Distribution Fuse Cutouts - Faulting from Snow/Ice

[amurray]

I was recently talking with a municipal electric Dept in the Northeast US about some percular faults on thier distribution system during 1 of our many snow storms this year. They had several (3+) different instances where fuse cutouts appears to have flashed over from the tops of one to another due to a large layer of ice/snow accross the tops of the cutouts. In another case the cutout was encased in ice/snow and arced to a grounded point on the pole. He also mentioned that the snow during this particular storm was more yellow then white/gray snow build up he normally sees. The town is a good 20+ miles from the shore. He thinks that it could have been salty snow. Has anyone ever heard of this?

Thanks
Andy

 

[jghrist]

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q...10D7E6B1CEAAE0DA788883EF4B2556417&FORM=IQFRBA

Making yellow snow from a bucket truck can be hazardous to your health!

 

[Jebb]

Back about 15 yrs ago when I worked for a utility in MA. We had trouble when the state highway dept started using a special liquid salt pre-treatment mixed in the wrong quantities with a sugar type substance. It would happen to the distribution lines next to roadways with medium traffic flow and higher speeds (+45MPH) which caused the road spray to kick up getting the salt mixture on everything, causing flashovers on the 15kV system. The only reason we figured it out was because an engineer saw it happen on the way home from work.