22 Feb
2007
22 Feb
'07
9:37 a.m.
On 22 Feb 2007 at 8:22, Jules Richardson wrote:
Is that always true? Sometimes on rural roads with
just one or two houses (and
also individually on farms) I've seen pole-mounted transformers and wondered
what their function is - I'd assumed they were step-down transformers from
overhead line voltage (several KV I'd guess) to 240VAC. Or do they do some
completely different job?
Even in the US, the practice varies. There are multidrop "pole pigs"
in the cities and suburbs. When one gets out into rural areas, there
is no uniform application. For example, at the point where my
driveway meets the main road, there is a large disconnect (circuit
breaker?) box that hooks up with the buried high-voltage
distribution. The HV then continues buried alongside my driveway
into my front yard, where there's a concrete pad-mounted transformer.
The 240 VAC then continues underground to the meter and my house.
I've seen inside the disconnect box and it's a 3-wire feed, so I
assume that this allows the utility to perform load-balancing on the
phases should it become necessary.
On the other hand, the fellow across the road is powered from a
conventional "pole pig" and aerial drop.
Cheers,
Chuck