Hey Everyone! This isn't what I would consider "a fine example" of a substation 😨... It's about as basic as they come, but it works! New subs follow the same basic principles but with much fancier equipment. The biggest down fall is not being able to remotely operate the equipment or retrieve electronic readings for fault data. The pros?? It's like working on an old car! Reliable and easy to maintain. 😁😏 Have a great week all! 🍻👊
Ain’t that the truth. It’s a bit scary to think about how fragile our infrastructure really is being all electronically controlled. Not just electricity, all other utilities and energy sources. While it is much more efficient and easy the electronic way, it’s hard to beat old school solid state mechanical equipment. Thanks for taking us along Aaron. Hope all is well on the home front!
You made me dizzy.. Great video. If I hear a giant boom during a lightning storm and the ground rumbles is that the lightning arrester protecting the transformer? The lights may flicker but don’t cut out. I have learned so much from you. I watch almost every video and I’m 41 so my parents had there own conclusions.
The algorithm is so wierd! Today at lineman College we were literally talking about all the different equipment found in a substation. Thanks for sharing 👍 😃
When I was an apprentice, I was putting cell towers through transmission towers. 266kv, 220 feet in the air. We started the day by climbing the tower, and we stayed up all day. That job was a ton of fun.
@@BritishBeachcomber think of it this way: if you slip, it’ll be the last slip you ever make. If you do this, you make DAMN SURE of every step you make.
Here's 173 KV of appreciation for all you do. We.really like your program. You give great face to what goes on behind-the-scenes. We all see the wires running around us, but few of us have any idea what they do. It's great to see you explain it so we understand it. We're Coming to you from the lovely Santa Cruz mountains, 40 miles south of San Francisco. Being up in the mountains power is never taken for granted. We have storms throughout the year that cause the lights to flicker and the power to go out for several days at a time. It just takes one person failing 🎉to trim the trees on their property and it takes it down for everybody. Again, thank you for everything you do and please, please stay safe...
Aaron, I am watching your videos from down here in Nebraska. I enjoy watching your channel and have become so much more appreciative of the work linemen do. More concerned also and so pray for your protection. You all have loved ones, wives and children to go back to after each work day.
Back in the early 70s we moved a steel substation to a new location in winter. Cold. -25F some days. Work 20 minutes then in the truck. Thx for the walk through.
Definitely a lot involved... Especially these days! Even with basic equipment, today's procedures, permits etc. take much longer. Resulting in better safety and consistent work.
Thanks for showing us that Aaron. I used to work for a firm that provided telemetry equipment to the main grid provider here in the UK, and occasionally had to visit substations to deliver equipment. Those were 400/275 kV, with sounders to warn of impending switching operations.
Thanks for filming over again to avoid the dizziness!!!! So many youtubers don't take that into account! Very cool video, I always see small substations and wonder about the details.
Great video. I dont know any of the sub station equipment but I work out on the transmission lines. 2 years ago we had the utility close the line back in on us without any notice. Our master grounds were still up and guys were working on the line.
@@generatorjohn4537 I didn't see it but I guess they said it blew our ground rod right out of the ground. It wasn't the first time they've done stuff like that to us and it won't be the last.
@@mfk12340 When I worked in the substations years ago I was on the switching and tagging list. In other words I was sometimes in charge of projects while working inside the substations. All work that was performed was usually done in a de-energized state. Once the work was completed it was checked, tested, functionally checked, etc. Once all work was completed we would remove "our" workman's grounds if that was necessary for the particular project and then cancel the clearance. (A clearance is permission to perform work that is granted by the operating authority within electrical transmission system) These projects are planned weeks, months in advance BTW. When we officially cancel the clearance, the work is all complete, no more work can be performed, and it's ready to return to normal service. We also declare that men and equipment are cleared and All Workman's Grounds are Removed! How this can happen in your case is beyond me. Sorry for the long explanation but someone is not following the safety procedures and if this happens again those responsible should be reported and sorry to say, fired!
@@generatorjohn4537 that's what's supposed to happen in our case too. And eversource never gave us a reason or explanation to what happened. At least for linehands. We had our master grounds one on like str # 180 and the other on str # 100ish. And eversource had been a pita with the 24 hour recall notice because it was one of the one of two lines going into this smaller substation. And somewhere somehow the chain of communications broke down and the re-energized the line with all our equipment still on it. Nobody was happy. They also did the same thing to our drillers, they had a couple underground line strikes, digsafe didn't mark them, and eversource came out and threw the fuses back in and re-energized the underground without riding it. Nearly fried the operator who was still in the machine. Also on our digsafes we did an audit on their reports. From the time we submitted a request from digsafe to when they said they went out and said it was clear was 13 minutes. They didn't even check if there were any utilities in the area.
👊 Aaron, retired electrician here is St.Louis, Missouri enjoying all the videos. Interesting, educational, informational, keep up the great work for your subscribers and your community. Stay safe !!!
Question, is 16 an hour with no insurance and no chance of raises until a year something that's normal for an apprentice electrician? I made 10/hour more as a biomed in Oregon but due to their whack covid policies I lost my job and had to start at the bottom. My coworker walked off the job because he said 16 an hour and no insurance is a no go for him. Am I just cheap labor? Boss said there is no raise money, but showed up to work last week with a brand new $70k truck. And he keeps getting us shit jobs...for instance his brother's house. Or his house. He's also a polygamist
@@Al_Gore_Rhythmn considering I started at 17/hr in Nevada where the minimum wage is 8 bucks I'd say your just cheap labor. Isn't the minimum wage in Oregon like 13 bucks
@@omarbojorquez7826 I was making 25 in Oregon plus Hella overtime and paid for my miles. In Utah, I'm making 16 an hour as an apprentice electrician. When did you start?
Watching this in Oklahoma here in the middle of July right now and I got to say the coolest part of your video has the be the snow. We’re baking out here in a heat wave (it’s been over 100*F almost daily and tomorrow’s supposed to be 111*F) and sure glad folks like you keep the power on so when I eventually get to the house, I can grab a cold one out of the fridge and stand in front of the ice cold AC vents and cool down before heading outside the next day. Great videos to watch during my break time.
Right before I retired , a new trouble man closed the wrong air circuit breakers on the 69kv sub , nice light show ...... no one hurt but WOW.............. be safe and double check everything ! we have 230kv , 138 kv and 69kv transmission substations ..... down in San Diego we also have a 500kv line coming in from Arizona Huge substation too Alan Thomas
Graduating from line school next week! Really appreciate all of your videos. Gives me a solid look into what I’ll be seeing out in the field here and there. Keep killin it! Thanks!
👊🏼 Hey Aaron, it’s always cool to see other power companies substation setups. I’m a station electrician for a power company in Virginia and work on this stuff everyday. Our stations go all the way from 4kv-34kv on the distribution side and 34kv-765kv on this transmission side. That 69 station is such a baby compared to our 765 EHV stations.
Great video Aaron. I did one of my engineering internships with NL Power and my cousin works with you guys based in Truro. Watching from Houston TX - where our major loads are in the summer from air conditioning. Almost all pole-mounted transformers are finned for heat dissipation. Most home heating in the winter is with natural gas.
use to live In texas as big as houston is Im surprised they use a coal fired plant. I remember living in Missiouri city as a kid and my dad driving to work in Rosenberg and It was cool seeing the steam coming from the stacks of WA parish early in the morning
@Andrew Quinlan How do you feel about the powers that be (pun intended). Since Ercot is closed to the rest of the United States. Do you feel that the loss of redundancy makes function more difficult? Reliability is really important from my perspective; Would the interests of the public be served better by integration as opposed to Self-Reliance? North Korea has a similar policy called, “Juche”
Love your content my dude, Im a network engineer currently for Oneok in tulsa and were a natural gas provider, one of the largest in the midwest. Watching your work and the excitement but also the importance of intelligence has kinda pushed me to start taking classes and maybe make a career change. Ya the IT stuff is cool and all, but man this stuff really gets the gears going.
Thanks for the detailed walkthrough, I find these really interesting to compare how countries operate their substations. Appreciate your really clear explanations. Great videos keep up the good work.
👊 West Virginia, USA. Not in the trade myself but I’m fascinated by it and love learning about it. Always enjoy your videos, appreciate the work you put into making them and the work you and all others do to keep the lights on!
You have extended my knowledge of distribution and what it gets to have that 120/240 and 240 and 480 3 phase stuff. Keep up the good work. Now to your other sub station video. DE N2JYG Somewhat retired in Sherman NY
👊 Had the pleasure of watching a crew replace a cross arm the other day after the previous one had failed, had reported the issue within the last three weeks, given that two winter storms and a wild early season intense thunderstorm wind event with winds pushing 60-70mph+ that brought almost 150,000 customers without power out of 1.2 million customers served it was a shock, but two bucket trucks and a supervisor changed out this cross arm in less then 30 minutes seemed effortless, should mention its a 3 phase sideline. But awesome to talk linework for a few minutes before the tailboard, and to see the reaction as a I dropped some power system knowledge from this channel. As always great video Aron watching from Somerset county NJ USA.
Here in Jamaica, we also use 69kv transmission (a few 138kv subs) stepped down to 24kv distros (a few 13kv here and there). I work in the telecoms department for our power company.
we recently had a major accident about a block from my house at the substation. Apparently a sub-contractor was authorized to work within the cage and he got zapped, which shut down power for quite a while. I don't know if he made it or not, but definitely illustrates how dangerous it can be. Be safe man!
I always worry about my Brothers and Sisters working in this field for that exact reason!! Especially stressing about my Power Line Foreman and hoping, praying, that he is safe always!! And all is well and is free to live his life being happy and very blessed!! What an amazing man and an honor for me to be blessed enough to be able to meet him, even for the short time that we was.. I'll see him again one day....very soon!! (Almighty God willing!!) Anyways i constantly worry about him, my best friend, my hero, one whom inspires me, and keeps me around when I want to give up... what an awesome guy!! Wow!! Im going to be just like him when I grow up!! Hehehe lol loving him forever xs infinity and e=mc2 but the Almighty loves him, me, you, and all of us even more then that though!! Asalaam peace Loving you all
Thank you! PSE&G in NJ is currently upgrading a substation near my house and I've been watching the progress. This helps me understand what I'm seeing. So much more for me to learn, but this is a nice source! Subscribed.
Nice job Bob. I was a hot stick lineman on the 345kv lines in upstate NY for 30 years and loved the work. I always felt that the distribution line work was much more dangerous that what we did even though we were up 85 to 130 feet and at the higher voltages.
👊from San Diego. I recently entered my first substation as a consultant on a pice of equipment with the utilty. It was even more facinating than I expected. I enjoyed trying to identify the various components and even correctly answered a question that the manager gave to his team on one of the components. The substation I was in was substantially larger with multiple power transformers. It would be cool to see your tour of a larger substation. I appreciate your perspective as it has helped me in my career a lot. Thank you
One of my customers has three feeds into their data center from two different substations. Two from the local substation, and a third from the substation at the big gas turbine powerplant down the river a bit. We have to coordinate with the operations center at the power company before we switch which of the three we're drawing on or they get suuuper cranky with us. Which is fair, having that kinda load drop off suddenly isn't great for the grid.
love ur videos .keep it up. ive been a sparky for 15+ years and alot of people think its just so simple but it really isnt. its dangerous, dirty , and dangerous.. keep up the hood work!!
I came by a small rural sub like this the other day when they were performing a changeout of the main transformer. Neat process to watch for any that have not had a chance to see. I had to stop while they backed the large truck off the road to get it into the compound and while I was waiting I chatted with a lineman by the side of the road. He told me some jackleg had shot the other transformer with a rifle and destroyed it. Hope they caught that guy 🤬
I’m a retired Steel mill Electrician I have trained with linemen in the same craft your in. I seldom dealt with anything over 12,277v but it always was interesting.I worked in PA USA.
Thank you for your videos. I'm new to your channel and I watched all of your previous videos over the weekend. They are very interesting and I now have an understanding of how the system works and how hard you work to keep things operating and safe. I thank you very much for your work I'm in Wisconsin (US) and am married to an electrician. I'm looking forward to more videos and learning. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Stay safe and God bless.
This is my first video from you. Retired from maintance. I have worked with 480 and have seen what damage that can do. People have made mistakes with that and survived. With the voltage you work with not so. A few years ago there was a linesman rodeo in Shakopee, MN. They talked about a linesman in a bucket 6 feet away from a distribution line when it arced to the bucket, Even doing the right thing can be fatal. Be careful please.
At 8:58 you show the tap setting for a voltage regulator. I know how DC voltage regulators work, but how do AC ones like those work? Does the tap automatically move as it detects output voltage? How quickly can they respond to transients? It sounds a lot like a huge VARIAC (I have a vintage one for 120VAC with step up capabilty).
VERRY INFORMATIVE!! I LIKED IT!!! The fence arround the substation seem very secure. I mean, another layer of metal mesh on the fence and very big rolls of barbed wire on top. We definetly don't have this level of security in here in Quebec. I think all of our station is just standard galvanized fence (grounded of course) with 3 wire of barbed wire on top if we are lucky.
Tech tip, if you put your phone camera on manual exposure when you’re doing a shot like that in the truck it won’t brighten and darken when you move your head like it does when the cameras on automatic. Fascinating video by the way we’ve all seen these things it’s interesting to see how they work and what’s in there
Oh nice! That's a huge tip, appreciate it 🤝🙌. I've actually scrapped some footage in the past because of this. Also thanks watching and taking the time to comment 🙏😀
5:26 one important thing you left out is that arrestors are semiconductors :3 They will conduct only if the voltage is raised beyond normal operating limits, clamping it hard to ground and will stop conducting when the overvoltage is gone. But yes they do actually have a leakage current and it also grows with every time it fires
There's one on the transformer on the pole across the street from my house that is conducting in such a fashion that it is generating RFI of harmonics of the local am radio station. 1350 AM heard as a 60 hz modulated on 2700, 4050 and 5400 kHz in 60 meter ham band. I called power company a year ago, nothing done. It only bothers me, it doesn't travel far.
@@mikekokomomike I don't think that's the case. In normal operation they are just a simple resistor, there's nothing smart in them. They either conduct or don't. It's just a very big diode
@@whatevernamegoeshere3644 didn't you say that they conducted more after each surge they take? I know if I walk over to the pole with a receiver the ground wire is hot with RF. I have a spectrum analyzer and it is very visible. Maybe it's a corroded joint.
30 amp fuses for a cool 2 million watt per phase transmission line. Bet they're not cheap! The thought of opening one of those switches under load is sobering. I see why they only do so remotely. Neat stuff, thanks for the look.
Thank you for the video. BTW the previous one was fine. My first thoughts "hands in pockets", lol but I remembered what you said (dispatch, perimeter check...). I noticed that there is a lot of equipment mounted on wood. I guess that needs to be rebuilt every once in a long while.
I have been enjoying your videos for a long time now. I did not see where you did any fast movements to cause dizziness. I live in Portland, Maine. Enjoy
Hi Bob, watching from Windsor, Ontario; Canada. Watch your ground leads to the pads as thieves have been stealing the copper ground lines in a couple of locations here. Where I live we are served by Essex power lines and they have put in three phase radio-controlled reclosers for safety I imagine. Probably shut her off right at the truck! Pretty cool...
Howdy Bob, nice channel and I do like the content. In watching what you present I have learned a lot about the "delivery side" of what the customers use. I was in traffic control manufacture for about 30 years and always was curious about the utility side of things. At our home we have breakers on the pole that covers an area for our neighborhood and down the street a ways. Really makes ya jump when one of those things go "Pop"! I am trying to figure out a way to convince our power company to move my power line to our home to a different transformer so I don't suffer the consequences of people not cutting their trees back. Thanks for your time and willingness to share your knowledge so we may be enlightened... no pun intended. By the way, I live in Oregon and I go by Bob also. Take care, be safe!
good videos Bob, could u make some detailed videos about how these substation assets are connected to busbars and ground. talk more about connector types such as side formed, 90 degrees, and connector compression types. thx
Learning all of this stuff is cool, even though I will never personally need it. It is kinda fun when I point something out like those voltage regulators completely off the wall and the reactions I get, thanks to your education. :) I don't always watch useless stuff on UA-cam... I love the engineering aspect of a lot of things. There's a medium sized switching station near me; there's a big, rectangular box (maybe 2x the length of a shipping container) at the front of the station that was replaced within the last... 10 years? It caught fire and blew up. I was without power for a few days as they trucked in a brand new one and wired it in. For me, any voltage is intimidating. I won't work with electrical while it's on, but off, single phase work isn't bad. I wired my garage with 240v, 50A service in a subpanel and replaced my main load center myself, and the service cable from the meter to the main panel. Had to replace the service cable as the sheathing split in the back of the cable and let rainwater straight into my old breaker panel. That was fun trying to identify (thought it was a leak behind my basement wall at first). I forget where Aaron works, but the UA-cam channel Practical Engineering recently did a video of the 2003 blackout that involved Michigan, Ohio, PA, and a big chunk of Windsor, Canada. Incredibly interesting to know that power on the giant steel towers, can flow in more than one direction. I always thought it was just one way. Who knew? :)
Yea that was definitely interesting hearing power can flow in two directions at once from that video on 2003 blackout practical engineering. Lost power during that event and am served by a subsidiary of First Energy.
