Arc Flash

[VoltAmper]

Breaker defect... There is not breaker protection, it is only one functionin the new protective relays, or two time relays in the old prorective technology. The breaker protection does: If the breaker gets open command from a protection, the time relay starts, the breaker opened,the relay stops, if the breaker don't open, the time relay send open command to the all connected breakers, and there is not so big arcs. There need new disconnector..2nd: operator mistake: There was current in one phase

[DDA1220]

Even if electricity wasn't such a boon to civilization, this would justify us harnessing it. Because fuck yeah.

[ejstheman]

This is an arc, but it's not really what "arc flash" means. An arc flash is more like a bomb going off.

[millyybabess]

I was at The National Grid HQ midlands two days ago and they showed us this exact clip! It's pretty damn cool:) it's called a circuit breaker in the main power lines that are carrying around 400,000 volts, and a fault caused the energy to continue flowing and ark! Then once the distance between the two current carrying substances got too great, the ark cut out, Awesomee Lol:)

[KymeraGR7]

WOOOOOW :D

[MissBelieber120]

Wow :)

[Spuds69McKenzie]

Shits 5x hotter than the sun.. Godamn

[pas9x]

А дуркаи бывают не только в России...

Только идиот мог додуматься отключить разъединители под нагрузкой.

[pas9x]

А дуркаи бывают не только в России...

Только идиот мог додуматься отключить разъединители под нагрузкой.

[HAZORD505]

Damn

[ReverendDiabetes]

fucking physics

[Peon546]

@ReverendDiabetes fucking physics, how do they work?

[pete95035]

I ain't a lineman but I was told by one that SF6 switches are put in series with air switches. So I'm assuming that there was a partial failure of 1 of the SF6 switch things here?

If only the air brake switches were operated without the benefit of the SF6 switches would those ppl in the video still be standing?

[crowboy99]

i would bet someone to put his hand there

[SuperTrusis]

trusis.fedor@inbox.lv

[SAGEBOT500]

TESLA TOWER ONLINE

[citkat974]

I would randomly run thru the middle to see if I time warp to a different place :3

[GrantLogan2]

@citkat974 i think youd be going to "a better place" :S

[car38337499]

@citkat974 tried it and went to mars to fight martians :D

[citkat974]

@car38337499 Yay Martians :D

[starguard]

That was Awsome

[hootergirlsrhot]

electricity is fun to play with

[pearldrumsarecool]

@hootergirlsrhot If you know what you're doing

[dtj41]

Thumbs up for the Dragonball Z references.

[car38337499]

OMFG, THE ENERGY LEVEL IS OVER 9000! XD

[randommezos]

WANT

[jaholmes01]

Sorry to be pedantic, but without a load there would be no arc because there would be no current; the line is loaded by a shunt reactor inside the substation. As for arc flash, please Google it and note the liberal use of terms like blast and explosion. An arc flash is not just an arc.

[BJs4MePlz]

its an arc being caused from the diectric "air" and it went upwards because heat rises and electricity finds the easiest path.

[priapikjeannot]

Could someone explain me what's happening?

[elpolloloco88]

it doesn't even look real.....wow that's crazy

[flamingpoodleofdoom]

I CAN SHOOT THOSE OUT OF MY FINGERS

[L0ND0NITE]

I don't know anything other than that looks terrifying.

[Lostfaith1980]

@L0ND0NITE I think it looks awesome. But I also dont want to be standing in the middle of it ^_^ LOL

[Naturepheonix]

What's it for?

[jaholmes01]

Not an "arc flash." An "arc flash" is a fault. This is a disconnector opening under load. BIG difference!

[UseeFailure]

What electricity does when your trying to kill it?

[fulford665]

lol the guy at the end "WOOO!"

[bamaslamma1003]

They are trying to switch a line reactor out of the circuit. This particular piece of switchgear was malfunctioning. The insulator looking things to the left of the air break switch blades are sulfur hexafluoride switches. One of the ones in the affected phase was defective and caused the air break blades to open "hot," pulling that magnificent arc. They extinguish it by opening an upstream circuit breaker.

[Jet3800]

the circuit breaker didn't work very well... :/

[sparky3489]

It's not a breaker. It's 500KVA being turned off = one big ass switch. Ever see a Jacobs Ladder? Look it up on here, you'll see.

[LoveableLaser]

Holy shit. How many volts was that?

[Noonrider11]

but what i dont get is why does it go up higher and higher and not just stay i a strait line

[sasho54]

Because of the convection, of coarse.

[sparky3489]

Ever see a Jacobs Ladder? Look it up on here, you'll see.

[bamaslamma1003]

Heat rises. The arc is very hot. 35,000 degrees F to be exact. That makes it lighter than the surrounding cooler air, we'll say 75 degrees F.

[Noonrider11]

I LEARNED SMETHING NEW TODAY -O-

[Trivium2rage]

I went to this place in madison WI. honestly..and i met the one of the persons that seen this accident

[sparky3489]

You tool, it's not an accident, They're switching off a main line. That's 500KVA being turned off.

