Tshwane citywide blackout

mojoman

mojoman

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Sadly this will just get worse as time goes on...The people with the right knowledge are minimal...spares and other electrical gear is not there and there is the usual apathy......

Buy some guns...
Buy some solar...
The_Librarian said:
Another issue that may also exacerbate the situation's the loss of experience as experienced people have left for greener pasturestotalitarian governments, leaving behind a smaller pool of technical people scrambling to keep things running, whilst also struggling financially.

A question that I have started to ask myself : how long before money runs out and municipalities will no longer be able to procure the required spares in order to fix things, whether these be electrical reticulation, roads, water infrastructure, sewage infrastructure etc etc etc...
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No long at all....:laugh:
 
mojoman

mojoman

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TheChamp said:
Where we govern we fix things right, first time. There won't be a next trip.
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lol...Some Friday humour kindly provided by Da Champ....
 

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TheChamp

TheChamp

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I am sure it has nothing to do with people not having knowledge, it's just some wires and switchgear, not exactly rocket science. Lack of maintenance on the infrastructure is most probably the issue.
 
mojoman

mojoman

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TheChamp said:
I am sure it has nothing to do with people not having knowledge, it's just some wires and switchgear, not exactly rocket science. Lack of maintenance on the infrastructure is most probably the issue.
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Lol...
 
The_Librarian

The_Librarian

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TheChamp said:
I am sure it has nothing to do with people not having knowledge, it's just some wires and switchgear, not exactly rocket science. Lack of maintenance on the infrastructure is most probably the issue.
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Ja sure, tell yourself that. I'm no expert in that field, but it is not that simple as it may seem to be the case.

Experienced sparkies will know what else to look for prior to switching on (knowledge), thereby preventing more damage and longer outages.
 
TheChamp

TheChamp

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The_Librarian said:
Ja sure, tell yourself that. I'm no expert in that field, but it is not that simple as it may seem to be the case.

Experienced sparkies will know what else to look for prior to switching on (knowledge), thereby preventing more damage and longer outages.
Click to expand...
The very reason you end up with a problem you struggle to solve is that somewhere along the way you cut corners, people have this attitude when it comes to maintenance tasks, like it's not important, especially when there is no fault arising from it. Early warnings are ignored and people generally don’t care, until something like this happens.

I am also not an expert but I know there is nothing complicated about a substation, that's why many across the country work with no issues, the fact that they are struggling to fix it is just a consequence of prior neglect, the carbon buildup on the busbars just look like a good example.
 
O

Oldfut

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TheChamp said:
I am sure it has nothing to do with people not having knowledge, it's just some wires and switchgear, not exactly rocket science. Lack of maintenance on the infrastructure is most probably the issue.
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Now I understand why there are so many problems or we need comic sans font. Easy to say "maintenance" but unfortunately this needs people with knowledge, as does design, specification, installation and commissioning of the switchgear with all the alarms etc (MHO of course). I have worked on a site with small (400V to 11kVA) and even that 11kVA switchgear is impressive. When there was a problem (usually not closing after maintenance) it required someone to get in a special suit with specific tools and go inside the building to sort it out. Not a job for jimmy with a Free State micrometer and 4lb hammer. Usually a spare set of switchgear to avoid delays.

Ditto for the transformers; "maintenance" is oil and moisture cartridge changes, the oil change needs some care. But the thermal scanning etc needs specialist equipment and knowledge.

None of it rocket science but no knowledge can lead to a nasty bang.
 
Ϲ

Ϲhristopher

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TheChamp said:
I am also not an expert but I know there is nothing complicated about a substation, that's why many across the country work with no issues, the fact that they are struggling to fix it is just a consequence of prior neglect, the carbon buildup on the busbars just look like a good example.
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You have jokes. That type of reasoning is what the decision makers across government use when they decide to get rid of experienced engineers, technicians etc.
 
B-1

B-1

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Ϲhristopher said:
You have jokes. That type of reasoning is what the decision makers across government use when they decide to get rid of experienced engineers, technicians etc.
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We don't do math here so substation design/sizing etc isn't important. Who wants to know the voltage drop or copper/iron losses if you can just put in a bigger one when this one catches fire.
 
Geoff.D

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The_Librarian said:
Ja sure, tell yourself that. I'm no expert in that field, but it is not that simple as it may seem to be the case.

Experienced sparkies will know what else to look for prior to switching on (knowledge), thereby preventing more damage and longer outages.
Click to expand...

TheChamp said:
The very reason you end up with a problem you struggle to solve is that somewhere along the way you cut corners, people have this attitude when it comes to maintenance tasks, like it's not important, especially when there is no fault arising from it. Early warnings are ignored and people generally don’t care, until something like this happens.

I am also not an expert but I know there is nothing complicated about a substation, that's why many across the country work with no issues, the fact that they are struggling to fix it is just a consequence of prior neglect, the carbon buildup on the busbars just look like a good example.
Click to expand...

What gets me in our area is when the meter reader's start running around every month, they leave the meter boxes on the pavements OPEN and do not lock the boxes, which means all sorts of undesirable things are possible, the least of which is everything getting once and wet.

When you challenge, them, they tell you the "keys" don't work, which is BS. It is because no one is doing even the least amount of maintenance on the locks. So they use a crowbar to distort the FIibreglass housing which then means the box door pops open and stays like that.

Who knows how many unexplained trips are caused by this?

Transformers and distribution stations are not supposed to "explode".
 
Stokstert

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Geoff.D said:
What gets me in our area is when the meter reader's start running around every month, they leave the meter boxes on the pavements OPEN and do not lock the boxes, which means all sorts of undesirable things are possible, the least of which is everything getting once and wet.

When you challenge, them, they tell you the "keys" don't work, which is BS. It is because no one is doing even the least amount of maintenance on the locks. So they use a crowbar to distort the FIibreglass housing which then means the box door pops open and stays like that.

Who knows how many unexplained trips are caused by this?

Transformers and distribution stations are not supposed to "explode".
Click to expand...

Our meters were also read this morning and the meter box left open too. I have a key for my green box to do my own readings for submission, and I regularly oil the lock. At the moment, the box is not damaged yet by their way of opening them.
 
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