On 10/31/2012 12:41 PM, bud-- wrote:
On 10/30/2012 12:48 PM, Oren wrote:
Video:

....


If anyone sees information on what actually happened a link would be
appreciated.

Don't know as ConEd has had time to worry about the "why" yet but it was
a transformer explosion. Possible causes are water penetration caused
an internal insulation failure or it's possible wind caused a load short
that overloaded it. If had to guess I'd expect the latter probably.

Transformer failures of such a sort are a common event during tornadoes
out here--it's one of the easiest ways to see progress across a
developed area after dark, often, in fact by watching the chain of
transformer flashes.

There it generally is that the high wind causes load-carrying line
phases to touch and the result is a rapid overload subsequent
transformer failure. The difference here is that this was a substation
large transformer instead of line pole-mounted one so when the
substation went, so did a large area...

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