loud. Ear protection was mandatory when operating as it was 108db in that room. We had both automatic or manual operations for our two generators so I was watching the dial/lights on theirs saying when they should hit the breaker. :-) Old habits die hard.
I work in a combined cycle power plant. The phrase "hot, old power plant" is 100% accurate. In the summer time, the upper floors of the plant reach temps upward of 150 degF. In the winter, it's about 110.
Watching that synchroscope brought back memories. "Charge the breaker springs and close at the 1 o'clock position while the needle is slowly rotating in the "Fast" direction to ensure the generator picks up real load". Had to be able to recite that to get my watch supervisor qualification while serving on the USS Truman.
Heard a story of someone that worked at a plant and guess he had a brain fart and forgot what sequence meant it was synchronized (light on or off) and he turned it on when it was exactly 180 degrees out of sync. Broke a 1 foot diameter turbine shaft and required a change of underwear. Probably a day off too. lol. I imagine now days the sync process is fully automated.
@@redsquirrelftw A power plant in Georgia did that sort of thing. Sent the parts of the generator into the roof. But there they were talking about mega-Watt size equipment. Someone wired the panel wrong during an overhaul so when they went to put it online, it blew the generator apart. The ones we had were only 125kW units.
Just wrap it in aluminum foil. On a more serious note, one day at work we found a whole bag of small brass rods that had been machined down only in the center leaving two larger "contacts" at the ends. These were the exact same dimensions as the shorter cylindrical glass body fuses (1/4" round, 7/8" long). To a group of electrical engineers the sight of an entire bag filled with pieces of brass specifically machined to defeat the protection offered by a fuse was so absurd it was hilarious. We laughed about that for days.
@@Fix_It_Again_Tony "Machined down in the center" sounds like they were (cough) designed (cough) to blow if the current got to some high level. Of course, letting it splatter molten brass around the area was probably not the brightest of ideas.
Close at the 11:58 position. Always pull the generator into the system. At the one o'clock position your physically pulling the unit backwards into sync. I'm sure you missed the extra 1. LOL. Syncing a gen on line #1 speed correct, #2 voltage correct, #3 then synchronizes. in the barely fast direction. Your synchro scope should be moving like a second hand on a clock. As I train new folks, your merging onto the highway. the grid is an interstate highway, Imagine you, incoming generator, coming down the entrance ramp merging with heavy traffic. You want to slide right in place. 30 years hydro here.
James west, there is no lock out in manual syncing. what your referring to is sync check relaying. Old installations do not have this. (that costs money, jeez!) so, when you close the main line circuit breaker it closes, period. Much of the stuff I work on is relatively old. 1920's to 1980's. Most with 1980's controls. Only some minor upgrades. (upgrades cost money, jeez) Only one plant has sync check in manual recently installed.( cuz the old 1950's stuff finally failed, jeez) The rest, you can close at any phase angle. Training a new person one day. I said "when I say close". Instead, he closed just then, 45 degrees out. Good thing them old machines are super tough! the boom sounded like it pulled the unit out of the floor! 8 mw machine!! 53,000 pound rotor just instantly whammed 45 degrees into magnetic position at 525 rpm.
@@PhysicsduckThis is something most of us wouldn't want to touch with a 10 foot barge pole, fiberglass or otherwise. An interesting video of taming n interesting beast.
I've now watched 2 or 3 video's of hydro power plants getting pulled offline and put back into service and the one thing that keeps peaking my enthusiasm is those control panels: they can't get more Thunderbird-like than that with those blinking, almost retro-style fittings! :D Cool video. I take it one of those types of fuses blew when a substation in my street malfunctioned and first got on fire before blowing the rooftop off in what some people in my street who live next to it described as "an incredibly loud explosion". (The substation in my street is served by 7,2kV, 10 or 14,4kV depending on location, or maybe even on when the neighbourhood was built). Someone who had seen smoke pouring out the substation building prior to the explosion was on the phone with the fire department and right before they were departing the thing blew up, and we were without power, not sure for how long, I recall going to school or an after-school event, but I'm not sure.
Thanks for your videos. I was raised in Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) country in east Tennessee. I even lived on Watts Bar lake in the Tennessee River system. I have always looked at these beautiful machines with a since of engineering wander. They are probably one reason I am an engineer today.
isn't the problem more on the left side? looks like the coupler is vibrating, when he pans over to the right site you see no vibration at all in the bearing itself.
@@benargee Yeah, the coupler saves the bearing across a long span like that because of the worms propensity for wanting to ride upwards. Swapping a coupler is easier than swapping a bearing, like a lovejoy allows for shock and slight misalignment.
That was fun to watch. I appreciated the terminology, references and "trade speak." I miss being around equipment and switchgear after being around it the better part of 36 years.
I mean massive industrial machinery is not exactly standardized, since the volume of production is very, very low(the general rule of thumb is the bigger, the more components are gonna be unique). So every project is pretty much hand crafted piece that is at best used some other one as a reference. The only saving grace for professionals in the field are standardized components and protocols that are usually used as building blocks. I mean the sole fact that interchangeable component like a fuse(even though heavy-duty one is more complex than normal one, but it is still not very sophisticated in both production and construction) costs a few grand speaks volumes about production volumes of these things.
@@Shonicheck I used to work in an old building that had escalators, it was an old department store. And the parts were hand machined when needed because they had to be.
@@Shonicheck A hydroelectric power plant near me has a machine shop for manufacturing replacement parts as needed. The plant is over 100 years old and any replacement parts that used to exist have been unavailable for a long time!
We had a breaker block short out at work (Oil refinery) that powers our main air blower for the FCCU, it usually runs around 550-600 amps... when it shorted it blew the fuses and blew the door off the panel, the whole refinery had a power blink since it pulled so much from everywhere, crazy stuff! I remember after the shut down we went to investigate and just saw smoke pouring out of the substation.
We had an electric medium pressure boiler at work. Pulled about 500 amps at full tilt. A contactor shorted out and blew the door open in a fantastic blue orb of light, knocking the power out to half the building by tripping the main disconnect to that part of the building. Let's just say we switched to a gas steam generator after that.
I was talking to a guy that work at the power plant where I live. He told me that recently some dummy at the plant brought a generator on line out of sync. Blew the s*** out of everything. He had no idea how he managed to defeat the lockout. I don't know if he got fired, but he caused millions in damages.
Really enjoyed this video! It’s a shame you couldn’t show off the install of it. I remember when I was really little I got the chance to go through a hydroelectric dam. Wish I could do it again now, I’d have a better appreciation and understanding now that I’m older. Thanks for sharing, Chris!
That was really cool. And really cool that you got to be able to do it too. At the end, that first worm gear looked like the bearing on the right end of it was not very far from doing really bad things.
Done a few of these years ago. Watch you dont get your fingers pinched when cocking the fuse. Sometimes the cord would break especially if the refill had been sitting in stores for a number of years so we would use insulation banding wire instead.
Had to do this sort of fuse replacement at the VOA Greenville NC SW transmitter site The fuses there are 400A 4160V. There are 2 three phase feeders for each transmitter. One transmitter had a shorted regulator transformer that shorted and blew the fuse. Replaced the fuse-later the transformer and the station back in business-8 Sw transmitters 500/250kw. Used the hot stick to put the new fuse in-rebuilt the old one as shown here. So someone else has the same sort of fuses.
Cool to hear about the VOA's transmitters. So many Shortwave stations have called it quits. I knew a Broadcast Engineer for a(once upon a time) Clear Channel 50kw AM station that called the high voltage stick the "Jesus Stick."
@@b3j8 Jesus sticks are an insulated stick with a contact on the other end connected with a heavy wire to a good Earth ground. Usually there is a hook. Before getting into the innards of a transmitter or anything with High Voltage, you doublecheck that the power is disconnected (and locked and tagged out), then touch everything and I mean everything in the cabinet at least once (especially capacitors) with the stick. then hang the stick on the high voltage bus and leave it there until you are done. We actually had a contact with a light bulb connected to a hot main, you touched the stick to the other contact which would ground the bulb and show the stick was actually conducting. No light, no open the cabinet. So named because if you don't use it properly, you might meet Jesus very shortly.
I'm a big S&C fan. The SM and SML 20 is a good fuse with many great attributes. It has the interrupting capabilities of a power fuse, but in a distribution voltage selection. For high magnitude faults, they have inherently faster response than circuit breakers. The duration of the fault is reduced significantly, minimizing the potential for disruption of remaining loads, they shorten duration on generator or motor stress and upstream protective devices can be set to operate faster--for better protection--while still coordinating with the transformer-primary fuse. Time-current characteristics of the fuse are precise. Also, for those of you who are economy-minded, power fuses are not inexpensive. I remember the GE 69-kV/single phase 40-kV cutouts, used a fuse that cost $300.00 a whack! Better not blow too many fuses on unacceptable faults.
And nowadays, the S&C Electric IntelliRupter are used in the distribution network as are SC TripSaver reclosers on troublesome lateral distribution circuits in lieu of those !ka-bang! expulsion fuses ...
In my experience (with much smaller fuses) they can go from fatigue. Since you were shutting down, I'm wondering why they didn't have you replace all of them (I'm assuming 3 phase here.)
Great stuff :) Double worm gear, pretty profound in itself. So glad you can still show some of the operations for a younger generation to develop an interest in the intricacies of an often overlooked real world. Thankyou for sharing that, Jim M. Subscribed!
Very cool. I like how you mentioned how paranoid you are. I've worked on DC plant in telecom. I'm always double/triple checking everything. I once started cutting into a live line I thought was re-energized, my hacksaw exploded. Well, the blade vaporized in front of me. I'd rather do anything but plant dc.
@@robertthomas5906 NERC/CIP regs. Bureaucratic paper pushers are often paranoid about the wrong things when it comes to preventing grid equipment sabotage. Those fuses are installed in a similar manner to overhead cutout fuses, except you aren't standing under it when it closes.
Fuses working a bit like that - a wire tensioned with a spring, that pulls back when the wire melts to prevent electric arcing - are used in microwave ovens. Of course they're much smaller ;)
We had 175 kw dependable turbine at Mt Tabor portland or..between the two reservoirs..lots of people did not know it..we decommissioned it as we took the open reservoirs off line..I loved that gen set.❤ your right..getting it to sink was a challenge 😂.
Great video. It would have been nice to have an explanation about the paralleling process and what the meters were showing as you paralleled and took the load. What did the worm drive gears do? Open up the spillway gate?
Have a look at this vid for an walk through: " How to Run Synchronous Generators in Parallel ㅣMarine Electrician " on the channel " Mark Roy Mangrobang "
DUDE! I remember watching this video years ago! And now I watch your short channels! I had no idea this was you Mr duck! All your shorts always reminded me of this fuse replacement video and I always wondered why (; Thanks for all your uploads!
Great Video, I am a Commercial Broadcast tech. The Genset I look after is a 1000HP Cat V8 with a 750 KVA alternator. I see you use the same exacting terminology as we do 'IE' "Its Fucked". I just read the disclaimer, Jeeze you just about covered everything ! I will look forward to viewing more of your videos. I have sent the disclaimer to my legal representative just to make sure We are on safe ground. 🙂 regards Peter W. Bendigo. Australia.
Cute little antique units, though a little governor work might be in order. I retired after 45+ years of hydro operation. Always enjoyed the older machines.
