DIYbanter - View Single Post - Interlock locks to be used in lieu of transfer switch

Michael A. Terrell

wrote:

On Fri, 25 May 2007 20:08:58 GMT, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:

cmiles3 wrote:

Without this disconnect, your power may not be restored during an
outage. I've been told they will not work on the line until the
switches are upgraded to meet the current standard. Since you have a
generator, you might be willing to live with this. But your neighbors
may decide to go to court if they suffer damages due to your safety
compliance.

Where in the world do you live? Either they pull the meter, or
disconnect the drop from the secondaries. I've seen it done repeatedly
around here after each hurricane.

I have seen so much bull**** on this thread. POCO guys will just drop
out the primary fuse on your transformer, do what they have to do and
yank it back in with their hot stick. If something is amiss they will
watch the fireworks from a safe distance.

If you say so, but the out of state crews weren't taking any
chances. I had nothing else to do for three weeks while I waited for
them to replace the fuse at the entrance to my subdivision, so I watched
a lot of the repair work as they replaced thousands of sheared off poles
and downed primary and secondary lines.

Popping a fuse back in doesn't help, till the system is repaired, and
if a house was badly damaged, they refused to reconnect power till the
property was inspected. A lot of red tags on properties and even some
poles because a side street had too many problems. Several house had
the drops disconnected and coiled up by the meter poles on their
property, until the county said it was ok to reconnect them.

Marion county took several bad hits over the last few years, and
Progress Energy was to busy co-ordinating repairs to do much of the
actual work. There were about five out of state crews working under
each local crew, and the goal was to restore power to as many buildings
as possible, as soon as possible. Some damaged poles in residential
areas were replaced a year after they were damaged, because they only
affected a few homes.

My subdivision was built in 1964, and the distribution system is a
joke. Fuses blow almost every week, the old wire breaks with a little
wind, and it was designed for 60 amp service, not the current 200 amp
service that is required for any new installs or upgrades. During the
summer when all the central air conditioners are running, and people
start cooking supper, we lose power for three streets at about 5 PM
every Friday, all summer long. it takes them about four hours to get
here with two or three line buckets and inspect for branches touching
the wires and downed drops before they replace the fuse.

--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida