New DEC museum entry :D

[Chuck Guzis]

On 22 Feb 2007 at 8:22, Jules Richardson wrote:

> Is that always true? Sometimes on rural roads with just one or two houses (and 
> also individually on farms) I've seen pole-mounted transformers and wondered 
> what their function is - I'd assumed they were step-down transformers from 
> overhead line voltage (several KV I'd guess) to 240VAC. Or do they do some 
> completely different job?

Even in the US, the practice varies.  There are multidrop "pole pigs" 
in the cities and suburbs.  When one gets out into rural areas, there 
is no uniform application.  For example, at the point where my 
driveway meets the main road, there is a large disconnect (circuit 
breaker?) box that hooks up with the buried high-voltage 
distribution.  The HV then continues buried alongside my driveway 
into my front yard, where there's a concrete pad-mounted transformer. 
The 240 VAC then continues underground to the meter and my house.

I've seen inside the disconnect box and it's a 3-wire feed, so I 
assume that this allows the utility to perform load-balancing on the 
phases should it become necessary.

On the other hand, the fellow across the road is powered from a 
conventional "pole pig" and aerial drop.

Cheers,
Chuck