The handgrease you are leaving on that hv fuse will lower the breakdown voltage of that surface significantly. Where I work it goes against all instructions to leave your greasy paws anywhere, even down to 1kV. I always use disposable gloves when handeling hv stuff.
Shutting the plant down i’sant the crazy part. The crazy part is allowing a random youtuber that doesn’t work at the plant and has to look at the instructions to fix the fuse. I hope all their power customers have really good surge protectors! P.S. The worm drive called and asked for some grease.
Is this a private hydroelectric plant? Im guessing from the look of it in the video that this plant is providing power for industrial use as hydro companies make everything look more official with logos everywhere etc
Did anyone else take the time to freeze-frame during the "disclaimer" and *actually read* that hilarious piece of art? 🤣 I find the "Exploded Daffy Duck look" passage particularly funny!
"I'm gonna show you how to start a hydroelectric dam." All I saw were flashing lights, a spinning gauge, and grid/station free gauges. Had NO clue what was going on. Lol.
9:18 Starting from the bottom: The flashing lights and spinning Fast / Slow dial are used to show if the generator needs to speed up or slow down ( frequency ) in reference to the utility grid ( all the other generators out there making power ) and if the AC sine wave is in sync with the grid. The lights are cross connected to 2 of the 3 phase lines. If the lights are on solid , it shows that the generator is at the correct frequency but out of sync with the grid If the lights are flashing, it shows that the generator is out of frequency and out of sync with the grid. The fast / slow meter is used for fine tuning of generator frequency / speed. Meter 5 is a frequency meter that is used for a rough measurement of generator frequency / speed Look for a vid on how AC power works. If a generator is randomly connected to an existing AC power source and the generator is going positive as the grid is going negative, really bad stuff can happen like mechanical and electrical damage. This is sort of like running a car into a wall or having a slack chain then applying a rapid load. The top left meter shows the voltage the generator is making, the top right is what the grid is at.
Also, have a look at this vid for an walk through: " How to Run Synchronous Generators in Parallel ㅣMarine Electrician " on the channel " Mark Roy Mangrobang "
I’m a child but I understood all of it. I like to take pc fans and other electronics apart and use them to make things like fridges and such. I’m keeping other parts like geared motors with worm drives to open valves and high power motors to use as generators. So yes, I understand.
Wow that synchronizer is awesome we used to have one of those it's all gone to computerized stuff in my mill .. It's a bad day when it almost lined up and you throw the switch .. We got three turbines at my mill and I've yet to see one buck but I've heard stories about back in the day ..
We where looking into purchasing a low head plant at Mt Arbuckle CA had a horizontal "wheel" it was a FERC pilot project about 5 miles of lines to a reconnector we would have to maintain most could be operated remotely but syncing was a issue and would require on site operator at startup all the research data is available. big drawback was seasonal flow and a drought for several years price was only 250k or thereabouts. FERC has a list of small projects and a few are for sale every so often.
First time I watch a video of yours. It was really interesting and you look like a cool and humble guy. Subscribed immediately. Keep going. We follow. 👍
Very cool! But why is that worm drive wiggling so much at 10:25 ? It looks like its not properly aligned, but i doubt it's faulty. The right hand side even seems to have a special support to allow the movement? Can somebody explain what's going on?
Thank you sir :) I'm honoured! I'm glad you're enjoying the videos! YOU are the most important part of all of this, the viewer, and I appreciate you more than you can imagine.
It is only now that you've shown what a fuse with an intact muffler looks like that I understand why experienced visitors went wide-eyed by my HS instructor's pulling out the (melted/abbreviated) examples he kept from his previous job.
In my town, there were once 17 hydro plants making power on the local river. Back in 4th grade, my teacher told us about syncing the generator with the grid. it's really neat to see the synchroscope in action like he describes 60+ years ago. What keeps the generator in sync during continued operation? I expect that the speed might vary a bit with changes in water level and electrical load. Is there some sort of electrical servomechanism to keep things in sync?
When a generator is connected to the grid it always runs at a constant speed called the synchronous speed - that required to produce 60 hz (in North America). Load can change. Speed cannot change, it’s locked in electrically.
once locked and connected to the grid, the generator keeps itself synchronized with no assistance. If it slows down even a tiny bit (were talking much less then 1Hz electrical rotation), the power output (and mechanical load of the turbine) dramatically changes, causing it to unload the turbine, speeding up until it synchronizes. All of this happens naturally, the power output changes, not the speed. Even if you completely close the gates, the generator will keep spinning the turbine, but of course it will now draw power from the grid instead of supplying it. *If* you connect the generator with the speeds mismatched, it will naturally try to match. But since the rotating assembly weighs many tons, it can't do this quickly, resulting in the generator either drawing or supplying (depending on if it's running faster or slower) stupid amounts current from the grid, causing all kinds of spectacular and very expensive damage, not limited to just the electrical system.
The grid itself keeps it in synch. Imagine two motors coupled together, both rotating at the same speed. A huge one, lets say 1,21 Gigawatts, which is the grid, and a small one, lets say 200 Megawatts, which is the generator. The small ones tries to go faster than the big one, but can't as the bigger motor is just much more powerful. This results in torque, which is the actual power the generator puts out. So, basically the grid defines the speed of the generator. The generator consists of a rotor, which is mechanically coupled to the turbine. The rotor rotates inside of the stator, which consists of a lot of windings, which are set at ususally at 120° to each other. A magnetic field is then created in the rotor, which induces a voltage in the stator windings, the faster your rotor turns, the higher your voltage and your frequency is. When the generator is then synched to the grid with, lets say 50Hz, the frequency of the stator field is then defined by the grid.
Those would be the synchronization lamps, they are connected across the breaker to the grid to show if the generator is in sync or not, off when in sync and on when not as there would be a voltage difference.
