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Jess from VA
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« on: March 14, 2022, 05:29:19 PM » |
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Yesterday afternoon, we started losing power, intermittently, off and on, with a bunch of attempted on's that flash all the lights and appliances, then kicks right off again. Like 6-7 times in an hour. Like failed attempts to restart the grid (at least the part I am on).
Then good all night and all day today until an hour ago, when it started all over again.
I have never (in my life) experienced so many attempted on's that flash back off again.
I have double surge protection on my electronics, but not my new refrigerators.
So far nothing has fried out yet from brown-out or surge (that I know of).
We have had some bad weather and wind recently (with no power loss), but not any during these episodes, just regular weather.
Anyone have an educated guess what the hell is going on?
Maintenance?
Squirrels?
I turned the heat down today since it warmed up to 60, but it's getting cold at night, and now I'm cranking heat while I can get it.
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« Last Edit: March 14, 2022, 05:33:29 PM by Jess from VA »
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John Schmidt
Member
Posts: 15209
a/k/a Stuffy. '99 I/S Valk Roadsmith Trike
De Pere, WI (Green Bay)
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« Reply #1 on: March 14, 2022, 05:52:52 PM » |
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Jess, most electric companies will install a whole-house surge protector at the main box outside. If not them, have an electrician do it. We had one installed after an old TV fried, plus all the electronic gadgets were on one at their power source.
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Jess from VA
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« Reply #2 on: March 14, 2022, 05:55:22 PM » |
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a whole-house surge protector at the main box outside
My 200 amp box is in my basement utility room. What box is outside? The meter is outside. On the pole? (we are not underground)
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« Last Edit: March 14, 2022, 05:57:26 PM by Jess from VA »
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da prez
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« Reply #3 on: March 14, 2022, 06:17:35 PM » |
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If your service is above ground , there may be a loose connection at the pole.
da prez
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Jess from VA
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« Reply #4 on: March 14, 2022, 06:23:27 PM » |
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No, the entire neighborhood is going out. (as usual)
I didn't drive around to see how far it went. (which I have done in the past when it was out for 10-24 hours)
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carolinarider09
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« Reply #5 on: March 14, 2022, 06:41:04 PM » |
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Back in the day of yesteryear the power supplied to areas was sent through breakers that could be opened and closed based on load and fault.
The whole grid is connected (except for the spilt between east and west somewhere near the Mississippi and I think Texas is on its own). So, the east coast is all connected together. Every power source is on the same line.
You start an air conditioner some power plant somewhere (may not be even close) picks ups the load depending on the generator's control system response time.
Since the grid is all interconnected there has to be some way to protect it from failed.
So, the system has fault protection which means that circuit breakers open. Some of these breakers have automatic re-closing systems. The theory being that if the breaker that first tripped isolates the fault its fine, if not more breakers trip.
These breakers, becuase the idea is to trip the breaker supplying the fault, use the auto re-closing system to reenergize the load and if the fault has cleared, all is well and good. If the fault has not cleared, the breaker will trip again. Usually its three times.
What you probably experienced was a fault that was isolated and somehow the system repowered that faulty area causing the cycling.
Auto-recolusres were common when I worked in the industry. I assume they still are.
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signart
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« Reply #6 on: March 14, 2022, 06:51:03 PM » |
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I had the same thing happen to me for years, actually. Was very intermittent at first the continued to get worse, especially on windy days. One night the power was flickering, I saw sparks across the road at the transformer that supplied my power. Called it in and they replaced it, all good since.
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Jess from VA
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« Reply #7 on: March 14, 2022, 09:16:56 PM » |
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Bill, the symptoms I experienced are exactly like breakers being tripped and reset automatically.
I mean, everyone has had herky jerky powerups (I have plenty of times). But never so many in succession. Mostly, it was just 3-7 minutes between attempts, but a short delay in an auto breaker system makes perfect sense.
Over the years, trees down on poles, wires or transformers have been the most usual reason for local outages. But this was obviously some kind of technical fault.
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Jersey mike
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« Reply #8 on: March 15, 2022, 03:23:40 AM » |
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Yesterday afternoon, we started losing power, intermittently, off and on, with a bunch of attempted on's that flash all the lights and appliances, then kicks right off again. Like 6-7 times in an hour. Like failed attempts to restart the grid (at least the part I am on).
Then good all night and all day today until an hour ago, when it started all over again.
I have never (in my life) experienced so many attempted on's that flash back off again.
I have double surge protection on my electronics, but not my new refrigerators.
So far nothing has fried out yet from brown-out or surge (that I know of).
We have had some bad weather and wind recently (with no power loss), but not any during these episodes, just regular weather.
Anyone have an educated guess what the hell is going on?
Maintenance?
Squirrels?
I turned the heat down today since it warmed up to 60, but it's getting cold at night, and now I'm cranking heat while I can get it.
In our area we’ve had similar issues when crews are working on repairs after storm damage somewhere else. With the storm that rolled thru Saturday were there an y storm damages in your vicinity from ice , snow, wind or even a possible vehicle accident that downed an important section of power lines? |
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carolinarider09
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« Reply #9 on: March 15, 2022, 06:54:34 AM » |
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Yes Jess, that seems rational.
It is possible that there was some load on the system that caused the event. That load was isolated and then, appeared to be cleared up and the supply breaker to that load re-closed.
I doubt that it was something to do with the "grid" itself. As I remember it, when a breaker tripped and stayed tripped (after the cycles) it required manual intervention to get it to re-close ensuring the fault was gone.
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Jess from VA
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« Reply #10 on: March 15, 2022, 07:20:44 AM » |
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This was not storm related.... as far as I know. I did a search on line and found nothing. I did find a bunch of sites to use if my power goes out, but without power, I can't exactly check any of them. Unless I get my generator going.
I hope it is all fixed; so far nothing was fried.
Losing your power is one of those things that makes you realize just how dependent you are on the system, and just how bad it could be if it was lost for a long period.
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scooperhsd
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« Reply #11 on: March 15, 2022, 07:59:04 AM » |
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It's worse if you use your own well for water....
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Willow
Administrator
Member
Posts: 16603
Excessive comfort breeds weakness. PttP
Olathe, KS
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« Reply #12 on: March 15, 2022, 09:02:56 AM » |
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In my area that is what seems to happen as repair crews bring damaged and repaired transformers back online. It does happen after or during damaging storms (lightning?).
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crow
Member
Posts: 486
Toujours Pret
Citrus Co Fla
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« Reply #13 on: March 15, 2022, 10:22:25 AM » |
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Call power Co. They should come check things out
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dont write a check with your mouth,
that your ass cant cash
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