@@austinspringer5153 I'm in SE Michigan. I was at work (Radio Shack) back then when everything went dead. I was nearly out of gas in my truck too; I had planned on gassing up on the way home. Didn't happen. We got really busy after the power went out with customers coming in and buying batteries. I can't remember how long we were down for, but I remember tons of people thinking it was a terrorist thing. Glad it wasn't.
Hey man been checking out your videos iam a electrician in the mining industry but work with the same equipment we usually use the same line voltage from the utilities just run through a separation transformer our safty devices and arresters before heading underground with it nothing like being in a confined wet space with 12470 lol keep up the great vids
Always found walking around inside live substations somewhat disconcerting with all that electricity buzzing over my head. Fortunately most of my business usually was away from the bulk of the sub..it was an eye opening job for sure.
Increible los postes de madera. Aquí en España para baja tensión los postes son la mayoría de hormigón, y a partir de media tensión, todos en hormigón y/o celosía metálica.
I was noticing the razor tape and double layer fence. I take it you have a lot of intrusion for copper theft? I live near a 500Kv switchyard and it's perimeter is patrolled by security guards because the fence was cut open on a almost weekly bases.
i have an industrial building formerly owned by a large manufacturer. they got bought by dresser rand so they closed up. it got divided into 8 businesses . i have 200k sq ft. anyway at the corner of the lot is a substation like that . we get our feed 4160 v as first customer on the feed. a while back they had to replace main switchgear so without telling us they switched supply and we became last on the feed and our voltage dropped. it created 3 weeks of downtime on one large molding press. i finally figure out they reduced our voltage down to 436 so the control transformer on the machine was only giving about 105 v. that stopped about a dozen solenoid valves from operating. we complained so they brought in a temporary transformer like you mentioned. it was on a big flatbed . and switched us back and we got back to about 475 v. so i also put in a boost transformer on the machine to give us an extra 12 volts .
Quite cool that the REIN (Repetitive Electrical Impulse Noise) coming off those lines is enough to interfere with the CMOS sensor in the camera - that's what the occasional spots appearing throughout the video are.
During hurricane Laura and delta...here in louisiana we had 3 of these flood and and damage them....3weeks plus no power for miles and miles and miles..
Electricity is so complicated yet so simple! Start the voltage high from the power plant, and drop it down as needed to deliver to sub stations, transformers, businesses and homes. Let's ya use relatively small cables to deliver major amps at high voltage.
Thanks for the visit to the infrastructure so often taken for granted. I’d like to compare with electrical distribution used in developing nations….how about some thoughts on African or even India’s distribution.
Interesting I did my electrical apprentice at a local electrical supply in country NSW Australia the HV we have here in Australia is 330 kv 132KV ( done by national supply ( from transition ie hydro coal etc ) we had 66kv 33 kv and 11kv . The HV fuses you talked about we called them drop out as when they blow you see them hanging down which I presume the same for you . Our LV is 415 / 240v
Hey Everyone! This isn't what I would consider "a fine example" of a substation 😨... It's about as basic as they come, but it works! New subs follow the same basic principles but with much fancier equipment. The biggest down fall is not being able to remotely operate the equipment or retrieve electronic readings for fault data. The pros?? It's like working on an old car! Reliable and easy to maintain. 😁😏
Have a great week all! 🍻👊
The life of the paper is the life of the Transformer👈
Ain’t that the truth. It’s a bit scary to think about how fragile our infrastructure really is being all electronically controlled. Not just electricity, all other utilities and energy sources. While it is much more efficient and easy the electronic way, it’s hard to beat old school solid state mechanical equipment. Thanks for taking us along Aaron. Hope all is well on the home front!
Thanks Mike! All is well here 🙏. Hoping you and the family are doing well as well!
@@Bobsdecline Can’t complain man.
You made me dizzy.. Great video. If I hear a giant boom during a lightning storm and the ground rumbles is that the lightning arrester protecting the transformer? The lights may flicker but don’t cut out. I have learned so much from you. I watch almost every video and I’m 41 so my parents had there own conclusions.
The algorithm is so wierd! Today at lineman College we were literally talking about all the different equipment found in a substation. Thanks for sharing 👍 😃
When I was an apprentice, I was putting cell towers through transmission towers. 266kv, 220 feet in the air. We started the day by climbing the tower, and we stayed up all day. That job was a ton of fun.
What if you have to take a shit
@@TerminallyCh1ll then, naturally, you'd come off the tower
Wow interesting, watching this guy makes me wanna take electrical over conputer science lol...
You ought to see the linesman *hanging* from a *helicopter,* maintaining *live wires. Scary.*
@@BritishBeachcomber think of it this way: if you slip, it’ll be the last slip you ever make. If you do this, you make DAMN SURE of every step you make.
Glad you went in there instead of me. People never think about how complicated things are .
Here's 173 KV of appreciation for all you do. We.really like your program. You give great face to what goes on behind-the-scenes. We all see the wires running around us, but few of us have any idea what they do.
It's great to see you explain it so we understand it.
We're Coming to you from the lovely Santa Cruz mountains, 40 miles south of San Francisco.
Being up in the mountains power is never taken for granted. We have storms throughout the year that cause the lights to flicker and the power to go out for several days at a time. It just takes one person failing 🎉to trim the trees on their property and it takes it down for everybody.
Again, thank you for everything you do and please, please stay safe...
Always impressed by the level of professionalism shown by you, and your company. Your electricity customers are very fortunate to have you.
Aaron, I am watching your videos from down here in Nebraska. I enjoy watching your channel and have become so much more appreciative of the work linemen do. More concerned also and so pray for your protection. You all have loved ones, wives and children to go back to after each work day.
Back in the early 70s we moved a steel substation to a new location in winter. Cold. -25F some days. Work 20 minutes then in the truck. Thx for the walk through.
That's getting pretty chilly! Hard to do anything really! All the tools are frozen solid and steel work boots don't help 😟
Arron, I watch a 69kv sub built, I drove by it everyday to and from work. Quite a project. Thank you for the tour
Definitely a lot involved...
Especially these days! Even with basic equipment, today's procedures, permits etc. take much longer. Resulting in better safety and consistent work.
Thanks for showing us that Aaron. I used to work for a firm that provided telemetry equipment to the main grid provider here in the UK, and occasionally had to visit substations to deliver equipment. Those were 400/275 kV, with sounders to warn of impending switching operations.
Wouldn't the 50hz power hum do the trick?
Thanks for filming over again to avoid the dizziness!!!! So many youtubers don't take that into account! Very cool video, I always see small substations and wonder about the details.
Great video. I dont know any of the sub station equipment but I work out on the transmission lines. 2 years ago we had the utility close the line back in on us without any notice. Our master grounds were still up and guys were working on the line.
Yikes!!
@@generatorjohn4537 I didn't see it but I guess they said it blew our ground rod right out of the ground. It wasn't the first time they've done stuff like that to us and it won't be the last.
Oh man, that's scary 😔
@@mfk12340 When I worked in the substations years ago I was on the switching and tagging list. In other words I was sometimes in charge of projects while working inside the substations. All work that was performed was usually done in a de-energized state. Once the work was completed it was checked, tested, functionally checked, etc. Once all work was completed we would remove "our" workman's grounds if that was necessary for the particular project and then cancel the clearance. (A clearance is permission to perform work that is granted by the operating authority within electrical transmission system) These projects are planned weeks, months in advance BTW.
When we officially cancel the clearance, the work is all complete, no more work can be performed, and it's ready to return to normal service. We also declare that men and equipment are cleared and All Workman's Grounds are Removed!
How this can happen in your case is beyond me.
Sorry for the long explanation but someone is not following the safety procedures and if this happens again those responsible should be reported and sorry to say, fired!
@@generatorjohn4537 that's what's supposed to happen in our case too. And eversource never gave us a reason or explanation to what happened. At least for linehands. We had our master grounds one on like str # 180 and the other on str # 100ish. And eversource had been a pita with the 24 hour recall notice because it was one of the one of two lines going into this smaller substation. And somewhere somehow the chain of communications broke down and the re-energized the line with all our equipment still on it. Nobody was happy.
They also did the same thing to our drillers, they had a couple underground line strikes, digsafe didn't mark them, and eversource came out and threw the fuses back in and re-energized the underground without riding it. Nearly fried the operator who was still in the machine.
Also on our digsafes we did an audit on their reports. From the time we submitted a request from digsafe to when they said they went out and said it was clear was 13 minutes. They didn't even check if there were any utilities in the area.
👊 Aaron, retired electrician here is St.Louis, Missouri enjoying all the videos. Interesting, educational, informational, keep up the great work for your subscribers and your community. Stay safe !!!
Question, is 16 an hour with no insurance and no chance of raises until a year something that's normal for an apprentice electrician? I made 10/hour more as a biomed in Oregon but due to their whack covid policies I lost my job and had to start at the bottom. My coworker walked off the job because he said 16 an hour and no insurance is a no go for him. Am I just cheap labor? Boss said there is no raise money, but showed up to work last week with a brand new $70k truck. And he keeps getting us shit jobs...for instance his brother's house. Or his house. He's also a polygamist
@@Al_Gore_Rhythmn considering I started at 17/hr in Nevada where the minimum wage is 8 bucks I'd say your just cheap labor. Isn't the minimum wage in Oregon like 13 bucks
@@omarbojorquez7826 I was making 25 in Oregon plus Hella overtime and paid for my miles. In Utah, I'm making 16 an hour as an apprentice electrician. When did you start?
@@Al_Gore_Rhythmn I started last year, now im making 21/hr with free gas
@@Al_Gore_Rhythmn last year January
Watching this in Oklahoma here in the middle of July right now and I got to say the coolest part of your video has the be the snow. We’re baking out here in a heat wave (it’s been over 100*F almost daily and tomorrow’s supposed to be 111*F) and sure glad folks like you keep the power on so when I eventually get to the house, I can grab a cold one out of the fridge and stand in front of the ice cold AC vents and cool down before heading outside the next day.
Great videos to watch during my break time.
Fist bumps from Florida. Really appreciate you redoing the recording after seeing you wouldn't watch it yourself
Your depth of knowledge is humbling.. I wish I was smart enough to grasp what you were talking about.
Right before I retired , a new trouble man closed the wrong air circuit breakers on the 69kv sub , nice light show ...... no one hurt but WOW.............. be safe and double check everything ! we have 230kv , 138 kv and 69kv transmission substations ..... down in San Diego we also have a 500kv line coming in from Arizona Huge substation too Alan Thomas
Graduating from line school next week! Really appreciate all of your videos. Gives me a solid look into what I’ll be seeing out in the field here and there. Keep killin it! Thanks!
👊🏼 Hey Aaron, it’s always cool to see other power companies substation setups. I’m a station electrician for a power company in Virginia and work on this stuff everyday. Our stations go all the way from 4kv-34kv on the distribution side and 34kv-765kv on this transmission side. That 69 station is such a baby compared to our 765 EHV stations.
