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Blackout! This was the view from my front door last night... We've had an ongoing issue in our neighbourhood for the past year - underground cables keep shorting out! I think it's happened four times now. What's funny is for the past week I kept noticing our lights flickering and this "boom" every time it happened. Finally last night I phoned Hydro and told them about it, they said they'd send someone out in the morning... About an hour and a half later the power went out, I phoned them back and told them they might want to send a crew out sooner! They had "fixed" it by morning - the power was back on but I'm sure they just disconnected and bypassed the cable. I think they short must've been right behind my house, likely explaining why we were able to hear it. I guess they will be digging it up shortly to repair it, of course it's likely going to fail again. I believe they are planning on replacing all the underground cables next year... Keywords: Miscellaneous

Blackout!

This was the view from my front door last night... We've had an ongoing issue in our neighbourhood for the past year - underground cables keep shorting out! I think it's happened four times now. What's funny is for the past week I kept noticing our lights flickering and this "boom" every time it happened. Finally last night I phoned Hydro and told them about it, they said they'd send someone out in the morning... About an hour and a half later the power went out, I phoned them back and told them they might want to send a crew out sooner! They had "fixed" it by morning - the power was back on but I'm sure they just disconnected and bypassed the cable. I think they short must've been right behind my house, likely explaining why we were able to hear it. I guess they will be digging it up shortly to repair it, of course it's likely going to fail again. I believe they are planning on replacing all the underground cables next year...

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Filename:WP_000186.jpg
Album name:gailgrove / Miscellaneous
Keywords:Miscellaneous
Filesize:18 KiB
Date added:Aug 31, 2013
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DateTime Original:2013:08:31 02:14:53
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Model:Nokia Lumia 710
URL:http://www.galleryoflights.org/mb/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=16223
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Comment 1 to 12 of 12
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streetlight98   [Aug 31, 2013 at 08:15 PM]
Wow. I guess that's one downside to underground cables. They look better and the area looks cleaner and storms don't tear down the lines since they're buried but when there's a short it's a LOT of labor to fix it. I'm guessing they would simply run new underground lines and leave the old lines buried but disconnected? it'd be a lot more labor to dig up the old lines too.
gailgrove   [Aug 31, 2013 at 09:14 PM]
Yeah, last summer they had to dig up someone's driveway down the street, at 3 AM. Laughing The good thing is there's almost always a second cable they can use, though in that case last summer it was the second cable that had failed. They are currently replacing the cables a few streets over and they are using directional drilling to install the new ones. They leave the old wires in the ground, despite the price of copper, it's still not worth the hassle of digging up roads and lawns and then repairing them.
streetlight98   [Aug 31, 2013 at 09:31 PM]
3AM? geeze. Laughing my area has all above-ground cables. We loose power everytime there's a storm (or it at least goes out for a few seconds, just long enough to need to reset all the clocks. Rolling Eyes Laughing ) but i suppose overhead wires are far easier and cheaper to maintain.
gailgrove   [Aug 31, 2013 at 09:48 PM]
Around here it seems any area built before the 60's had above ground and anything after was underground. All main roads and most industrial areas still have overhead lines and I doubt that'll change.
joe_347V   [Aug 31, 2013 at 11:31 PM]
Wow 3AM Shocked. . Over here my lights sometimes flicker for a bit during a storm but we very rarely lose power for more than a few seconds.
LampLover84   [Sep 01, 2013 at 12:29 AM]
My apartment complex is all underground but I still loose power when a storm hits (Last Octobers storm Sandy I lost power for five (5) days)
Well my complexes wiring my be underground but the wiring up to my apartment is not Crying or Very sad so if that goes I still loose power
TiCoune66   [Sep 01, 2013 at 03:53 AM]
That's why I hate underground power distribution. When insulation decides to start failing, it keeps shorting out. Overhead is ugly, but it's reliable xD
Model25FanForever   [Sep 01, 2013 at 04:09 AM]
Never heard about that happening in your area before
gailgrove   [Sep 01, 2013 at 04:12 AM]
Overhead is easier to fix, but I'd say it's less reliable as soon as there is any kind of severe weather.
RCM   [Sep 01, 2013 at 05:02 AM]
Where I work we have above ground cables, and they are kind of low hanging. One wrong move with a truck..BZZZZT!!!! The lights flicker at my apartment complex during a storm most of the time they go out completely and then come back on...we have only had 2 major outages! Both caused by the same thing, lightning!
joe_347V   [Sep 01, 2013 at 07:16 AM]
My street has underground distribution but the lines that feed it are above ground. Once a truck slammed into one of the poles feeding my street and I lost power for a few hours. Razz
streetlight98   [Sep 01, 2013 at 02:56 PM]
yeah underground distribution seems to only be storm-proof if the lines feeding it are underground. It's like replacing the deck of an old bridge and leaving the corroding column supports in place. Laughing

Comment 1 to 12 of 12
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