Power Outage

[just popping in]

Power is back, Fortis fixed it (thanks), and the reason for outage is still “unknown”. Like, we know what we did to fix it, don’t we?

Very difficult to see the crispy critter in the dark.

https://www.castanet.net/edition/news-s ... htm#223486

[the truth]

---Squirrel----------

[GordonH]

Fried squirrel.... thanks but no thanks.

[Queen K]

Squirrel? Oh dear poor little creature.

[Jlabute]

Power is back, Fortis fixed it (thanks), and the reason for outage is still “unknown”. Like, we know what we did to fix it, don’t we?

Very difficult to see the crispy critter in the dark.

https://www.castanet.net/edition/news-s ... htm#223486

Hahaha, yeah, I bet it is hard to see Mr. Crispy.
Of course, even if you take a bite out of the insulation, and perhaps bridge to ground and blow yourself up, there isn't necessarily any serious damage. So, I am curious as to what they had to do to restore power... seal & flick a switch? (after finding Mr. Crispy)

[Rider59]

[......So, I am curious as to what they had to do to restore power... seal & flick a switch? (after finding Mr. Crispy)

When BCH crews arrive they most likely don't have any idea why a breaker popped. Before they reset the breaker they must make sure the fault has been corrected and cleared. Without any idea of why it tripped, it could take awhile.

Large High Voltage GFCI breakers take just a little more than 'pushing a button' to reset. The last one I worked on required cranking a mechanism through a port hole in front cover. Things may have changed since as this was well over 20 years ago.

[Fancy]

I've read that squirrels have caused many power outages and caused 11 million dollars worth of damage in Montana a few years ago. There's articles in the paper periodically about it.

https://www.wltribune.com/news/bc-hydro ... s-of-2017/

[spooker]

Hahaha, yeah, I bet it is hard to see Mr. Crispy.
Of course, even if you take a bite out of the insulation, and perhaps bridge to ground and blow yourself up, there isn't necessarily any serious damage. So, I am curious as to what they had to do to restore power... seal & flick a switch? (after finding Mr. Crispy)

1) Find the location where the electricity is being blocked from flowing (substation, broken line, etc)
2) Ascertain the reason for the blockage (blown breaker, melted infra, etc)
3) Determine the root cause (is it local or something that happened upstream)
4) Repair root cause
5) Repair blockage (can sometimes but not always be the same location)

And yes, that's simplifying things ... when you're talking about the voltage being carried on those lines there are many safety concerns that have to be addressed too ...

Now you know!