Great video Aaron. I did one of my engineering internships with NL Power and my cousin works with you guys based in Truro. Watching from Houston TX - where our major loads are in the summer from air conditioning. Almost all pole-mounted transformers are finned for heat dissipation. Most home heating in the winter is with natural gas.
use to live In texas as big as houston is Im surprised they use a coal fired plant. I remember living in Missiouri city as a kid and my dad driving to work in Rosenberg and It was cool seeing the steam coming from the stacks of WA parish early in the morning
@Andrew Quinlan How do you feel about the powers that be (pun intended). Since Ercot is closed to the rest of the United States. Do you feel that the loss of redundancy makes function more difficult? Reliability is really important from my perspective; Would the interests of the public be served better by integration as opposed to Self-Reliance?
North Korea has a similar policy called, “Juche”
Love your content my dude, Im a network engineer currently for Oneok in tulsa and were a natural gas provider, one of the largest in the midwest. Watching your work and the excitement but also the importance of intelligence has kinda pushed me to start taking classes and maybe make a career change. Ya the IT stuff is cool and all, but man this stuff really gets the gears going.
Thanks for the detailed walkthrough, I find these really interesting to compare how countries operate their substations. Appreciate your really clear explanations.
Great videos keep up the good work.
Thanks to all you Lineman for leaving some work for us Wireman. You are all under appreciated in my opinion. Shout out from Southern Nevada.
Watching from the suburban Chicago area. I'm not a lineman, but I am an electrical engineer so I understand most of what is going on. Cool stuff!
Not dizzy at all! Good work. Thanks for taking us with you. Fist bump from San Francisco!
👊👊
👊 West Virginia, USA. Not in the trade myself but I’m fascinated by it and love learning about it. Always enjoy your videos, appreciate the work you put into making them and the work you and all others do to keep the lights on!
You have extended my knowledge of distribution and what it gets to have that 120/240 and 240 and 480 3 phase stuff. Keep up the good work. Now to your other sub station video.
DE N2JYG
Somewhat retired in Sherman NY
👊 Had the pleasure of watching a crew replace a cross arm the other day after the previous one had failed, had reported the issue within the last three weeks, given that two winter storms and a wild early season intense thunderstorm wind event with winds pushing 60-70mph+ that brought almost 150,000 customers without power out of 1.2 million customers served it was a shock, but two bucket trucks and a supervisor changed out this cross arm in less then 30 minutes seemed effortless, should mention its a 3 phase sideline. But awesome to talk linework for a few minutes before the tailboard, and to see the reaction as a I dropped some power system knowledge from this channel. As always great video Aron watching from Somerset county NJ USA.
I just started on the engineering side things in the PNW, state side. Your videos are awesome I helping me understand from a lineman perspective.
Thanks Jonathan!
👊 Awesome vid. I'm on the other end of the phone talking to you guys. Always love seeing and hearing stories from the field.
Here in Jamaica, we also use 69kv transmission (a few 138kv subs) stepped down to 24kv distros (a few 13kv here and there). I work in the telecoms department for our power company.
we recently had a major accident about a block from my house at the substation. Apparently a sub-contractor was authorized to work within the cage and he got zapped, which shut down power for quite a while. I don't know if he made it or not, but definitely illustrates how dangerous it can be.
Be safe man!
I always worry about my Brothers and Sisters working in this field for that exact reason!! Especially stressing about my Power Line Foreman and hoping, praying, that he is safe always!! And all is well and is free to live his life being happy and very blessed!! What an amazing man and an honor for me to be blessed enough to be able to meet him, even for the short time that we was.. I'll see him again one day....very soon!! (Almighty God willing!!) Anyways i constantly worry about him, my best friend, my hero, one whom inspires me, and keeps me around when I want to give up... what an awesome guy!! Wow!! Im going to be just like him when I grow up!! Hehehe lol loving him forever xs infinity and e=mc2 but the Almighty loves him, me, you, and all of us even more then that though!!
Asalaam peace
Loving you all
Cheers and thanks for your channel! I'm 35 and wishing I would have looked into lineman / electrician more when I was young! (from Oklahoma City)
I started as a substation maint tech at 45. 35 is not to old. Do it, never too old.
Northern Minnesota. Love the videos. You’re answering questions I’ve always had.
Thank you! PSE&G in NJ is currently upgrading a substation near my house and I've been watching the progress. This helps me understand what I'm seeing. So much more for me to learn, but this is a nice source! Subscribed.
So that is what a God of our modern electrified civilization looks like? Thank you sir!
Love those glass insulators. Thanks for the tour!
Nice job Bob. I was a hot stick lineman on the 345kv lines in upstate NY for 30 years and loved the work. I always felt that the distribution line work was much more dangerous that what we did even though we were up 85 to 130 feet and at the higher voltages.
👊from San Diego. I recently entered my first substation as a consultant on a pice of equipment with the utilty. It was even more facinating than I expected. I enjoyed trying to identify the various components and even correctly answered a question that the manager gave to his team on one of the components. The substation I was in was substantially larger with multiple power transformers. It would be cool to see your tour of a larger substation. I appreciate your perspective as it has helped me in my career a lot. Thank you
Cool video! I'm a Jounrymen Electrician in Minnesota and you explained what a few items were that I didn't know. Thank you!👊
One of my customers has three feeds into their data center from two different substations. Two from the local substation, and a third from the substation at the big gas turbine powerplant down the river a bit. We have to coordinate with the operations center at the power company before we switch which of the three we're drawing on or they get suuuper cranky with us. Which is fair, having that kinda load drop off suddenly isn't great for the grid.
Awesome tour! Thanks for taking the time to show us around👍
love ur videos .keep it up.
ive been a sparky for 15+ years and alot of people think its just so simple but it really isnt.
its dangerous, dirty , and dangerous..
keep up the hood work!!
