Serving Energy Needs of Rural Texans Since 1939
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NewCorp Resources Electric Cooperative
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Recent News and Information from Cap Rock EnergySPRING STORM SEASON HAS ARRIVED Every season has its own characteristics. Whether it involves moisture, ice, lightning or blustery winds, every season can be a treacherous and busy one for Cap Rock Energy. For the spring season which is now upon us, lightning and high winds are the main culprits in weather-caused outages. High winds can move lines so they contact each other, causing a short. Lightning can damage different elements of the line at the same time. The spring storm season generally lasts from mid-April to mid-July, spawning many incidents of high winds and lightning. Getting your power back on as quickly and as safely as possible is the number-one priority at Cap Rock. Telephone, two-way radios and electronic equipment help get the linemen in the field and on the site in the shortest possible time. The lineman goes to the breaker, metering point or substation that serves the line with the problem. Breakers on distribution lines are just like house breakers. The breaker trips out when there is a fault on the line. The breaker is a form of insurance, making sure no further damage to the system is incurred. The breaker will trip once or more. Usually, you will experience three blinks and the final time, if the line has not been cleared, the power will not come back on. When the lineman reaches the tripped breaker, he first tries to put the breaker back in. If the breaker will not hold, he begins sectionalizing the line to locate the problem. Equipment helps the lineman locate the direction of the problem. He then patrols the line until the problem is located. Some problems are easy to spot, but others, such as a small hole in an insulator, may require examination of the tops of a number of poles before the problem is determined. Once the source of the trouble is found, it is repaired and the lineman returns to the breaker. If there is no other fault on the line, the breaker will hold, or stay in. If the breaker trips back off, the lineman must begin all over, looking for other trouble. Sometimes, the fuse at the transformer has kicked out and the lineman can simply put the fuse back in and the fuse will hold. At other times, the line on which the problem is occurring may be an extremely long line and it may take a longer time period to restore power. On extremely long lines, it is common practice to call another lineman to help in patrolling the line. Once any problem is corrected, the linemen normally patrol the lines to make sure there are no other problems. If there is a section of the line that cannot be reached, that portion of the line is disconnected and power is restored to the remainder of the line. However, if residences are located on the portion of line where a problem is occurring, the lineman will do everything possible to restore the power. Even if it means swimming a swollen stream, borrowing a tractor or a four-wheeler to cross rough or muddy country, or walking out a line that is five miles long. The telephones at Cap Rock Energy are answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; either by a customer service representative, dispatch employee or in major outages by our Outage Reporting System. At any hour, including weekends, there are linemen ready to do whatever is necessary to restore your power in the shortest possible time. We at Cap Rock Energy are as prepared for the spring storm season as possible, so please bear with us as we battle the lightning, rain and wind storms common to this season. |
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