Early 2022 has brought unusual electrical troubleshooting calls similar to what ERs and jails experience before or during full moons. Though scientifically unsubstantiated, many people working in such environments will tell...
Annual electric generation in 2020 was approximately 4,200 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) and has been relatively flat over the past decade. Renewable sources reached 800 billion kWh in 2020, which is about the same amount as...
One possible explanation to last month’s mystery as to why the lights in one bedroom became brighter when the other room’s lights got dimmer was a voltage unbalance. (“Unbalance” is the commonly used term, although most...
In previous articles, I have covered typical troubleshooting case studies, including sags caused by large- horsepower motors and heating elements, oscillatory transients caused by power-factor capacitor switching, destruction...
There were cabinet installers and electricians working at the site of a major kitchen renovation project. The cabinet crew had their power miter saw set up on the deck outside the family room adjacent to the kitchen. Every...
When trying to determine the effects of renewable energy sources on the quality of the electrical supply, one must first carefully examine the statistics and what goes into them. Lately, the term “renewable” has been focused...
An overwhelmed person asked me for help solving a problem she was assigned but had no background in. She was tasked with reducing the electric bills for a church/meeting building and two parsonage dwellings (residences A and...
Another excessive heat wave and a severe thunderstorm warning had just been issued, and as I pulled in the driveway to go inside and write this month’s article, a neighbor came running over to tell me that their lights were...
In my August column, I reviewed some basic rules and procedures for troubleshooting power quality problems. Like water that flows downhill, PQ disturbances must obey the laws of physics. When reviewing data from customers who...
I was recently called by a homeowner to investigate water dripping through the ceiling. Water through a ceiling is surprisingly not uncommon, from slow drips to entire ceilings crashing down. As with most investigations, the...
There have been a million or more power quality instruments sold by dozens of manufacturers since they were introduced in the 1970s. However, a typical instrument that can measure and capture the array of PQ phenomena defined...
In a recent interview for a historical report on power quality instruments, I was asked to describe the evolution of PQ monitors during my 41-year tenure with one of the leading design/manufacturing companies. In the late...
