Wierd household electrical fault

[Sysman]

The last power cut we had killed my ups.

Ho hum.

The "U" in UPS doesn't stand for "Uninterruptable".

I witnessed one take out a pair of expensive clientco disk controllers.

I had noticed them testing the diesel generator as I arrived that morning. I should have switched the computers off before they did any damage.

And at another site, a shiny new UPS was being installed.

Something went wrong and it took the power out for the entire building.

The halon dumped too.

And they weren't allowed to replace the halon, so that meant replacing that system as well.

[Sysman]

Last power cut we had killed my TV, microwave, HiFi, alarm radio, DAB radio, hob, oven, boiler control panel and 2 DS chargers.

Apparently all houses in our street had damaged goods - the mains supply "broke down" resulting in a big electrical surge on the neutral (I think thats what they said). All items replaced/repaired with a week.

A chap who had lived in Nigeria said that power cuts were part of life out there, but one day they got the wiring wrong in a substation and fed 3 phase instead of 2 phase to customers.

Lots of fried equipment.

[BrilloPad]

The "U" in UPS doesn't stand for "Uninterruptable".

So is wikipedia wrong?

Uninterruptible power supply - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An uninterruptible power supply, also uninterruptible power source, UPS or battery/flywheel backup, is an electrical apparatus that provides emergency power to a load when the input power source, typically mains power, fails.

[Sysman]

So is wikipedia wrong?

Uninterruptible power supply - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An uninterruptible power supply, also uninterruptible power source, UPS or battery/flywheel backup, is an electrical apparatus that provides emergency power to a load when the input power source, typically mains power, fails.

Let's put it another way.

These things are prone to Murphy's Law.

And if they'll last long enough to fire up a diesel generator, Murphy will cheerfully oblige in that department too.

Flat crankshaft bearings anyone?

[vetran]

pretty much any UPS made in the last decade will come with communications, most will report battery status.

A good number of manufacturers have added a partial on the fly battery test as a standard.

sounds like in the Halon dump situation the EPO was triggered, it would bring the building down instantly that's its job. Its one of the things you check, double check and triple check on install, most likely they had it for Normally closed operation and it should be normally open or vice versa.

Most good engineers would lock the halon off during an install, its nasty stuff you don't want to be breathing it often.

But frequently the customer overloads their breakers and you switch the power on and there is a sort of domino run along the MCBs the inrush current exceeding the MCBs rating.

Generator tests are a job you should do every quarter.

[lilelvis2000]

We had a total loss of power that would trip out every time we switched it back on, turns out a squirrel had gotten into the loft and chewed through the 30A shower cable.

Poor bugger was found with it limbs in a star jump stance, teeth still gripping.

Cool. I've got a problem in my conservatory somewhere which keeps tripping all the sockets. It was happening several times a day, So I've just disconnected the supply to the conservatory. I'll probably have to take the roof apart to find the leak. The fan in there burned out mysteriously a couple of years back...suspect a leak in that area.

[NickFitz]

Let's put it another way.

These things are prone to Murphy's Law.

And if they'll last long enough to fire up a diesel generator, Murphy will cheerfully oblige in that department too.

Flat crankshaft bearings anyone?

I was at a client's when a digger took out the power to the whole area. The generator immediately kicked in, and just as immediately caught fire

We all ended up standing outside on the hottest day of the year. So the woman who ran everything (not sure what her job title was, but she seemed to just take charge of everything) flagged down a passing ice cream van and told the bloke to stay there and give everybody whatever they wanted until we were allowed back in, and bring the bill to the company

[Sysman]

I was at a client's when a digger took out the power to the whole area. The generator immediately kicked in, and just as immediately caught fire

We all ended up standing outside on the hottest day of the year. So the woman who ran everything (not sure what her job title was, but she seemed to just take charge of everything) flagged down a passing ice cream van and told the bloke to stay there and give everybody whatever they wanted until we were allowed back in, and bring the bill to the company

Sounds like an accounts lady I used to work with. I can't remember her actual job title, but our theory was that she was the one who really ran the company.

Result on the ice creams!

[xoggoth]

Modern power breakers are very sensitive, just a bit of water on a plug will trip them. On power cut damage, it's more usually the surge if they flick on again rather than the cutoff, had a laptop wrecked by that. Nowadays in addition to anti surge socket I run my PCs off a wireless controlled plug, supply stays off until you turn it on again.

[Sysman]

Modern power breakers are very sensitive, just a bit of water on a plug will trip them. On power cut damage, it's more usually the surge if they flick on again rather than the cutoff, had a laptop wrecked by that. Nowadays in addition to anti surge socket I run my PCs off a wireless controlled plug, supply stays off until you turn it on again.

Yep. I took the precaution of switching all my gear off when the power went in case of a surge when it came back.

I've got circuit breakers in the apartment here. You have to be careful not to have a vacuum cleaner plus iron plus kettle on the same circuit.

As I found out when a tin of tea hit the deck while making a cuppa during an ironing session, if you must know.