Can We Believe Anything that ERCOT Says?

[oldag]

You're telling me these things don't have fuses or breakers to prevent that from happening ?

Sudden surges can cause internal arcing if the insulation on the windings has been degraded (age, etc.) The surges are often accompanied by transients that for a short time exceed the transformer rating. These can hit before a breaker can react.

 

[Younggun]

You're telling me these things don't have fuses or breakers to prevent that from happening ?

Those fuses are before the transformer and are set to prevent a sustained fault in the transformer from damaging the grid. The “breakers” are recloser a which serve the same purpose but trip due to faults usually related to lines down, still an overload concept but at much higher voltages that what you see on the service side of the transformer.

Are you sure it’s the transformers that are the cause and not something up stream? Usually an area going down is due to something besides the transformer.


I really don’t know much about your situation or where you live so trying to not make to many assumptions. It’s kind of like diagnosing a care based on “it won’t start”. There are lots of possibilities that can be listed but it really doesn’t mean anything. Certain things can probably be rules out though. I don’t actually understand your reference to the rolling blackouts. Not having them wouldn’t really be protecting the transformers. But having them wouldn’t either. If they actually went out it’s likely they were already getting close to failure or very near what they could carry. It’s not something that is easy to see by looking at it unless you notice lights flickering or something.




Sorry for your situation and hope it improves soon.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ZX9RCAM]

I'm really surprised with our power service during the event.
Several here probably remember all my bitching during the summer months about fuses repeatedly blowing.
We only lost power for 2 hours on Wednesday, and I thought they were starting rolling black outs in our area, but it never went off again.

I can't imagine being without power for extended periods of time during this event.

 

[flgfish]

I'm really surprised with our power service during the event.
Several here probably remember all my bitching during the summer months about fuses repeatedly blowing.
We only lost power for 2 hours on Wednesday, and I thought they were starting rolling black outs in our area, but it never went off again.

I can't imagine being without power for extended periods of time during this event.

Are you Centerpoint or Entergy? We have CP and had no power from 4am Monday until late Tuesday. Got it back late Tuesday and don’t think it went out again.

Both our furnaces took the piss thanks to the outage as well... blown control boards. They were 17 years old... turns out limping along old equipment isn’t a great idea.

 

[ZX9RCAM]

Are you Centerpoint or Entergy? We have CP and had no power from 4am Monday until late Tuesday. Got it back late Tuesday and don’t think it went out again.

Both our furnaces took the piss thanks to the outage as well... blown control boards. They were 17 years old... turns out limping along old equipment isn’t a great idea.

We use Centerpoint.

 

[no2gates]

Those fuses are before the transformer and are set to prevent a sustained fault in the transformer from damaging the grid. The “breakers” are recloser a which serve the same purpose but trip due to faults usually related to lines down, still an overload concept but at much higher voltages that what you see on the service side of the transformer.

Are you sure it’s the transformers that are the cause and not something up stream? Usually an area going down is due to something besides the transformer.


I really don’t know much about your situation or where you live so trying to not make to many assumptions. It’s kind of like diagnosing a care based on “it won’t start”. There are lots of possibilities that can be listed but it really doesn’t mean anything. Certain things can probably be rules out though. I don’t actually understand your reference to the rolling blackouts. Not having them wouldn’t really be protecting the transformers. But having them wouldn’t either. If they actually went out it’s likely they were already getting close to failure or very near what they could carry. It’s not something that is easy to see by looking at it unless you notice lights flickering or something.




Sorry for your situation and hope it improves soon.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It's the transformers for sure. Saw them replace the one across the street from us at 5:00am this morning. They have a crane to lift it into place. Our power finally came back on at 6:45 this morning.

 

[no2gates]

Sudden surges can cause internal arcing if the insulation on the windings has been degraded (age, etc.) The surges are often accompanied by transients that for a short time exceed the transformer rating. These can hit before a breaker can react.

They are replacing dozens of the transformers in the surrounding neighborhood. I personally have seen them replace 4 in less than a quarter of a mile radius, and I don't know how many I didn't witness them replacing.

