Our substation explodes

Shanazel

Shanazel

Moderator
We live near a substation that periodically
experiences technical difficulties. In the predawn of this morning the
difficulties included explosions and two-story high flames that went on for a couple of minutes before subsiding. Usually these
things last only seconds. It poured rain all night so we weren't worried about a
range fire and Roy had moved the horses out of the adjoining pasture so they
were safe, but it was still plenty of excitement. Heavy equipment has been up
and down our dirt road all day; it will probably be barely passable by the time
the rain ends.

The two videos below were taken from a distance. The explosions were pretty impressive from our
upstairs window only about 75 yards away.


http://trib.com/news/local/casper/su...a4bcf887a.html

__________________
 
Aniseteph

Aniseteph

New member
Woooooaaaahhh, that's scary. Was it making that thrumming noise? :shok: I'm no electrician but I don't trust electricity when it's making a noise, it's just not right.
 
Ariadne

Ariadne

Well-known member
:shok:

... I'm starting to get a little suspicious of all these "accidents" lately... :confused:

How close do you live to the substation? Are you alright?
 
Mosaic

Mosaic

Super Moderator
Glad that it was confined to the immediate area around the substation & you & your neighbours & horses are all OK.. Very scary. I can imagine that the explosion made everyone jump. Has it caused electricity loss throughout the area & if so when on earth would power be restored? Wonder what tripped it, birds/possums & the like have been known to trip explosions by sitting on the wrong thing.
~Mosaic
 
Bast

Bast

New member
That would have freaked me out! I've seen transformers go boom when hit by lightning but nothing that lasted as long as that did. I certainly wouldn't have been standing around with a video camera in case it exploded outwards.
 
Salome

Salome

Administrator
I lived in an apartment in eastern europe for a while... Every time I had to plug anything in or out, a little blue arc of electricity would shoot out of the plug and that freaked me out! I can't imagine a freaking transform exploding.
 
Shanazel

Shanazel

Moderator
It pretty much melted the far side of substation. There have been explosions before but this one lasted the longest. No word on what caused it, just "malfunction." Lots of noise, lots of light, loss of power for less time than you might think. The power and light guys told my husband there were no actual flames, just a huge display of electric lights.

Bast, the folks with the video cameras were blocks away, believe it or not. If I'd videoed it from our house nothing would've shown up but sheets of light.

Ariadne, we're fine. We live about 75 yards from the substation and have done so for 22 years. They recently doubled the size of the thing (not happy about that) but the new section is on the far side of the old section from us. Our community is booming with new houses and businesses going up everywhere. We used to be in the country but town is encroaching around us. I'm ready to move to the ranch but my husband's business is also booming so for now here we are. I just make as many trips up north as I can. :)
 
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Ariadne

Ariadne

Well-known member
I'm glad to hear that it was on the far side still 75 yards is pretty close... We had a substation go down here once when, according to a witness, a cat ran between something it shouldn't have. (I understand there was nothing left of the cat.) A full meltdown just sounds scary.

I know what you mean about the community booming. I am so ready to move to somewhere more spacious. When we moved here years ago this was a nice town with the presumption of "city" in the title. It's not so presumptuous anymore.
 
khanjar

khanjar

New member
Shanazel said:
We live near a substation that periodically
experiences technical difficulties. In the predawn of this morning the
difficulties included explosions and two-story high flames that went on for a couple of minutes before subsiding. Usually these
things last only seconds. It poured rain all night so we weren't worried about a
range fire and Roy had moved the horses out of the adjoining pasture so they
were safe, but it was still plenty of excitement. Heavy equipment has been up
and down our dirt road all day; it will probably be barely passable by the time
the rain ends.

The two videos below were taken from a distance. The explosions were pretty impressive from our
upstairs window only about 75 yards away.


http://trib.com/news/local/casper/su...a4bcf887a.html

__________________
Click to expand...

What was the air like during and after the light show did you get that sense of the air during and after a lightning storm?

I witnessed an electrical sub station going pear shaped when I was a kid and every time I experience a thunderstorm now, my mind casts back to when I was a kid and I saw our local sub station explode. The sound, that high voltage buzzing and a sickening crackling with what looked like lightning coming from the ground and going up into the air. The sub station was about two miles away, but I learned that night to love the smell of ionised air and so in my home I run a hefty air ioniser, it knocks dust out of the air and makes the place feel cooler and cleaner, oh and it aids sleep.
 
AndreaSTL

AndreaSTL

New member
I'm impressed that power was restored so quickly. You did say there wasn't fire, but it just seems like with all that light and noise it would have been worse. I don't mean to use such technical language! :lol:
 
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