Great video! It would be cool if sometime when you're starting up one of these hydro generators, you'd explain the numerous sounds and their significance. Some sounded very sci-fi and almost spooky and I'd love to know the what and why of each! Thanks so much for posting this!
I just LOVE the opening slate. AvE has one that says do not touch this. Not only will it kill you but it will hurt the entire time you are dieing. Where is Darwin when we need him moat?
just found your channel today after watching like 2 hrs of shorts and watched all your shorts and now watching this series and this is so cool bcuz i love big shit be it earth moving equipment or hydro electric plants i klnow nothing about
Thanks for being here! :) There are THOUSANDS of videos on this channel, and if you like big high voltage and high energy gear, you're going to love it here. :)
@@Physicsduck i just like big mechanical things in general be it the content on your channel or a giant bucket wheel machine in a stripmine or where ever it may be but your channel is really cool getting to listen to the plant whining as it starting up or shutting down
Nice video with interesting content!. Shouldn't the fuse part that you screw together by hand at 2:32 be tightened with a wrench? You are not relying on it self welding together when the 200 amps go through that connection I hope? ;-)
When I was a kid, visiting my aunt in the Upper Peninsula, she took me to a small hydro plant where a friend of hers worked. He explained everything and even demonstrated bringing the second generator on-line. I was fascinated.
On the way home, she gave me a lecture about how I had "better pay attention in school or [I] might end up working in a hot old power dam."
That actually sounded pretty good to me!
What did she want you to be?? And what did you become???
It would have been better than working where I did. I worked in a hot engine room of a Diesel powered pump station. It not only was hot and humid, it was loud. Ear protection was mandatory when operating as it was 108db in that room. We had both automatic or manual operations for our two generators so I was watching the dial/lights on theirs saying when they should hit the breaker. :-) Old habits die hard.
Lmao.
soooo....what's the rest of the story?
I work in a combined cycle power plant. The phrase "hot, old power plant" is 100% accurate. In the summer time, the upper floors of the plant reach temps upward of 150 degF. In the winter, it's about 110.
Watching that synchroscope brought back memories. "Charge the breaker springs and close at the 1 o'clock position while the needle is slowly rotating in the "Fast" direction to ensure the generator picks up real load". Had to be able to recite that to get my watch supervisor qualification while serving on the USS Truman.
Personnaly reminds of USS Enterprise. Even on a spacecraft, procedures were pretty much the same :-)
Brought me back to my apprenticeship days for the Electricity Board in the UK!
Gotta pay attention - I wonder if that's how somebody blew the fuse.
Heard a story of someone that worked at a plant and guess he had a brain fart and forgot what sequence meant it was synchronized (light on or off) and he turned it on when it was exactly 180 degrees out of sync. Broke a 1 foot diameter turbine shaft and required a change of underwear. Probably a day off too. lol. I imagine now days the sync process is fully automated.
@@redsquirrelftw A power plant in Georgia did that sort of thing. Sent the parts of the generator into the roof. But there they were talking about mega-Watt size equipment. Someone wired the panel wrong during an overhaul so when they went to put it online, it blew the generator apart. The ones we had were only 125kW units.
The way he just shouts "wham", I was not prepared for that
I bet anyone working near him felt the same way haha probably not a great sound to hear in a power plant lol
He must be a huge fan of George Michael
Time stamp?
@@fotisstergiou2610 4:52
4:12, 4:52
Wow youd need to find a really big bolt to replace this fuse
Yea, aint no stack of pennies around to fix thatn shut..
Just wrap it in aluminum foil.
On a more serious note, one day at work we found a whole bag of small brass rods that had been machined down only in the center leaving two larger "contacts" at the ends. These were the exact same dimensions as the shorter cylindrical glass body fuses (1/4" round, 7/8" long). To a group of electrical engineers the sight of an entire bag filled with pieces of brass specifically machined to defeat the protection offered by a fuse was so absurd it was hilarious. We laughed about that for days.
@@Fix_It_Again_Tony "Machined down in the center" sounds like they were (cough) designed (cough) to blow if the current got to some high level. Of course, letting it splatter molten brass around the area was probably not the brightest of ideas.
@@jpdemer5 or not extinguising the spark with sand.
28mm combo wrench
Close at the 11:58 position. Always pull the generator into the system. At the one o'clock position your physically pulling the unit backwards into sync. I'm sure you missed the extra 1. LOL. Syncing a gen on line #1 speed correct, #2 voltage correct, #3 then synchronizes. in the barely fast direction. Your synchro scope should be moving like a second hand on a clock. As I train new folks, your merging onto the highway. the grid is an interstate highway, Imagine you, incoming generator, coming down the entrance ramp merging with heavy traffic. You want to slide right in place. 30 years hydro here.
Saw The Same
Great description.
thank you for this awesome response, sir!
James west, there is no lock out in manual syncing. what your referring to is sync check relaying. Old installations do not have this. (that costs money, jeez!) so, when you close the main line circuit breaker it closes, period. Much of the stuff I work on is relatively old. 1920's to 1980's. Most with 1980's controls. Only some minor upgrades. (upgrades cost money, jeez) Only one plant has sync check in manual recently installed.( cuz the old 1950's stuff finally failed, jeez) The rest, you can close at any phase angle. Training a new person one day. I said "when I say close". Instead, he closed just then, 45 degrees out. Good thing them old machines are super tough! the boom sounded like it pulled the unit out of the floor! 8 mw machine!! 53,000 pound rotor just instantly whammed 45 degrees into magnetic position at 525 rpm.
I see why they need to sync them now...
jeez
Ouch! 😳
53,000lb rotor got slapped like the fly it was, compared to the millions of pounds of other rotors it got a surprise meeting with
Its like BigClive X AVE
That may be the nicest thing any commentor has said to me. Thank you :)
Exactly! A little less bumblefuckery, and much more ear splitting audio, but it fills that niche somewhere in between. SUBSCRIBED
Just from the disclaimer regarding children, I figured that'd be the case. Then I saw this comment...
