mattsilkwood

We got a call today from a plant we do a lot of work at. Their engineer says "One section of switchgear just blew up. I don't know how bad it is but it pouring out smoke.".

At this point I'm thinking bad things like trying to find some bus or at the very least re-pulling the mains.

So we get there and find it was a 400A circuit for one of their chillers was originally installed with it laying on a sharp edge in the gear.
Over time it worked it's way through the insulation.

We lucked out as it didn't hurt any of the surrounding wire, we just had to pull one set. The worst part of that was getting the old wire out, They were over on their bends and the old stuff was rusted in there not to mention it was about 115deg in there.

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DINGUS

at least it wasn't worse and no one got hurt. awhile back had a gear blow up in a similar way, feeder had a straight-through on it right behind the lug with about 3 wraps of vinyl, it decided to eat through the tape when i was about 3 feet away working on something else, almost sh#t my pants.

B4T

You really need to get a better camera and READ the instructions..

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There comes a time when people who volunteer their service need to step back and see if it is better for them to retire. A red flag is when they become "cranky" and lose all sense of reality by making decisions that really don't make any sense..

mattsilkwood

That was my phone.I thought they actually looked pretty good on my phone at the time.
Sorry man I'll try harder next time for ya.

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A man that will not read has no advantage over a man that can not read.-Mark Twain

captkirk

Thats pretty sloppy, letting that wire rest on the metal like that. Not even any attempt to cushion the wire...

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mattsilkwood

Yea, the outfit that wired that building originally had no clue what they were doing. It's pretty much par for the course for these guys.

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A man that will not read has no advantage over a man that can not read.-Mark Twain

macmikeman

See now thats the kind of stuff inspectors should be looking for..... before the accidents happen. Not goofy "I made up my own rules today" stuff.

voltz

scrap wire lengh?$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Magnettica

When everything came back on line what was the current draw?

mattsilkwood

600' 4/0 and 200' #1. But they kept it. They save all the scrap steel and copper then the maintenace dept splits it at the end of the year.

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A man that will not read has no advantage over a man that can not read.-Mark Twain

MDShunk

On a side note, many supply houses sell this stuff called "quick-edge". It's a rubber U shaped material that slips over sharp sheet metal edges and bushes the edge against abrasion. It's a life-saver sometimes, when you have no choice but to have wires resting on a hard edge. I've even butted two panels, side-by-side, cut out an oval of nearly the entire side, and used quick edge to join the two panels.

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macmikeman

In service gutters I have wedged 1x2 wood in there plenty of times to keep the 500's from rubbing up against sharp edges

Mike in Canada

I try to bend the wire to avoid the edges and use cable ties to keep it held back away, but honestly I think this kind of thing could still happen. It's amazing how much these wires can move with the right kind of load on them.

Mike

mattsilkwood

I've never seen that but I have used the stuff from the auto parts store that they sell for protecting door edges, I'm guessing it's pretty close to the same stuff. It is pretty cheap and makes for a nice looking install.

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A man that will not read has no advantage over a man that can not read.-Mark Twain