8 Oct
2007
8 Oct
'07
1:54 p.m.
On 8 Oct 2007 at 16:16, William Donzelli wrote:
What kind of monster generator did this homeowner
have?! The normal
little portables will instantly disconnect (breaker or otherwise) if
you try to connect it to a blacked out grid, with all those people in
dark houses with the lights and fridges still connected. That's one
helluva load.
Probably no more than a 10KVA unit, although one of my neighbors has
a trailer-mounted 250KVA unit (has a 6-cylinder Detroit Diesel on it)
that he picked up cheap at a logging equipment auction. But he's not
stupid, either.
Out here in REA-land, homes are far apart and each home is serviced
by a 6600V drop connected to one or more pad-mounted transformers
(usually in the front yard). (I've got 6600V direct-bury cable
running parallel to my driveway, about 4 ft. down).
Each drop from the buried main distribution line to the transformer
has its own disconnect, in addition to a master disconnect for each
branch distrubution line. It's not unusual after a winter storm to
see that you and two neighbors are dark, while everyone else has
power.
I could see a situation where a rogue generator would produce a
pretty good "tickle" on the other side of the distribution
transformer.
Cheers,
Chuck