 

[Axxe55]

It's the transformers for sure. Saw them replace the one across the street from us at 5:00am this morning. They have a crane to lift it into place. Our power finally came back on at 6:45 this morning.

Good to hear you finally have power back. Stay safe and warm.

 

[innominate]

This article breaks it down pretty good and pretty well confirms what my wife has been hearing at PEC.

What Went Wrong With Texas’s Main Electric Grid and Could It Have Been Prevented?

An energy expert explains why some four million Texans suffered a barrage of winter storms without heat in their homes.

www.texasmonthly.com

I get most of what he says except this, "While homes that are built up north are designed to hold heat in, our homes are basically designed to keep heat out and get it out as fast as we can." Are home insulated differently? Am I incorrect in assuming insulation is there to decrease temp/ energy transfer?

 

[Axxe55]

I get most of what he says except this, "While homes that are built up north are designed to hold heat in, our homes are basically designed to keep heat out and get it out as fast as we can." Are home insulated differently? Am I incorrect in assuming insulation is there to decrease temp/ energy transfer?

Insulation is insulation. What insulates at keeping the cold out, also insulates to help keep the heat out as well. Insulation in your home is just as important at keeping heat out during the summer.

 

[innominate]

Insulation is insulation. What insulates at keeping the cold out, also insulates to help keep the heat out as well. Insulation in your home is just as important at keeping heat out during the summer.

I get that but the person that I quoted from Texas monthly implies our building are designed to shed heat and keep heat out. Just wondering if the vodak was hampering my comprehension of his statement. Or my understanding of insulation

 

[Axxe55]

I get that but the person that I quoted from Texas monthly implies our building are designed to shed heat and keep heat out. Just wondering if the vodak was hampering my comprehension of his statement. Or my understanding of insulation

Do you own an insulated mug or cup? Put hot or cold liquid in it. It doesn't matter to the cup or mug. It still keeps hot liquids hot, and cold liquids cold. A house really isn't any different.

I think you are understanding just fine, regardless of the vodak!

 

[HKaltwasser]

I get that but the person that I quoted from Texas monthly implies our building are designed to shed heat and keep heat out. Just wondering if the vodak was hampering my comprehension of his statement. Or my understanding of insulation

There are different insulation requirements up north, but his understanding of how it works is off.

He should probably stick to energy.

 

[avvidclif]

I get that but the person that I quoted from Texas monthly implies our building are designed to shed heat and keep heat out. Just wondering if the vodak was hampering my comprehension of his statement. Or my understanding of insulation

Millennial interpretation of how insulation works.

 

[Big Dipper]

If he had been talking about HVAC, I would agree.

Up North our “cold air” returns were at the floor (cold air sinks). Here they are in the ceiling. Thus in the winter here the hot/warm air tends to be recirculated at the ceiling level. Not very efficient.

 

[Wolfwood]

anybody remember ENRON?

 

[Texas_Lone_Ranger]

Glenn Beck and AG Paxton discuss ERCOT:

 

[Wolfwood]

so you cant run the plants at 100% because of "environmental regulation" until you have already bought all the power available from elsewhere at the rate of atleast $1500 MWh.

here is the whole thing @Axxe55

sounds familiar to me, but i was jsut a kid then. what do you guys think? here is the whole order downloaded from d0tg0v

 

[toddnjoyce]

I get that but the person that I quoted from Texas monthly implies our building are designed to shed heat and keep heat out. Just wondering if the vodak was hampering my comprehension of his statement. Or my understanding of insulation

My CO home that we built in 2013 did not have roof venting the same as we do it here in Texas. Where the insulation was placed and what R-value it to meet was to a different code than here. Radiant barrier isn’t needed or used up there, either.

 

[innominate]

My CO home that we built in 2013 did not have roof venting the same as we do it here in Texas. Where the insulation was placed and what R-value it to meet was to a different code than here. Radiant barrier isn’t needed or used up there, either.

Yeah. Last night on the vodak I was thinking about my last house. It had the roof venting with blown insulation but no radiant barrier. I was wondering how much of a difference no vents and extra insulation would actually help without a internal heat source. After 3-5 days of no heat would there be a difference?