(With schematic)
@@MrFrakey93 No schematics yet. He's still waiting on his AvE-CAD license to come in the mail.
If you ever feel constipated, try installing one of those electrical firecrackers, in a system with a bolted short. it will clear right up.
I assure you that when installing that (from the end of a very long hot stick), you couldn't have gotten a pin up my ass with a jackhammer.
@@Physicsduck Great "analogy" XD
Best description of being up tight/tense I have herd.
Will use this, in casual conversation. Thanks.
@@PhysicsduckThis is something most of us wouldn't want to touch with a 10 foot barge pole, fiberglass or otherwise. An interesting video of taming n interesting beast.
I've now watched 2 or 3 video's of hydro power plants getting pulled offline and put back into service and the one thing that keeps peaking my enthusiasm is those control panels: they can't get more Thunderbird-like than that with those blinking, almost retro-style fittings! :D
Cool video.
I take it one of those types of fuses blew when a substation in my street malfunctioned and first got on fire before blowing the rooftop off in what some people in my street who live next to it described as "an incredibly loud explosion".
(The substation in my street is served by 7,2kV, 10 or 14,4kV depending on location, or maybe even on when the neighbourhood was built).
Someone who had seen smoke pouring out the substation building prior to the explosion was on the phone with the fire department and right before they were departing the thing blew up, and we were without power, not sure for how long, I recall going to school or an after-school event, but I'm not sure.
Just a random RUclips suggestion, I really appreciate the time you took to show the process and the power plant.
Thank you :) There's a LOT more coming. I'm sitting here right now 7 pages deep in writing a script for one of the Season 4 videos. :)
Thanks for your videos. I was raised in Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) country in east Tennessee. I even lived on Watts Bar lake in the Tennessee River system. I have always looked at these beautiful machines with a since of engineering wander. They are probably one reason I am an engineer today.
Looks like the bearing on the right hand side of the worm gear need work. You could see it moving up and down as it was spinning.
isn't the problem more on the left side? looks like the coupler is vibrating, when he pans over to the right site you see no vibration at all in the bearing itself.
It's possible it's designed to do that could be some sort of harmonizer coupler designed to have some give.
@@benargee Yeah, the coupler saves the bearing across a long span like that because of the worms propensity for wanting to ride upwards. Swapping a coupler is easier than swapping a bearing, like a lovejoy allows for shock and slight misalignment.
That was fun to watch.
I appreciated the terminology, references and "trade speak." I miss being around equipment and switchgear after being around it the better part of 36 years.
Gauges seen in the cartoons actually exists!
Interesting to see other power houses as each one is so different. Gotta laugh at the turbine packing spraying water.
Not just the water - when autumn leaves start coming through, you know it's time to rebuild that thing. (Ahh, the signs of the passing seasons...)
I mean massive industrial machinery is not exactly standardized, since the volume of production is very, very low(the general rule of thumb is the bigger, the more components are gonna be unique). So every project is pretty much hand crafted piece that is at best used some other one as a reference. The only saving grace for professionals in the field are standardized components and protocols that are usually used as building blocks.
I mean the sole fact that interchangeable component like a fuse(even though heavy-duty one is more complex than normal one, but it is still not very sophisticated in both production and construction) costs a few grand speaks volumes about production volumes of these things.
@@Shonicheck I used to work in an old building that had escalators, it was an old department store. And the parts were hand machined when needed because they had to be.
@@Shonicheck A hydroelectric power plant near me has a machine shop for manufacturing replacement parts as needed. The plant is over 100 years old and any replacement parts that used to exist have been unavailable for a long time!
We had a breaker block short out at work (Oil refinery) that powers our main air blower for the FCCU, it usually runs around 550-600 amps... when it shorted it blew the fuses and blew the door off the panel, the whole refinery had a power blink since it pulled so much from everywhere, crazy stuff! I remember after the shut down we went to investigate and just saw smoke pouring out of the substation.
why did it short though and isnt the door supposed to be strong enough to block anyone who may or may not stand infront of it from a blown fuse?
@@TantalumPolytopeThat’s the FCC unit. It takes a LOT of power by itself on a normal day
We had an electric medium pressure boiler at work. Pulled about 500 amps at full tilt. A contactor shorted out and blew the door open in a fantastic blue orb of light, knocking the power out to half the building by tripping the main disconnect to that part of the building. Let's just say we switched to a gas steam generator after that.
I was talking to a guy that work at the power plant where I live. He told me that recently some dummy at the plant brought a generator on line out of sync. Blew the s*** out of everything. He had no idea how he managed to defeat the lockout. I don't know if he got fired, but he caused millions in damages.
Not hard if there has been an overhaul and someone wired it wrong. That has happened before.
He was probably union and got a raise with two extra weeks paid vacation.
@@travelinman70Promote him to management, problem solved.
"Schmoo and burny bits..." My new favorite thing to say!
Really enjoyed this video! It’s a shame you couldn’t show off the install of it.
I remember when I was really little I got the chance to go through a hydroelectric dam. Wish I could do it again now, I’d have a better appreciation and understanding now that I’m older.
Thanks for sharing, Chris!
That was really cool. And really cool that you got to be able to do it too. At the end, that first worm gear looked like the bearing on the right end of it was not very far from doing really bad things.
Thank you for watching! And I appreciate the comment :) The worm gear is kinda scary but it's been like that for the past 40 years.
Done a few of these years ago. Watch you dont get your fingers pinched when cocking the fuse. Sometimes the cord would break especially if the refill had been sitting in stores for a number of years so we would use insulation banding wire instead.
Oh that's good to know! Thank you! :)
Had to do this sort of fuse replacement at the VOA Greenville NC SW transmitter site The fuses there are 400A 4160V. There are 2 three phase feeders for each transmitter. One transmitter had a shorted regulator transformer that shorted and blew the fuse. Replaced the fuse-later the transformer and the station back in business-8 Sw transmitters 500/250kw. Used the hot stick to put the new fuse in-rebuilt the old one as shown here. So someone else has the same sort of fuses.
Cool to hear about the VOA's transmitters. So many Shortwave stations have called it quits. I knew a Broadcast Engineer for a(once upon a time) Clear Channel 50kw AM station that called the high voltage stick the "Jesus Stick."
@@b3j8 Jesus sticks are an insulated stick with a contact on the other end connected with a heavy wire to a good Earth ground. Usually there is a hook. Before getting into the innards of a transmitter or anything with High Voltage, you doublecheck that the power is disconnected (and locked and tagged out), then touch everything and I mean everything in the cabinet at least once (especially capacitors) with the stick. then hang the stick on the high voltage bus and leave it there until you are done.
We actually had a contact with a light bulb connected to a hot main, you touched the stick to the other contact which would ground the bulb and show the stick was actually conducting. No light, no open the cabinet.
So named because if you don't use it properly, you might meet Jesus very shortly.
I'm a big S&C fan. The SM and SML 20 is a good fuse with many great attributes. It has the interrupting capabilities of a power fuse, but in a distribution voltage selection. For high magnitude faults, they have inherently faster response than circuit breakers. The duration of the fault is reduced significantly, minimizing the potential for disruption of remaining loads, they shorten duration on generator or motor stress and upstream protective devices can be set to operate faster--for better protection--while still coordinating with the transformer-primary fuse. Time-current characteristics of the fuse are precise. Also, for those of you who are economy-minded, power fuses are not inexpensive. I remember the GE 69-kV/single phase 40-kV cutouts, used a fuse that cost $300.00 a whack! Better not blow too many fuses on unacceptable faults.
And nowadays, the S&C Electric IntelliRupter are used in the distribution network as are SC TripSaver reclosers on troublesome lateral distribution circuits in lieu of those !ka-bang! expulsion fuses ...
Holy shizer that sound sends shivers down your spine i dont think ive ever heard a noise so beautiful in my entire life
Playing an online game with the lads:
Me: Your mic is buzzing
Friend: hold on
power goes out
The disclaimer at the end has some real hilarity in it. Love your content as always, this machinery is incredibly impressive!
In my experience (with much smaller fuses) they can go from fatigue. Since you were shutting down, I'm wondering why they didn't have you replace all of them (I'm assuming 3 phase here.)
cost
Great stuff :) Double worm gear, pretty profound in itself. So glad you can still show some of the operations for a younger generation to develop an interest in the intricacies of an often overlooked real world. Thankyou for sharing that, Jim M. Subscribed!
That brought back fond memories as an electrician at a 27Mw hydro station years ago. Thanks for the memory. :)
Very cool. I like how you mentioned how paranoid you are. I've worked on DC plant in telecom. I'm always double/triple checking everything. I once started cutting into a live line I thought was re-energized, my hacksaw exploded. Well, the blade vaporized in front of me. I'd rather do anything but plant dc.
1) I would've liked to see the fuse being whammed into place.
2) Holy shit the flow rate from that dam.
I don't get why that was a big deal. PP was shut down, right?
@@robertthomas5906 NERC/CIP regs. Bureaucratic paper pushers are often paranoid about the wrong things when it comes to preventing grid equipment sabotage. Those fuses are installed in a similar manner to overhead cutout fuses, except you aren't standing under it when it closes.
Fuses working a bit like that - a wire tensioned with a spring, that pulls back when the wire melts to prevent electric arcing - are used in microwave ovens. Of course they're much smaller ;)
Love the old attilog dials. Looks like they are from the 60's and still working. Great
40's, if not earlier. 60's gear was actually quite advanced by then ...
We had 175 kw dependable turbine at Mt Tabor portland or..between the two reservoirs..lots of people did not know it..we decommissioned it as we took the open reservoirs off line..I loved that gen set.❤ your right..getting it to sink was a challenge 😂.
Is it just me, or did some of those startup noises sound like the containment unit dying in Ghostbusters?
Who’s to say Egon didn’t use the same high voltage equipment?
Potracer where my First thought ^^ my Brain went straight to Star Wars
I used to do this every day in a sole-source generator plant when I was in the military. Lots of fun!
when fuses blow every day, something is wrong
My brother
Thank you for keeping the power flowing your work means so much to so many.
Thank you! :) If we do our job well most people forget we're doing it. I appreciate you :)
As an electrical engineer I appreciate this channel immensely
Great video. It would have been nice to have an explanation about the paralleling process and what the meters were showing as you paralleled and took the load. What did the worm drive gears do? Open up the spillway gate?
Have a look at this vid for an walk through: " How to Run Synchronous Generators in Parallel ㅣMarine Electrician " on the channel " Mark Roy Mangrobang "
Watching some of your older content! So cool to think of all that power flowing out to the grid and lighting up our houses...Excellent video!
DUDE! I remember watching this video years ago! And now I watch your short channels! I had no idea this was you Mr duck! All your shorts always reminded me of this fuse replacement video and I always wondered why (;
Thanks for all your uploads!
This is the coolest thing I never knew I needed to see. One switch flips the entire facility off. amazing to see. Liked and subbed.
