What Are Reclosers? Here’s a Quick Overview

February 27, 2017 6:27 pm Published by Leave your thoughts

Most people have seen aboveground power lines and the devices attached to the wooden poles that the lines are suspended between. Though power lines and poles do not have the most glamorous appearance, what they do have is an important job, which is to provide power to neighborhoods just like yours. Power travels through the wires before making it into your home, and that power is generated from a main power source not too far away. If something should go wrong while all that electrical energy is making its way down the lines, then the power is stopped in an effort to keep you and your electronics safe from long-term power outages.

Power coming directly into our homes is a convenience that not everyone in the world enjoys; we shouldn’t take it for granted. That is why you want to remain vigilant regarding the state of the power lines and power pole components near your home—like transformers and regulators, and what we are going to discuss, oil circuit reclosers.

So, what exactly are oil circuit reclosers? Let’s take a look—and remember, you will want to understand why it’s important to leave repairs and maintenance to a professional oil circuit recloser service:

  • Up high on most power poles are mechanical devices called reclosers. These devices are in place to react to a sudden short circuit within the line to keep the power lines and other devices from frying.
  • Reclosers handle short circuits by interrupting the flow of electricity, but will automatically reconnect power not too long after a short.
  • Aside from a main transformer issue, things like broken tree limbs and (unfortunately) animals are the cause of most residential and business park power outages. That is why oil circuit reclosers are in place. They section off portions of a line circuit from each other in an effort to avoid having an entire power grid go down.
  • In regards to operation, oil circuit reclosers are similar to circuit breakers, except reclosers are installed on the distribution circuit.
  • Temporary faults are bound to happen, but the fact that reclosers sectionalize portions of the circuit on a line means that permanent outages can be more effectively prevented. This is thanks to a recloser’s circuit breaker-like abilities.
  • As mentioned, power outages occur for many reasons. Luckily, reclosers work to localize faults in an effort to minimize the number of power customers that will be affected.
  • Reclosers can be used for both single-phase and three-phase fault interruptions. In other words, they are designed to support these types of wire configurations.

If you ever come cross a power line with a tree branch, animal or any debris that has fallen on it, never attempt to remove the line obstruction yourself. Touching a live power line could result in electrocution or death. Instead, call for help and leave the job of removing debris to a professional lineman.

If you’re an electric power supplier located in Illinois, Indiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Ohio, Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Mississippi, North Carolina or South Dakota, you can count on Central Illinois Reclosers Inc. for quality oil circuit recloser service. Contact us today!

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