Agree. FPL routinely surveys all lines and poles to check for corroded and loose harware, bad grounds, RF interference, and anything which could cause power outages. Saves a lot of headaches.
Jacknash - Smart move, buying the surge protector. We've had customers in the USA in the northeast whose electronics were wiped out by surges caused by a nearby heavy A/C unit in an office building. They're a wise investment regardless where one lives.
With us down here, the tropics and near tropics, lightning usually doesn't hit power lines but instead it can cause the third-leg ground wire voltage which should be zero to instead rise well above 'ground voltage'. Surges flow from ground backward thru electronic devices, killing them instantly.
It wasn't so much of a problem when appliances were built robust electromechanical devices and when TV's and radios were built around tube circuits, but chips and transistors are just sand, glass, and it takes little in the way of excess voltage to pop them.
Well it's irksome but it's not the end of the world, is it? Comparisons to power reliability in Missouri sounds dramatic but they're imperfect, aren't they?
Missouri lacks three ingredients found in abundance both in Florida and the Bahamas: heat, humidity and salty air. This terrible troika is the natural enemy of electric lines, insulators, metal shoes which clamp lines to insulators, and virtually every piece of hardware on power poles, as well as the poles themselves.
Constant heat, humidity, and salty air beat the living snot out of anything. Add the fun ingredient of high voltage, and strange and wonderful things occur: corrosion, arcing, burning, you name it.
Oh, and let's not forget to add in a fourth player, a real wild card: lightning. Does wonders for all things metal, electrical, wooden, masonry, you name it.
We don't think about these things but that doesn't mean they're ongoing, constantly.
Look, here in Florida, FPL is a well run company. Still, during summer it's not unusual for power to dip or momentarily fail at least once weekly. During thunderstorms power often fails briefly, sometimes longer. Ironically, though power often remains up during tropical storms, after storms pass we're plagued with endless dips and failures.
No complaints here, just chalk it off to electric power delivery in the tropics and sub tropics. Heat and electricity and salt air are natural enemies of whatever we build of metal, plastic, or even wood and masonry. Add in high voltages in the lines in the kilovolt range, you accelerate the destruction. Toss in some lightning, well, you get the idea. That the power grid manages to work with such regularity is a tribute to the men and women who build and maintain it.
In the BEC instance, we have the failure of what seems to be the main feeder from Clifton Pier Power Station and possibly a transformer substation out by the airport. This occurred during the wee hours and yet within four and one half hours, power was back up to ninety-five percent.
Annoying, hot, sweaty, but by the start of business hours, seems like things were back again.
Always room for improvement, yeah, but things could be far, far worse.
paul_vincent_zecchino says...
Agree. FPL routinely surveys all lines and poles to check for corroded and loose harware, bad grounds, RF interference, and anything which could cause power outages. Saves a lot of headaches.
On Residents angry over power cut
Posted 28 September 2012, 8:57 p.m. Suggest removal
paul_vincent_zecchino says...
Jacknash -
Smart move, buying the surge protector. We've had customers in the USA in the northeast whose electronics were wiped out by surges caused by a nearby heavy A/C unit in an office building. They're a wise investment regardless where one lives.
With us down here, the tropics and near tropics, lightning usually doesn't hit power lines but instead it can cause the third-leg ground wire voltage which should be zero to instead rise well above 'ground voltage'. Surges flow from ground backward thru electronic devices, killing them instantly.
It wasn't so much of a problem when appliances were built robust electromechanical devices and when TV's and radios were built around tube circuits, but chips and transistors are just sand, glass, and it takes little in the way of excess voltage to pop them.
Smart move on your part.
On Residents angry over power cut
Posted 28 September 2012, 8:56 p.m. Suggest removal
paul_vincent_zecchino says...
Well it's irksome but it's not the end of the world, is it? Comparisons to power reliability in Missouri sounds dramatic but they're imperfect, aren't they?
Missouri lacks three ingredients found in abundance both in Florida and the Bahamas: heat, humidity and salty air. This terrible troika is the natural enemy of electric lines, insulators, metal shoes which clamp lines to insulators, and virtually every piece of hardware on power poles, as well as the poles themselves.
Constant heat, humidity, and salty air beat the living snot out of anything. Add the fun ingredient of high voltage, and strange and wonderful things occur: corrosion, arcing, burning, you name it.
Oh, and let's not forget to add in a fourth player, a real wild card: lightning. Does wonders for all things metal, electrical, wooden, masonry, you name it.
We don't think about these things but that doesn't mean they're ongoing, constantly.
Look, here in Florida, FPL is a well run company. Still, during summer it's not unusual for power to dip or momentarily fail at least once weekly. During thunderstorms power often fails briefly, sometimes longer. Ironically, though power often remains up during tropical storms, after storms pass we're plagued with endless dips and failures.
No complaints here, just chalk it off to electric power delivery in the tropics and sub tropics. Heat and electricity and salt air are natural enemies of whatever we build of metal, plastic, or even wood and masonry. Add in high voltages in the lines in the kilovolt range, you accelerate the destruction. Toss in some lightning, well, you get the idea. That the power grid manages to work with such regularity is a tribute to the men and women who build and maintain it.
In the BEC instance, we have the failure of what seems to be the main feeder from Clifton Pier Power Station and possibly a transformer substation out by the airport. This occurred during the wee hours and yet within four and one half hours, power was back up to ninety-five percent.
Annoying, hot, sweaty, but by the start of business hours, seems like things were back again.
Always room for improvement, yeah, but things could be far, far worse.
On Residents angry over power cut
Posted 28 September 2012, 8:51 p.m. Suggest removal
paul_vincent_zecchino says...
Well, it's excellent encouraging news isn't it? The cost seems more than modest considering the returns.
On BTC to invest $20-$30M to bring NGN 'to market'
Posted 28 September 2012, 8:34 p.m. Suggest removal
paul_vincent_zecchino says...
"I asked you for water. You gave me gasoline."
- Chester Arthur Burnett a/k/a 'Howlin' Wolf',
c. 1952
Paul Vincent Zecchino
Manasoviet Key, Florida
15 September, 2012
On Former officers guilty of stealing gasoline
Posted 15 September 2012, 9:23 p.m. Suggest removal
paul_vincent_zecchino says...
Tarzan -
Yes indeed. Agree. They always fear good honest men, and so they attack them to conceal their fear.
Mr. Ingraham's reputation for honesty and integrity of character long and well preceed him.
The Bahamas clearly reflect the many fine benefits of his tireless efforts.
Paul Vincent Zecchino
Manasota Key, Florida
09 September, 2012
On Why the PLP is still afraid of Hubert Ingraham
Posted 9 September 2012, 2:56 p.m. Suggest removal
paul_vincent_zecchino says...
Sound counsel from a man of many accomplishments. His observations and recommendations well apply over here as well.
Paul Vincent Zecchino
Manasota Key, Florida
04 September, 2012
On Bahamians urged: Alter behaviour to revive economy
Posted 4 September 2012, 8:19 p.m. Suggest removal
paul_vincent_zecchino says...
Man in charged in cutlass attack missing a lawyer? Have they checked all the hatboxes?
On Cutlass suspect missing lawyer
Posted 4 September 2012, 8:17 p.m. Suggest removal
paul_vincent_zecchino says...
Agree. There are no coincidences. All part of a piece.
On Sentence for part in $6m drug smuggling operation
Posted 2 September 2012, 10:19 p.m. Suggest removal
paul_vincent_zecchino says...
Oh, is Norman's Key back in business?
On Sentence for part in $6m drug smuggling operation
Posted 2 September 2012, 10:14 p.m. Suggest removal