Is my 1400watts making my power pole spark ????? HelP

Need a lil advice . I turned my indoor setup on 1st time in a month and I noticed the cylinder on a power pole starting to glow red then started sparking doesn't look good. Don't want to get caught. What to do.
 

AKgrower29

Well-Known Member
Your residence is afforded a certain amount of electrical power from the utility company which is protected by a service disconnect of usually between 100-200 amps if that breaker is not tripping you are not exceeding your current draw for the residence and any issue like a power pole sparking needs to be reported to the utility company right away. As long as you haven't done any backyard shitty wiring, you have nothing to worry about.
 

Roger A. Shrubber

Well-Known Member
not a damn thing in your house, its defective, and needs to be replaced. transformers are built to run at least 4 blocks worth of houses, if you had anything in your house that would overload it, you'd damn well know when it kicked on, the 60 cycle hum would deafen you

even if you only have 100 amp service, thats still a buttload to use, thats a stove, a fridge, a dryer, a/c, and a couple of 1k lights at once, and that would still leave you a big safety margin
 

462Juvat

Member
I seriously doubt its your lights. I was wreaking havoc on my neighborhood when I would spark a 50A current on my welder. Power company had to come out and install more transformers in the neighborhood because of it. But even then there weren't any glowing or sparking transformers, it would just brown out the power.
 

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
not a damn thing in your house, its defective, and needs to be replaced. transformers are built to run at least 4 blocks worth of houses, if you had anything in your house that would overload it, you'd damn well know when it kicked on, the 60 cycle hum would deafen you

even if you only have 100 amp service, thats still a buttload to use, thats a stove, a fridge, a dryer, a/c, and a couple of 1k lights at once, and that would still leave you a big safety margin
Another way to think about 100A service is 24,000W, or 24 1000W lights, not included what it takes to run the ballast.
 

Jimmy Sparkle

Well-Known Member
Some pole mount transformers have indicator lights that glow an orange or red allowing line crews to visibly see from the ground. I cannot remember if its a service indicator or what... I over hear a lot of linemen rambling about this type of shit where I work. I may be wrong
 
Thanks people . I've got a huge old shed out back that on runs off a power cord running from the house. I got a heavy duty extension cord and tried it with one light going seem to be ok now but still abit nervous putting my other two on I'll try it tomorrow see what happens. Just don't want any attention coming my way cause that's a 3year sentence cheers guys
 
There's something called a "corona discharge". It happens to the pole in front of my house when it's humid out. Light mist/fog affects it the most. Has a crackling sound. I though my world was about to end the first time I heard it lol.
 
A corona discharge is an electrical discharge brought on by the ionization of a fluid such as air surrounding a conductor that is electrically charged. Spontaneous corona discharges occur naturally in high- voltage systems unless care is taken to limit the electric field strength. A corona will occur when the strength (potential gradient) of the electric field around a conductor is high enough to form a conductive region, but not high enough to cause electrical breakdown or arcing to nearby objects. It's often seen as a bluish (or other color) glow in the air adjacent to pointed metal conductors carrying high voltages, and emits light by the same property as a gas discharge lamp.
 

Roger A. Shrubber

Well-Known Member
i've seen that a few times, it seemed like a good thing to stay the hell away from. it may not be strong enough to arc right now.....that could change ...
 

Greenmachine44

New Member
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sonson176

Well-Known Member
Check your voltages with a meter. If the transformer is about to go boom you might lose a leg or get some big voltage drops, can destroy/overheat anything you got plugged in that isn't fused properly, even some things that are. Call the power company and tell them to get off their butts and get some fresh equipment on the pole ASAP. A lot of older grids have ridiculously undersized/overloaded transformers as it is. A few more Kva on some already clapped out small gear could be all it takes. Either way, nothing to worry about on your end.

As far as coronal discharge goes, unless you're in a switchyard getting turned on under load, it's time to run if you see one.

Plan to be without power for several hours in the near future.
 
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