I came by a small rural sub like this the other day when they were performing a changeout of the main transformer. Neat process to watch for any that have not had a chance to see. I had to stop while they backed the large truck off the road to get it into the compound and while I was waiting I chatted with a lineman by the side of the road. He told me some jackleg had shot the other transformer with a rifle and destroyed it. Hope they caught that guy 🤬
Old style sub, brings back memories Bob, Thanks, Relay Tek
I’m a retired Steel mill Electrician I have trained with linemen in the same craft your in. I seldom dealt with anything over 12,277v but it always was interesting.I worked in PA USA.
Thank you for your videos. I'm new to your channel and I watched all of your previous videos over the weekend. They are very interesting and I now have an understanding of how the system works and how hard you work to keep things operating and safe. I thank you very much for your work I'm in Wisconsin (US) and am married to an electrician. I'm looking forward to more videos and learning. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Stay safe and God bless.
This is my first video from you. Retired from maintance. I have worked with 480 and have seen what damage that can do. People have made mistakes with that and survived. With the voltage you work with not so. A few years ago there was a linesman rodeo in Shakopee, MN. They talked about a linesman in a bucket 6 feet away from a distribution line when it arced to the bucket, Even doing the right thing can be fatal. Be careful please.
At 8:58 you show the tap setting for a voltage regulator. I know how DC voltage regulators work, but how do AC ones like those work? Does the tap automatically move as it detects output voltage? How quickly can they respond to transients? It sounds a lot like a huge VARIAC (I have a vintage one for 120VAC with step up capabilty).
Very cool walk-through! Video was great...not dizzy at all.
Thanks Randy! 👊🤝
Fist bump from West Sacramento California Another top of the mark video sir!
VERRY INFORMATIVE!! I LIKED IT!!! The fence arround the substation seem very secure. I mean, another layer of metal mesh on the fence and very big rolls of barbed wire on top. We definetly don't have this level of security in here in Quebec. I think all of our station is just standard galvanized fence (grounded of course) with 3 wire of barbed wire on top if we are lucky.
This video Probably saved my curious ass a trespassing charge. Thanks 😊
Tech tip, if you put your phone camera on manual exposure when you’re doing a shot like that in the truck it won’t brighten and darken when you move your head like it does when the cameras on automatic. Fascinating video by the way we’ve all seen these things it’s interesting to see how they work and what’s in there
Oh nice! That's a huge tip, appreciate it 🤝🙌. I've actually scrapped some footage in the past because of this.
Also thanks watching and taking the time to comment 🙏😀
Good info. One thing, you were a little off on the regulator voltage. You get +/-10% regulation, .625% per step. 2 raise would be about +1 1/2 volts.
Watching live from West Virginia, USA.
Thanks for the Tour. Watching from Vernon, BC. 👊
5:26 one important thing you left out is that arrestors are semiconductors :3
They will conduct only if the voltage is raised beyond normal operating limits, clamping it hard to ground and will stop conducting when the overvoltage is gone. But yes they do actually have a leakage current and it also grows with every time it fires
There's one on the transformer on the pole across the street from my house that is conducting in such a fashion that it is generating RFI of harmonics of the local am radio station. 1350 AM heard as a 60 hz modulated on 2700, 4050 and 5400 kHz in 60 meter ham band. I called power company a year ago, nothing done. It only bothers me, it doesn't travel far.
@@mikekokomomike I don't think that's the case. In normal operation they are just a simple resistor, there's nothing smart in them. They either conduct or don't. It's just a very big diode
@@whatevernamegoeshere3644 didn't you say that they conducted more after each surge they take? I know if I walk over to the pole with a receiver the ground wire is hot with RF. I have a spectrum analyzer and it is very visible. Maybe it's a corroded joint.
First time watching, subcribed after 15 seconds of watching!!
Great videos, great info!! THANK YOU!
30 amp fuses for a cool 2 million watt per phase transmission line. Bet they're not cheap! The thought of opening one of those switches under load is sobering. I see why they only do so remotely. Neat stuff, thanks for the look.
From Traralgon, Victoria, Australia, different voltages but looks similar to what we have in Australia. Nice work.👊
Watching from Montana USA 🇺🇸
Thank you for the video. BTW the previous one was fine. My first thoughts "hands in pockets", lol but I remembered what you said (dispatch, perimeter check...). I noticed that there is a lot of equipment mounted on wood. I guess that needs to be rebuilt every once in a long while.
I have been enjoying your videos for a long time now. I did not see where you did any fast movements to cause dizziness. I live in Portland, Maine. Enjoy
Hi Bob, watching from Windsor, Ontario; Canada. Watch your ground leads to the pads as thieves have been stealing the copper ground lines in a couple of locations here.
Where I live we are served by Essex power lines and they have put in three phase radio-controlled reclosers for safety I imagine. Probably shut her off right at the truck!
Pretty cool...
Would love to do something like this. I’m too old now. 36. Keep up the good work all the way from England.
Another great video, thanks for sharing your work days with us 👊 watching from the wacky west coast of Canada EH!
Thanks. Watching from Greenville SC. Thanks for sharing "your world" it was very interesting. Blessings, John 20:29
That substation x-fmr kinda looked like it has a leak on it. Thanks for the video keep them coming, great job 👍
Howdy Bob, nice channel and I do like the content. In watching what you present I have learned a lot about the "delivery side" of what the customers use. I was in traffic control manufacture for about 30 years and always was curious about the utility side of things. At our home we have breakers on the pole that covers an area for our neighborhood and down the street a ways. Really makes ya jump when one of those things go "Pop"! I am trying to figure out a way to convince our power company to move my power line to our home to a different transformer so I don't suffer the consequences of people not cutting their trees back. Thanks for your time and willingness to share your knowledge so we may be enlightened... no pun intended. By the way, I live in Oregon and I go by Bob also. Take care, be safe!
Thank you for keep Us informed.
