×
Follow Us
Results 1 to 7 of 7

It's not Dead till you Prove it's Dead!!!

 Jump to latest post
    #1
  1. Join Date
    May 2016
    Posts
    7
    Reputation

    It's not Dead till you Prove it's Dead!!!

    Came across an interesting safety article today and was drawn to the story of Jim White's experience back in the day when he went out to test a 4160 volt transformer that was having problems for a customer. I shared a similar experience with a fellow technician about 10 years ago at a large college university while performing maintenance at night.

    Me and this technician were tasked with performing maintenance on 15kv switches at different locations on campus, fed from a substation breaker. We isolated all secondary 480v equipment, installed a lock on the racked out 15 kV breaker, and went to very first 15kv switch to perform work. Keep in mind this was back in the day, before our company had any kind of official safety program.

    We took the back cover off and my fellow technician went to install grounds. I said "wait let's test it before we put grounds on." He said "we isolated and lock out everything." I said "yeah I know but let's test babe!" Well to both of our surprise the 15 kV switch was still energized it was being back fed from a Pringle switch on the 480v secondary that was stuck in the closed position after we had opened it!!

    After we cleaned the mess out of our pants it took us some time to find the bad secondary switch that was hung up. We found it and the night went on without any more surprises. There was clear Assumption that we were safe!! I like that quote. It's not Dead till you Prove it's Dead!!! Be safe and have a good day.

    http://support.fluke.com/FInd-Sales/...03_ENG_C_W.PDF

  2. #2
  3. Join Date
    Nov 2015
    Location
    Sac, CA
    Posts
    10
    Reputation

    Pringle Switches

    Just read this and was wondering about Pringle Switches. Seems like they're pretty common, is this a type of switch? Or Pringle is the manufacturer. Seems as though the company was bought by Eaton.

    Just curious...

  4. #3
  5. Join Date
    May 2016
    Posts
    7
    Reputation
    Yes, Pringle is the manufacturer, but it's actually a bolted pressure switch. Not sure who owns what but It's kind of like how people refer to their multi-meter as a "fluke."

    Quote Originally Posted by prime_mover View Post
    Just read this and was wondering about Pringle Switches. Seems like they're pretty common, is this a type of switch? Or Pringle is the manufacturer. Seems as though the company was bought by Eaton.

    Just curious...

  6. #4
  7. Join Date
    May 2018
    Posts
    25
    Reputation
    Quote Originally Posted by marvinray View Post
    Came across an interesting safety article today and was drawn to the story of Jim White's experience back in the day when he went out to test a 4160 volt transformer that was having problems for a customer. I shared a similar experience with a fellow technician about 10 years ago at a large college university while performing maintenance at night.

    Me and this technician were tasked with performing maintenance on 15kv switches at different locations on campus, fed from a substation breaker. We isolated all secondary 480v equipment, installed a lock on the racked out 15 kV breaker, and went to very first 15kv switch to perform work. Keep in mind this was back in the day, before our company had any kind of official safety program.

    We took the back cover off and my fellow technician went to install grounds. I said "wait let's test it before we put grounds on." He said "we isolated and lock out everything." I said "yeah I know but let's test babe!" Well to both of our surprise the 15 kV switch was still energized it was being back fed from a Pringle switch on the 480v secondary that was stuck in the closed position after we had opened it!!

    After we cleaned the mess out of our pants it took us some time to find the bad secondary switch that was hung up. We found it and the night went on without any more surprises. There was clear Assumption that we were safe!! I like that quote. It's not Dead till you Prove it's Dead!!! Be safe and have a good day.

    http://support.fluke.com/FInd-Sales/...03_ENG_C_W.PDF
    With regards to the electrical industry, no truer words have ever been spoken. A lot of electricians/technicians have lost their lives to "assumptions".

  8. #5
  9. Join Date
    Dec 2018
    Location
    Atlanta, GA
    Posts
    27
    Reputation

    Backfeed

    Quote Originally Posted by marvinray View Post
    Came across an interesting safety article today and was drawn to the story of Jim White's experience back in the day when he went out to test a 4160 volt transformer that was having problems for a customer. I shared a similar experience with a fellow technician about 10 years ago at a large college university while performing maintenance at night.

    Me and this technician were tasked with performing maintenance on 15kv switches at different locations on campus, fed from a substation breaker. We isolated all secondary 480v equipment, installed a lock on the racked out 15 kV breaker, and went to very first 15kv switch to perform work. Keep in mind this was back in the day, before our company had any kind of official safety program.

    We took the back cover off and my fellow technician went to install grounds. I said "wait let's test it before we put grounds on." He said "we isolated and lock out everything." I said "yeah I know but let's test babe!" Well to both of our surprise the 15 kV switch was still energized it was being back fed from a Pringle switch on the 480v secondary that was stuck in the closed position after we had opened it!!

    After we cleaned the mess out of our pants it took us some time to find the bad secondary switch that was hung up. We found it and the night went on without any more surprises. There was clear Assumption that we were safe!! I like that quote. It's not Dead till you Prove it's Dead!!! Be safe and have a good day.

    http://support.fluke.com/FInd-Sales/...03_ENG_C_W.PDF
    I had something similar happen. I am definitively glad to have experienced people to help and guide me while i'm coming up in this field.

  10. #6
  11. Join Date
    Mar 2019
    Posts
    26
    Reputation
    Quote Originally Posted by marvinray View Post
    Came across an interesting safety article today and was drawn to the story of Jim White's experience back in the day when he went out to test a 4160 volt transformer that was having problems for a customer. I shared a similar experience with a fellow technician about 10 years ago at a large college university while performing maintenance at night.

    Me and this technician were tasked with performing maintenance on 15kv switches at different locations on campus, fed from a substation breaker. We isolated all secondary 480v equipment, installed a lock on the racked out 15 kV breaker, and went to very first 15kv switch to perform work. Keep in mind this was back in the day, before our company had any kind of official safety program.

    We took the back cover off and my fellow technician went to install grounds. I said "wait let's test it before we put grounds on." He said "we isolated and lock out everything." I said "yeah I know but let's test babe!" Well to both of our surprise the 15 kV switch was still energized it was being back fed from a Pringle switch on the 480v secondary that was stuck in the closed position after we had opened it!!

    After we cleaned the mess out of our pants it took us some time to find the bad secondary switch that was hung up. We found it and the night went on without any more surprises. There was clear Assumption that we were safe!! I like that quote. It's not Dead till you Prove it's Dead!!! Be safe and have a good day.

    http://support.fluke.com/FInd-Sales/...03_ENG_C_W.PDF
    Thanks for sharing. All the more reason to test before you touch!

  12. #7
  13. Join Date
    Jan 2021
    Posts
    34
    Reputation
    First rule I learned as an apprentice was to never trust anyone who tells you a piece of equipment is dead, always test for yourself!

Subscribe

Share this thread

Tags for this Thread

Follow us


Explore TestGuy


NETA Certification Training


NICET Electrical Power Testing


Help and Support




You are viewing the archives. Enjoy new features and join the conversation at wiki.testguy.net