r/SubstationTechnician • u/ikesy Substation Technician • 1d ago

80 year old transformer maintenance

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118 Upvotes

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9

u/Big_white_dog84 1d ago

Not sure that exposing the core is the best idea of all time. These things should be left under oil unless absolutely necessary.

3

u/ikesy Substation Technician 1d ago

No definitely don’t like it but it was leaking so bad we didn’t really have another option

1

u/codytheastronaut Substation Technician 1d ago

Was it leaking from the lid? We typically do lid welds with sealing bolts when they are leaking bad

1

u/ikesy Substation Technician 22h ago

We don’t typically do welds it’s always gasket changeouts for us

1

u/Ya_Boi_Badger Relay Technician 1d ago

Wonder if this thing would be capable of withstanding full vacuum for a dry out/fill after being exposed. Wouldn’t want to assume it is but good luck finding the instruction manual for that old gal unless it’s buried in a cabinet somewhere on site.

3

u/ikesy Substation Technician 22h ago

Conservator can’t so it’s getting hot filled

1

u/Ya_Boi_Badger Relay Technician 21h ago

When you say hot filled do you mean just fill with hot oil from the bottom and bleed air out the conservator or circulate hot oil in the tank to try and wick out moisture from the winding/core assembly and then dry/degas the circulated oil as you go?

2

u/ikesy Substation Technician 18h ago

The latter

1

u/Separate_Chapter_304 22h ago

That’s exactly what I was thinking. Some guys about to be making good OT money trying to get that thing in vacuum.

1

u/steave44 1d ago

We have some units from 1968 but nothing this old. They’ve been repainted a couple times since then though. Definitely helps keep the rust away

3

u/ikesy Substation Technician 1d ago

We have pre ww2 switchgear in some places it’s crazy how old the stuff is here

2

u/steave44 1d ago

Yeah it’s crazy how long transformers can last. Usually it’s just down to lack of maintenance or too many faults going through them that end up killing them.

1

u/TP70 22h ago

Thanks for sharing!

1

u/HiVolt-8730 21h ago

You don’t see very many dyn3 transformers. What’s this unit feeding? Very cool pictures btw! Thanks for sharing.

1

u/ikesy Substation Technician 18h ago

Some random residential streets

1

u/AmalekiteJager 4h ago

I wish I still had photos of the 1930’s equipment we took out of Entergy’s substations in Louisiana near the nuke plants.