[gargaj]

"This video clip was captured by Neil Brady, the maintenance foreman of the 500 kV Eldorado Substation near Boulder City, Nevada at the time of the event."

the whole story of the spark is at teslamania[dot]delete[dot]org

[Polarit]

That looks like an isolator. You're supposed to open it after you've broken the circuit with a proper SF6 or airblast breaker. That's what happens when you don't. Its v. pretty though :)

[googlemaps2920]

10 bucks to touch it

[skillz03784]

lmfao make it $15 and you got a deal

[fuzzyfireworks]

I wonder if just that happening there would be so much electricity in the air that if you were like close to it and poked a friend if they would fly 6 feet lol

SWEET VID

[Brentelec]

its an air blast switch that had no air left in it. It was the power company disconnecting to do the repairs, notice the guy hiding behind the truck.  Its common for big switchgear to airblast the arc chute to extinguish the arc.

[denelson83]

Actually, I think it was an SF6 interrupter in a series of two that lost all its SF6.

[Brentelec]

maybe but i'd say likely not. thats one switch, center break. SF6's are only good up to what 25KV???? i'd say they're dealing with more than that. But dont really know much for details here, i was generalizing it calling it an air blast. whatever gas it was suppost to blast on the arc, it had none left.

[conspir8or]

That is some Frankenstein shit right there.

[LOTTIEisMEE]

OMFG that was amazing

did you film that????

[bantam21]

I wonder what caused the arc?

[FrankiEmo92]

WOO!!!

[xXtortionXx]

i first seen this video on stupid videos!

[AXNPictures]

jacob's ladder

[k1u2r3t4i5a6n7g8o9u0]

lol the guy at the end was like WHAT!? haha

[PivotAvenger]

no i think he said whoa, or woo

[bodrob80]

This is the best video on the youtube.

[BNSFSD35]

In adelaide they tried that but the whole thing malfuntioned and blew up you could see it from Port Adelaide when it as all the way Near Adelaide hills. 2 people died because it burnt down their houses.

[xThexWhitexWolfx]

lol with the guy at the end going 'whoa' and that arc looked amazing!!! wouldnt get too close though haha

[SAMFORBRAINS]

whoa...

[sdgsdf45]

Is this a way to change circuit direction?

[danisinkz]

that is scary!

[m14closerangeSniper]

carefull theres a terminator comming from the future!

[manka6]

hurr durr

[ptitdal]

Impressive !

[trilogy11]

That was fricken awesome... I would have wet myself

[bipo567]

some one said "what the f-" then the vid ended

[optimistiik]

he says "wooo!!"

[Yoshiki03]

I think it might have been a "whoa"

[vkh93]

pretty

[pastageek]

Well nik0520 I love electricity.

[ziemniaczek963]

NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!

[lukeskywalkerlol]

wow.

[Alex2Marseille]

Just making a quotation for that kind of material (ABB) in KENYA...

If I win I have to go to the commissioning...

[tuckerch]

A frame grab from this video shows what appears to be Sylvester the Cat about to eat Tweety the canary.

Sufferin' Succotash!

tinyurl . com /4vpvvf

Remove the obvious spaces to see the framegrab.

[mastersync23]

Sort of...

[Oso1G]

Also know as Chuck Norris dental floss.

[DeepestSleep]

damn, that was pretty swift!

[pastageek]

That was all kinds of sexy.

[wildfire19861987]

that ruled!

[danlc95]

Unbelievable! I take it that the camera man was in the right place at the right time?

[ajgio]

wtf i have allready stated what you have just said?? Also it is not a circuit breaeker in video its only a switch The circuit breaker is the thing that breaked the circuit once the

Bi metal in the breaker got too hot due to to much curent flowing through the wires etc Because of the faulty switch not engaging propaley

[recruz00]

looks fake but i'm assuming it's real- Where's Raiden when you need him?

[McMike321]

the guy at the end! WOO!! lol

[bkmalone86]

wow. that'll make me think again before playing with downed power lines.... lol

[Orcinus24x5]

Half a million volts.

[peletonkambing]

I love the sound it makes.

[ajgio]

switch number 2 did not swing wrong correcntly that arch would of gotten higher and higher if the curicut breaker did not break

[thebouleoffools]

Hello? That IS the circuit breaker.

[ajgio]

well durr but its the faulty oen in question there are more than one circuit breaker in a system like this and another one broke further down the line etc. which stoped this.

[thebouleoffools]

I don't think you understand how electricity works. This arc is caused by the same thing that makes your light switches spark sometimes when you turn them off.

To put it simply - when the switch is opened, the change in current is essentially infinite, which causes a gigantic voltage spike. Basically the circuit wants to keep flowing at all costs.

The initial arc ionizes the air, creating a conducting path across the terminals. This continues until the air cools off enough to break the path.

[thebouleoffools]

Meh forget everything I said. I guess one of them is faulty.

[hightechstuff2]

No, the arc dissipated on it's own.

[cydonianman]

electric fire.

[w4rr0ckm4st3r]

why was jensscjlau marked as spam?

BBBBZZZZZZTTTTT

[kinglouie319]

that was sweet!

[LoonyLooners]

Jesus hell...That was COOL.