From California
HEYY Aaron!! 👋👊🏼💪🏼🤘🏼 Much love brother! Love your videos! It’s just so interesting to me 😃
good videos Bob, could u make some detailed videos about how these substation assets are connected to busbars and ground. talk more about connector types such as side formed, 90 degrees, and connector compression types. thx
Learning all of this stuff is cool, even though I will never personally need it. It is kinda fun when I point something out like those voltage regulators completely off the wall and the reactions I get, thanks to your education. :) I don't always watch useless stuff on UA-cam... I love the engineering aspect of a lot of things.
There's a medium sized switching station near me; there's a big, rectangular box (maybe 2x the length of a shipping container) at the front of the station that was replaced within the last... 10 years? It caught fire and blew up. I was without power for a few days as they trucked in a brand new one and wired it in.
For me, any voltage is intimidating. I won't work with electrical while it's on, but off, single phase work isn't bad. I wired my garage with 240v, 50A service in a subpanel and replaced my main load center myself, and the service cable from the meter to the main panel. Had to replace the service cable as the sheathing split in the back of the cable and let rainwater straight into my old breaker panel. That was fun trying to identify (thought it was a leak behind my basement wall at first).
I forget where Aaron works, but the UA-cam channel Practical Engineering recently did a video of the 2003 blackout that involved Michigan, Ohio, PA, and a big chunk of Windsor, Canada. Incredibly interesting to know that power on the giant steel towers, can flow in more than one direction. I always thought it was just one way. Who knew? :)
Yea that was definitely interesting hearing power can flow in two directions at once from that video on 2003 blackout practical engineering. Lost power during that event and am served by a subsidiary of First Energy.
@@austinspringer5153 I'm in SE Michigan. I was at work (Radio Shack) back then when everything went dead. I was nearly out of gas in my truck too; I had planned on gassing up on the way home. Didn't happen. We got really busy after the power went out with customers coming in and buying batteries. I can't remember how long we were down for, but I remember tons of people thinking it was a terrorist thing. Glad it wasn't.
Wow awesome video, thanks for taking us inside ... I kept thinking "Danger Zone" as you were walking around :D
Thanks Tom! Good thinking, the entire inside the compound is a danger zone!
Hey man been checking out your videos iam a electrician in the mining industry but work with the same equipment we usually use the same line voltage from the utilities just run through a separation transformer our safty devices and arresters before heading underground with it nothing like being in a confined wet space with 12470 lol keep up the great vids
Always found walking around inside live substations somewhat disconcerting with all that electricity buzzing over my head. Fortunately most of my business usually was away from the bulk of the sub..it was an eye opening job for sure.
An excellent video. 💙 T.E.N.
Much Respect Sir...NJ IBEW!!
thank you for your time and expertise.
That's a bulky 69 kV fuse. We don't have such in my country. Thanks for showing it 👍
Watching from Houston TX.
Watching you from Thornville Ohio USA 🇺🇸
Increible los postes de madera. Aquí en España para baja tensión los postes son la mayoría de hormigón, y a partir de media tensión, todos en hormigón y/o celosía metálica.
Be safe man 👊 Wallingford Connecticut USA
Fun video. Thanks 4 showing us around
I was noticing the razor tape and double layer fence. I take it you have a lot of intrusion for copper theft? I live near a 500Kv switchyard and it's perimeter is patrolled by security guards because the fence was cut open on a almost weekly bases.
i have an industrial building formerly owned by a large manufacturer. they got bought by dresser rand so they closed up. it got divided into 8 businesses . i have 200k sq ft.
anyway at the corner of the lot is a substation like that .
we get our feed 4160 v as first customer on the feed. a while back they had to replace main switchgear so without telling us they switched supply and we became last on the feed and our voltage dropped. it created 3 weeks of downtime on one large molding press. i finally figure out they reduced our voltage down to 436 so the control transformer on the machine was only giving about 105 v. that stopped about a dozen solenoid valves from operating.
we complained so they brought in a temporary transformer like you mentioned. it was on a big flatbed . and switched us back and we got back to about 475 v.
so i also put in a boost transformer on the machine to give us an extra 12 volts .
Quite cool that the REIN (Repetitive Electrical Impulse Noise) coming off those lines is enough to interfere with the CMOS sensor in the camera - that's what the occasional spots appearing throughout the video are.
Very interesting for a layman! I will never look at a sub-station the same now. Ha!
During hurricane Laura and delta...here in louisiana we had 3 of these flood and and damage them....3weeks plus no power for miles and miles and miles..
I've never seen a double-circuit line quite like that one! Down here in the plains, they'd be separate structures on the same easement.
Watching from Jackson Tennessee brother I love your videos I’m learning a lot
Watching from slc utah, I enjoy learning about this high voltage stuff
I too am watching this from Utah, (Lehi) but work in SLC as an estimator for this type of work & just found this channel!
Electricity is so complicated yet so simple! Start the voltage high from the power plant, and drop it down as needed to deliver to sub stations, transformers, businesses and homes. Let's ya use relatively small cables to deliver major amps at high voltage.
great video, watching from Brazil 👊 !
Thanks for the visit to the infrastructure so often taken for granted. I’d like to compare with electrical distribution used in developing nations….how about some thoughts on African or even India’s distribution.
Interesting I did my electrical apprentice at a local electrical supply in country NSW Australia the HV we have here in Australia is 330 kv 132KV ( done by national supply ( from transition ie hydro coal etc ) we had 66kv 33 kv and 11kv . The HV fuses you talked about we called them drop out as when they blow you see them hanging down which I presume the same for you . Our LV is 415 / 240v
I'm watching from New Zealand
At 2:28 I saw an arc on one of the ceramic connectors! or is it the video?
I think you are seeing snow (flakes).
Yes, I believe so
I *think* that was the reflection from the flashing beacon on his truck. I saw it too. Those are insulators, not connectors.