I'm finally back, kinda!

[etstudent]

Been through hell here in NJ with this stupid storm. I miss reading about all the electronics news on here. I still don't have power, I'm at my in-laws who got power back yesterday, thank goodness! I haven't been able to do or even look at my ET program in a week. I'm sure I will be have some good questions for ya son when I get back to my program. Talk to you guys soon.

[TorqueRanger]

Well good luck to you boss .. I live by Atlantic City and have been towing cars out of AC ,Ventnor City ,and Margate city..

[etstudent]

Yeah AC is mess I heard, a real mess. The shore in general is in very bad shape I hear. Union beach near where I live is in real bad shape. Good luck to you, I hope everything gets better.

[w2aew]

We were without power until late last night, only 4 days in the dark thankfully. My in-laws are still without power. I still don't have Internet, TV, phone - but getting by with spotty cellular phone/data. I grew up in Monmouth county NJ, which was hit much worse than here in Middlesex/Somerset county. Got some tragic news the AM, a neighbor of my in-laws had a fatal fire overnight - lost a family member and the house due to a candle.

[FenderBender]

Woo just got electricity back too. North Jersey here.

[FenderBender]

Good God there's a lot of people from NJ here.

[w2aew]

Good God there's a lot of people from NJ here.

Wow, there sure are!

[etstudent]

Sad about the candle fire, my heart goes out to the family. My mom uses a lot of candles, and it makes me nervous as all hell.
good to hear power is coming back, I think mine will be back today, like very soon. I saw trucks up the street. Good luck to everyone from NJ, be safe, we will get by.

[M0BSW]

 I hope you all get sorted out really soon, I've been watching it on our local TV channels, and you all have my family's best wishes. It's been the main talk on Ham radio too. Hope you all can get things put right quickly.
Paul Collins & family XX

[etstudent]

I hope you all get sorted out really soon, I've been watching it on our local TV channels, and you all have my family's best wishes. It's been the main talk on Ham radio too. Hope you all can get things put right quickly.
Paul Collins & family XX

Thank you for the nice reply. Its slowly getting back to normal. Thank God for Costco, they have been great throughout this. Orderly gas lines, very organized and plenty of gas. Cops at the lines too really, REALLY help.

[Mechatrommer]

a neighbor of my in-laws had a fatal fire overnight - lost a family member and the house due to a candle.

maybe its time someone youtube some on how diy safety candle light stand. this shows just how improperly administered candle light is as bad as electrocution. the easiest is just place the candle light on a stable metal plate. tin cover of empty cream or milk or cereal etc can, when the candle flip over it will fall on the metal, not flammable material. dont put candle near window with curtain, keep out of children reach  etc. precaution.

[FenderBender]

a neighbor of my in-laws had a fatal fire overnight - lost a family member and the house due to a candle.

maybe its time someone youtube some on how diy safety candle light stand. this shows just how improperly administered candle light is as bad as electrocution. the easiest is just place the candle light on a stable metal plate. tin cover of empty cream or milk or cereal etc can, when the candle flip over it will fall on the metal, not flammable material. dont put candle near window with curtain, keep out of children reach  etc. precaution.

I agree. Every time there is one of these crisis situations, it seems that there is always a unfortunate fatality caused by a candle burning the house down.

[SeanB]

People do not use candles often enough as light source, so they are not aware of how to handle them. I would doubt that this was in a proper metal candle holder, but in a decorative holder or just on a plate.

Candles - none by me. Torches and gas lamps yes, as well as spare mantles and batteries.

[T4P]

That's why i use these in a total blackout (A real one, been there done that, something knocked out power for almost the entire night)

Easy to handle and certainly no danger of tipping over on a plate

[SeanB]

A whole night...............

longest was 4 days when a mobile crane drove through the 132kv power line, and recently 2 days when a digger found the 11kV cable joint with a pickaxe. That cable is still awaiting the highpot testing needed to put it back in service, but luckily we have the other loop available for power, as well as the 400A 3 phase backfeed to the next substation with a 1 MVA transformer in it. It has plenty of spare capacity to handle our 150kVA load.

[Mechatrommer]

That's why i use these in a total blackout... (picture)

amatuer!

[IanB]

a digger found the 11kV cable joint with a pickaxe

Is the digger still alive?

Some years back a buried high voltage distribution cable developed a short circuit fault under the pavement (sidewalk) of the main shopping street in the town where I used to live. It made an enormous bang and the force of the explosion lifted the paving slabs of the path above. Everyone thought a bomb had gone off.

[SeanB]

Still swinging a pickaxe and still digging through cables. Steel pick with wooden handle and steel tape armoured paper cable has an impressive bang and not much else, the distribution system has fault relays that act fast to disconnect the feeder from the 132kV substation 500m away. He just happened to catch the edge of a joint and punched through the lead and into one of the conductors. The cable was made in 1966 in South Africa by African Cables, I have a little piece in my office of the lead sheath that they cut out and replaced with 2 plastic scotchcasts and 2m of cable to do the joint. The metro does not do sweated leadwork any more, even if it is a lot more reliable, just that the epoxy is quicker. Some of the older Telkom guys do still do it on main distribution cabling, where they have 1000 pairs to join if there is a fault and all the cabling is lead sheathed under the bitumen and steel tape