How much power can your switch handle?

[ejager]

I've always wanted to have a tour of the local power station and the accompanying 'switching yard'.

http://www.thatvideosite.com/video/500k ... ch_opening

[Marc]

I've always wanted to have a tour of the local power station and the accompanying 'switching yard'.

http://www.thatvideosite.com/video/500k ... ch_opening

That's the first time I've ever seen an open air switch interrupt a current at that voltage level. It's usually done in pressurized oil. Maybe this one is just for emergencies.

Marc

[gtblum]

Seen it live when they pop the sticks for an outage at the nuke plants. They always do it at night. There's a pretty impressive bone jarring bang along with it.

[gtblum]

I sent this link to my brother for a look. He's a nuke plant operator. I wondered why the arc was so much bigger / longer and why there was no bang. Here's what he said about this one.

Hey, I just found this message. I forgot I was supposed to reply.

What you have here is a Motor Operated Disconnect operated on a live line. Disconnects are never to be operated under load.

If you look at the first couple of frames, you see the arc occurring at both sides of the disconnect. This switch was destroyed by this operation, and major parts replacement would be required to use this line again.

The bang I've always heard is from an air actuated breaker.