[a5h1y]

electricity it's like magic!

[carlenej3]

Sort of. The failure was expected, but they didn't know exactly when it was gonna go, from what I understand.

[AlonsoLegend]

Wow!

[ccoraxfan]

Either an arc suppressor failed, or the circuit breaker wasn't opened on one phase before the switch was opened. Quite a light show! Wouldn't want to be close when that happens.

[andy375]

Why Does All American People Always Go OH MI GAADD or WOO When Anything Happens

[ccoraxfan]

Why do you ask stupid questions?

[dude115011]

hahaha nice

[pbl1]

oh mi gadd, you are a dick!

[matthewpeter]

im british and I'd go "woo"

[frosty956]

beacause they're wankers

[hellraizor31]

Im surprised I actually found this on here. No this isnt supposed to do that. The metal balls are designed to take the arc instead of the actual blades of the switchs themselves thus making it cheaper to replace worn parts. These switchs are designed to break the connection but not under a load. These switches were opened under a load and I was there. This was at El Dorado Substation in Las Vegas Nevada.

[smlbstcbr]

What is the amperage of the plant, I mean, the nominal amperage of load?

[JasonB1969]

Are there some connectors opening. The metal balls and connectors seem to be moving left and right to separate.

Does a component fail that then produces the arcing electricity ?

[Spyrofunk]

amazing!

[carlenej3]

it's the same sort of idea...

[theblackhand2]

Smoke 'em if you got 'em.

[phazonxl]

It would seem that the connection broke and the electricity was still trying to move across the connection.

[crackerbomb2]

thats cool

[TheILLUSIONIST93]

Seems to be working fine...

[kirkmeister555]

MUM!!! can i touch it please!!!!

[Hawkman6788]

is it sapose to do that

[DigiTan000]

Don't tase me bro!

[NarleyDude07]

that was fuckin awsome ! defo goin to favorites :) - and to the people who say its fake - for fucksake , you werent there at the time , next thing you know there will be a car driving down the street posted on youtube and some moron will write --- FAKE --- dickheads . . .

[n310ea]

I wonder why electric arc has a tendency to rise upwards.

[Jhammo52]

Heat and the Magnetics of the Earth. :)

[VdzAk]

Could be a key to anti gravity...???

[n310ea]

I hope so...

[DigiTan000]

I think it's buoyancy. ..The air becoming a plasma and rising like a hot air balloon. An electrified balloon from hell that is.

[spike1master]

fuck that looks like it would kill =)

[carlenej3]

It can definitely be deadly.

[davieboy121]

that was fake

[Envyse7enSin]

AWESOME!! Electrons gone wild.... <<Favorites like 8 times!

[CornLWhite]

Was it an accident or did they do it on purpose?

[carlenej3]

It was an accident for sure. Arcing like that is extremely dangerous, and very expensive when it comes to repairing the damage.

[Envyse7enSin]

HOW Many Volts do you think that arc was???

[JumpMax]

wow if you could get that in a gun or

like a tesla coil

it wil be cool for battle

just like the old red alert games =)!

[d00deth]

This shit would make Tesla proud. Hate to teabag an arc like that.

[basilisk128]

You can see two more sets of balls moving apart just behind the one that arcs, I think they are moving apart in order to disconnect the power that is going through those wires.

[bvok03]

its just a circuit opening hot. The balls moving apart are just cunductors that are being mechanically separated to open a switch.

[greatvyper]

Wrong.. it is not suppose to open hot like that. there are two gas suppressors (they look like tubes) and if you watch the video, one of them explodes and fails. The arc grows higher and higher because of the a/c current and the arc only stops when it reaches the power lines above, when it shorts out the substation.

[hightechstuff2]

Yeah, Bad valve on the sodium hexafluoride tank.

[hboy007]

still my favourite :>

[mcwakeman]

Worlds Biggest Jacob's Ladder!!!

[trouchie]

mad shit

[Kenzofeis]

Something to ponder on is, why doesnt the arc take the shortest route?

[454Casull]

The arc will take the path of least resistance, IIRC, and the heated air (that rises) will have the lowest density.

[Kenzofeis]

Yes, I know; the thinner the air - the less resistance. I was just asking arethorical question for the masses hehe ;P One more question: Sometimes lightning does'nt hit a mountain peak but travels thru a much longer distance and hits at the mountains foot.. why? :)

[gurutiger]

To make it simpler: it will go the "easiest" route, not the shortest. Same thing with light, hence we have mirages.

[alexcwagner]

It's a bit more complicated than the air being "thinner." It actually has to do with ionization. Wikipedia probably has a few good articles about this if you really want to know.

[Kenzofeis]

What I ment is, in low gas pressure electrons will move more freely, as in TV and X-ray tubes and so on.. in an electrical arc there is superheated plasma (ionized gas) under low pressure (due to the expansion from the heat).. it is sort of an equation.. and complicated yes :)

[optimistiik]

well in nerd theres N-E-R-D

[RustyAHole]

holey shit!

[MRLT]

WOOhh WTF is that thats Awesome

[xis333]

niiiiice!

[baseballer87]

Whoa!