Thank you sir! I'm glad you're enjoying it! :)
Your vids are golden man, keep shining forth with electrical bravery
Great Video, I am a Commercial Broadcast tech. The Genset I look after is a 1000HP Cat V8 with a 750 KVA alternator. I see you use the same exacting terminology as we do 'IE' "Its Fucked". I just read the disclaimer, Jeeze you just about covered everything ! I will look forward to viewing more of your videos. I have sent the disclaimer to my legal representative just to make sure We are on safe ground. 🙂 regards Peter W. Bendigo. Australia.
these are not stupid! This is an awesome video! thank you for making it - many of us work up to 4160/3 but that's it. Very helpful information.
@11:23 I wouldn’t feel too safe standing next to that worm gear reduction drive bud, that flex coupler looks like it’s about to let loose
Dry clanking sound of gears makes me want to squeeze some grease to it!
Cute little antique units, though a little governor work might be in order. I retired after 45+ years of hydro operation. Always enjoyed the older machines.
Antique?
They appear to be Allis Chalmers, which are far better then any unit built today
The handgrease you are leaving on that hv fuse will lower the breakdown voltage of that surface significantly. Where I work it goes against all instructions to leave your greasy paws anywhere, even down to 1kV. I always use disposable gloves when handeling hv stuff.
If it goes out again, just use a really really big penny until you can get a replacement
First time I've seen a synchroscope working lol very cool
4:51 WHAAM !
Man he goes hard on that wham.
I read that at the same time he said if. You are a wizard
I came here in the comments looking for this
that fuse is HUGE.
It's awesome to learn from people like you and many more that want to teach and show. thank you
Love the sound fx when it's synchronizing with the grid...
Who's here in 2024 - marvelling how fantastic this is & how brilliant Chris was and how he has developed 😎❤️
so what was that banshee scream sound that happened every now and then during the power on?
Sounds like an electric motor operating. Maybe closing or opening water flow to the turbine.
Belt slipping, chirping, on an auxiliary motor ...
I will hear those gears grinding at each other in my nightmares
Sheesh, watching those gauges spin around like that I was half expecting a gaggle of historical figures to materialize after a huge arc flash, lol.
This is heavy stuff! Thanks for sharing. My brain got stuck on how often you need to greese those work gears...
Shutting the plant down i’sant the crazy part. The crazy part is allowing a random youtuber that doesn’t work at the plant and has to look at the instructions to fix the fuse. I hope all their power customers have really good surge protectors! P.S. The worm drive called and asked for some grease.
Is this a private hydroelectric plant? Im guessing from the look of it in the video that this plant is providing power for industrial use as hydro companies make everything look more official with logos everywhere etc
Nope, power sold to the grid
Did anyone else take the time to freeze-frame during the "disclaimer" and *actually read* that hilarious piece of art? 🤣
I find the "Exploded Daffy Duck look" passage particularly funny!
"I'm gonna show you how to start a hydroelectric dam."
All I saw were flashing lights, a spinning gauge, and grid/station free gauges. Had NO clue what was going on. Lol.
grid synchronization and contact closing
At least we got 3 minutes of watching a worm gear. No idea what it controls tho. 👌
9:18 Starting from the bottom: The flashing lights and spinning Fast / Slow dial are used to show if the generator needs to speed up or slow down ( frequency ) in reference to the utility grid ( all the other generators out there making power ) and if the AC sine wave is in sync with the grid.
The lights are cross connected to 2 of the 3 phase lines. If the lights are on solid , it shows that the generator is at the correct frequency but out of sync with the grid If the lights are flashing, it shows that the generator is out of frequency and out of sync with the grid.
The fast / slow meter is used for fine tuning of generator frequency / speed. Meter 5 is a frequency meter that is used for a rough measurement of generator frequency / speed
Look for a vid on how AC power works. If a generator is randomly connected to an existing AC power source and the generator is going positive as the grid is going negative, really bad stuff can happen like mechanical and electrical damage. This is sort of like running a car into a wall or having a slack chain then applying a rapid load.
The top left meter shows the voltage the generator is making, the top right is what the grid is at.
Also, have a look at this vid for an walk through: " How to Run Synchronous Generators in Parallel ㅣMarine Electrician " on the channel " Mark Roy Mangrobang "
Synchroscope spinning slowly in the fast direction... gotta love it
I just stumbled onto your channel, but have been really enjoying it, thank you for taking the time and putting in the effort to put these videos out.
Glad you like them! Thank you for watching. There's more coming soon. :)
I'd have loved to see the fuse get put in place, WHAM!!
I think your worm and worm wheel could use an automatic oiler
Always fascinated with the older technology. Thanks for the ride
3:25 Looks kinda strange and interesting in same way!
9:18 Blinking and moving as some kind crazy movie machine with those sounds:):)
that worm gear looks like its gonna rattle itself off soon
I’m a child but I understood all of it. I like to take pc fans and other electronics apart and use them to make things like fridges and such. I’m keeping other parts like geared motors with worm drives to open valves and high power motors to use as generators. So yes, I understand.
I love the looks and sounds of this old clunky machinery.
It's so satisfying.
Wow that synchronizer is awesome we used to have one of those it's all gone to computerized stuff in my mill ..
It's a bad day when it almost lined up and you throw the switch ..
We got three turbines at my mill and I've yet to see one buck but I've heard stories about back in the day ..
I think this guy would be a blast to work with!
those bearings a screwed on that worm drive
We where looking into purchasing a low head plant at Mt Arbuckle CA had a horizontal "wheel" it was a FERC pilot project about 5 miles of lines to a reconnector we would have to maintain most could be operated remotely but syncing was a issue and would require on site operator at startup all the research data is available. big drawback was seasonal flow and a drought for several years price was only 250k or thereabouts. FERC has a list of small projects and a few are for sale every so often.
Make a deal with some local technical person to be the caretaker. Pay them on an as needed basis.
Doesn't this worm drive at 11:20 need to be greased? It looks like bare metal and kind of sounds like it too.
