[GreenKeys] Re: power problems?

[H.E.Robert]

Eugene, Don, and everybody on the list,

All of the suggestions for Eugene have been excellent.  The one bit of 
information I'd like to add, coming from a location with a well pump, is 
that most modern submersible pumps, are 220v and can be in excess of  1 
HP motors, with no capacitor start, and when they turn on, usually with 
the aid of pressure operated relay contacts, that do bounce when they 
make, (not very sophisticated), so you have spikes, noise or ringing, 
and a major "hit" to both sides of the of the panel when it turns on, 
the lights will dim, and sensitive equipment, may be responding to any 
of the above mention conditions.

I had a similar issue, when I managed a Data Center located in a Telco 
Central Office building.  We had installed some, (at the time), state of 
the art  300mb Hard Drives with a Perfect Media feature, that 
automatically remapped bad sectors to a spare sectors table.  Well after 
a week the drives started failing, as they took so many errors the 
spares table was full.  The drives were victims of  spikes caused by the 
air handling equipment, and ringing on the circuits from a source we 
were unable to determine.  The solution for us, was to install Sola 
Power regulators, that filtered the ringing, and stabilized the 
spiking.  The output of the regulators was a bit strange, as it is not a 
natural sinus wave, rather flat at the tops and bottoms of the wave 
form, but that shouldn't bother an analog radio transmitter.  Anyway, it 
solved our problem.  Other issues amaybe how far down the run,  Eugene's 
house is from the nearest step-down transformer, and if they are older 
facilities, they may not have been engineered for all the modern 
200-300-400 amp services being installed.

Just my 2 cents, well maybe a nickel's worth with inflation!

Just Bob!

Don Robert House wrote:

> Methinks you have your load unbalanced,  in other words two many  
> circuits on one of the two phases.  Perhaps you can move some of your  
> circuits to the other phase to balance the load.
>
> Don
> K9TTY
>
>
> On 28 Nov 2006, at 10:18 PM, Eugene Hertz wrote:
>
> Thanks, John and list members
>
> House has 200 amp service. Service comes into the garage. There is a  
> large (coupla feet tall) load center (breaker panel) there for half  
> of the house filled with breakers. Then there is another large panel  
> in the basement (same size, coupla feet tall) which is fed from the  
> one in the garage nearly all full. This has the other half the house  
> on it. Service was installed around 2000 and the wiring is mostly  
> new. Although the wiring in the shack is probably from 1962 when the  
> old part of the house was built. Then about half the house was added  
> in 2000 with new wire.
>
> I suspected the main feed from the pole was undersized for this  
> reason... Although the well pump is connected to the panel in the  
> basement, lights connected to the main panel in the garage still dim  
> for a split second when the pump kicks on/off. Well pump is brand new  
> (2 wire, not 3 wire) about 4 months old. So it makes me think that  
> the load is causing a voltage drop at the main panel, probably due to  
> undersized cable from the pole.
>
> What kind of current can your sola's handle?
>
> Several folks mentioned the sola ferroresonant CVT type products.  
> Here is a link from list member W4AMW:
> http://www.solaheviduty.com/products/powerconditioning/cvs.htm
>
> Sounds like I might need to find a local electrical engineer, not  
> just an electrician to help figure this one out (there goes the $$$ !)
>
> Thanks to everyone. I now have some very good avenues to explore
> Eugene
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: WB6BLV [mailto:wb6blv at inreach.com]
>> Sent: Tuesday, November 28, 2006 10:52 PM
>> To: 'Eugene Hertz'
>> Subject: Re: [GreenKeys] power problems?
>>
>> One solution is a SOLA constant voltage unit, which
>> is an interesting hunk of iron that holds the AC mains
>> output quite well under varying supply conditions. I
>> have a couple of these from the late 60s and though
>> heavy, they do work. SOLA company made all sorts
>> of these things but I do not know if they are still around.
>>
>> One caveat... if your lights are actually dimming when the
>> well pump starts, then there is a problem with the overall
>> electrical system there. If you have the older 100 amp main
>> service panels, perhaps your load really requires a 200 amp
>> panel. You may also have undersize onductors throughout
>> the system, depending on when it was originally installed. I
>> live in a 70 yr old house with #14 wire throughout... I have
>> replaced much of it with #12, and my 220 runs are all #8 or
>> #6. A separate circuit directly to your shack is not going to
>> help if the voltage is sagging at the main panel due to panel
>> limitaions or undersized wiring.
>>
>> Check the current rating of your main panel, and also note the
>> conductor guage to the pump and to the shack. Add up the
>> sum of the aperages of all the breakers/fuses in the main panel
>> and see how far over the panel capacity it is (remember that the
>> sum can be over the 100 amps or 200 amps rating of the panel
>> since not all circuits will draw full load all the time).
>>
>> That should be a good start... lemme know what you come up
>> with as far as these measurements.
>>
>> John
>> WB6BLV at inreach.com
>>
>>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> GreenKeys mailing list
> GreenKeys at mailman.qth.net
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/greenkeys
>
> _______________________________________________
> GreenKeys mailing list
> GreenKeys at mailman.qth.net
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/greenkeys
>