Starting at 7:06 all of the noises, gauges and flashing lights remind me of what a spaceship from the 60s would sound like
Absolutely the best disclaimer I've ever seen
First time I watch a video of yours. It was really interesting and you look like a cool and humble guy. Subscribed immediately. Keep going. We follow. 👍
I'm honoured! Thank you! :) I'm sincerely glad you're here. There's a hell of a lot of videos on here, and new live streams every evening.
Very cool! But why is that worm drive wiggling so much at 10:25 ? It looks like its not properly aligned, but i doubt it's faulty. The right hand side even seems to have a special support to allow the movement? Can somebody explain what's going on?
Inside a power plant with Michael Keaton.....cool!
This is cool. Becoming my new favorite youtube channel.
I love it! Start up is like a science fiction movie ❤
LOVE the warning at the start! 😂
On behalf of everyone one enjoying your videos, admiring your passion for what you do…
With my kindest regards, Sir. Richard Charles Armstrong 3rd
Thank you sir :) I'm honoured! I'm glad you're enjoying the videos! YOU are the most important part of all of this, the viewer, and I appreciate you more than you can imagine.
It is only now that you've shown what a fuse with an intact muffler looks like that I understand why experienced visitors went wide-eyed by my HS instructor's pulling out the (melted/abbreviated) examples he kept from his previous job.
9:08 a sound thats likr bagpipes starting to play
In my town, there were once 17 hydro plants making power on the local river. Back in 4th grade, my teacher told us about syncing the generator with the grid. it's really neat to see the synchroscope in action like he describes 60+ years ago.
What keeps the generator in sync during continued operation? I expect that the speed might vary a bit with changes in water level and electrical load. Is there some sort of electrical servomechanism to keep things in sync?
RGN and RGU , speed regulator and tension regulator is what you re looking for.
When a generator is connected to the grid it always runs at a constant speed called the synchronous speed - that required to produce 60 hz (in North America). Load can change. Speed cannot change, it’s locked in electrically.
once locked and connected to the grid, the generator keeps itself synchronized with no assistance. If it slows down even a tiny bit (were talking much less then 1Hz electrical rotation), the power output (and mechanical load of the turbine) dramatically changes, causing it to unload the turbine, speeding up until it synchronizes. All of this happens naturally, the power output changes, not the speed. Even if you completely close the gates, the generator will keep spinning the turbine, but of course it will now draw power from the grid instead of supplying it.
*If* you connect the generator with the speeds mismatched, it will naturally try to match. But since the rotating assembly weighs many tons, it can't do this quickly, resulting in the generator either drawing or supplying (depending on if it's running faster or slower) stupid amounts current from the grid, causing all kinds of spectacular and very expensive damage, not limited to just the electrical system.
The grid itself keeps it in synch. Imagine two motors coupled together, both rotating at the same speed. A huge one, lets say 1,21 Gigawatts, which is the grid, and a small one, lets say 200 Megawatts, which is the generator. The small ones tries to go faster than the big one, but can't as the bigger motor is just much more powerful. This results in torque, which is the actual power the generator puts out.
So, basically the grid defines the speed of the generator. The generator consists of a rotor, which is mechanically coupled to the turbine. The rotor rotates inside of the stator, which consists of a lot of windings, which are set at ususally at 120° to each other. A magnetic field is then created in the rotor, which induces a voltage in the stator windings, the faster your rotor turns, the higher your voltage and your frequency is. When the generator is then synched to the grid with, lets say 50Hz, the frequency of the stator field is then defined by the grid.
Very cool to see the actual sync process!
Cool disclaimer)
I'm genuinely impressed you bothered to read that, lol.
Hah, yeah I read that as well. I thought it was a serious disclaimer at first, but it just kept getting better as it went on.
@@rtdlaboratories Reminds me of a George Carlin bit.
I bet nobody knows what the two indicator lights under the synchroscope are used for?
Those would be the synchronization lamps, they are connected across the breaker to the grid to show if the generator is in sync or not, off when in sync and on when not as there would be a voltage difference.
Coles notes from another reply I wrote. Flashing = mismatched frequency. Steady lit = out of phase.
Throw the switch when the lights are out...
@@djsnowman06 On the second lights out was our rule. Never on the first.
They let you synch the oncoming generator to the grid even if the synchro scope is broken.
Great video! It would be cool if sometime when you're starting up one of these hydro generators, you'd explain the numerous sounds and their significance. Some sounded very sci-fi and almost spooky and I'd love to know the what and why of each! Thanks so much for posting this!
That's some ancient equipment, and does look desparate for some maintenance (leaking seals, very worn second stage worm wheel)
That worm gear shaft needs to have its Babbitt bearing replaced.
Keith Fenner could do it.
I just LOVE the opening slate. AvE has one that says do not touch this. Not only will it kill you but it will hurt the entire time you are dieing. Where is Darwin when we need him moat?
The Cletus McFarland of electrical engineering 👌
just found your channel today after watching like 2 hrs of shorts and watched all your shorts and now watching this series and this is so cool bcuz i love big shit be it earth moving equipment or hydro electric plants i klnow nothing about
Thanks for being here! :) There are THOUSANDS of videos on this channel, and if you like big high voltage and high energy gear, you're going to love it here. :)
@@Physicsduck i just like big mechanical things in general be it the content on your channel or a giant bucket wheel machine in a stripmine or where ever it may be
but your channel is really cool getting to listen to the plant whining as it starting up or shutting down
Nice video with interesting content!. Shouldn't the fuse part that you screw together by hand at 2:32 be tightened with a wrench? You are not relying on it self welding together when the 200 amps go through that connection I hope? ;-)
Wasn't that what he was doing at the end with the wrench?
Man the bearings on those work fears look like their gonna vibrate off
I like how it all seems so familiar to me after playing infra
thank you - i barely lost fate in gamer community :D