This Is Part-2 Of Our 4-Part Article — What Causes Blackouts 

Click Here To Go To Part 1: www.AlsPlumbing.com-power-surge-protection-part-two

Note: To Go To Our Next Power Surges Protection Article — See Part-3 of 4.

Power Surges Protection includes safeguards for both External and Internal Power Surges.   Al’s Plumbing, Heating & A/C in Plano, Texas provides maintenance & repairs for all brands of Central A/C, Gas & Electric Furnace, and Heat Pumps.  Additionally, we sell and install new HVAC Systems from American Standard (same company as Trane), Ameristar (owned by American Standard), and Coleman HVAC (same company as York HVAC).

Al’s also provides Full-Service Plumbing; Maintenance, Repairs, and Replacements for every plumbing component in your home.  Al’s sells and installs gas & electric water heaters.   Al’s is near your home in Murphy, TX; Rowlette, TX; and Wylie, Texas.   We service all homes in southern Collin County with no travel charges.

Call Al’s today to discuss any concerns or problems you have with your HVAC System or Plumbing.  We will arrange an appointment at your convenience.

External Power Surges Protection — What Causes Blackouts

Part-2 Of Our 4-Part Article.

NOTE: To continue with Power Surge Protection Information — See Part 3 of 4. 

Image Source: Pixabay.com

A Lightning Strike power surge is what most people think of as causing a power surge.  Power surges protection does more than protect against lightning strike. 

A lighting strike is the most damaging type of power surge.   There are over 20 million cloud-to-ground lightning strikes in the U.S. each year.   A typical lightning bolt has 40,000-120,000 volts.  Some may produce up to 1 billion volts.  **

** Source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/lightning

The #1 Reason For (external) Power Surges — A Power Line Touches A Tree.

Image Source: Youtube Embedded Video

Click On White Arrow To View This Video — Showing a Tree Touching a Power Line And Catching Fire.

• The most common Power Surge — occurs when a tree limb touches a power line (creating a short-circuit).
• The electricity passes through the tree and into the ground.
• This short-circuit causes massive amounts of electricity to enter the power line for a moment.
• The power-grid senses the power surge and disconnects the line.
• But by then, the power surge has already occurred.

Other Common Causes Of External Power Surges:

• A car accident knocks down a power line pole.
• A small animal gets inside a transformer (also creates a short-circuit).

• Additional power-generator(s) are being brought online by the electricity provider.
• These occur during periods of increasing electricity demand.

Power Surges Occur As A Blackout Ends

• When An Electricity Blackout Ends — A Power Surge Enters Power Lines.
• Power lines (which moments before carried no electricity) come to life — with a rush of incoming power.
• Rolling Blackouts (like in Texas in Feb. 2021) — create repeated blackouts & power surges.

Other Causes Of Electricity Blackouts

Image Source: Shutterstock

SHOWN: Electricity  Transmission Lines — Are Typically On Tall Metal Towers

• Electricity Transmission Equipment failures.

• An electricity blackout creates a series of electrical events that may damage/degrade electronic equipment.
• When the utility company restarts power after a blackout —  harmful voltage fluctuations often occur (creating power surges).

Note: Transmission power lines carry electricity long distances.  They don’t have transformers.

Source:  https://www.nemasurge.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/rollingblackouts.pdf

Image Source: Shutterstock

SHOWN: Electricity Distribution Lines & Round, Gray “Drum” Transformers — Are Typically On Wood Poles.

• Electricity Distribution Equipment failures are the #2 reason for power outages.  Electricity distribution (at mid voltage levels) — is located near where the electricity is used.  The voltage is stepped down before entering homes & businesses (in the round, gray (drum) transformers).  Shown above are “drum” Voltage Step-Down Transformers.

Image Source: Shutterstock

Shown: Downed Power Lines (if live with electricity) — Can Electrocute Anything That Touches Them.

Public-Safety Power Shutoffs

• Typically occur within the path of a tornado, or hurricane.
• Occur within flooded areas.
• Downed power lines (if live with electricity) — can electrocute anything that comes in contact with them.
• Electricity is typically shut off — until power lines have been inspected and repaired if needed.

This Also Applies To Natural Gas Public Saftey Shutoffs:

Copy The Link Below Into Your Browser To Read An (Oct. 21, 2019) Statement From Atmos Energy (DFW’s natural gas supplier)

About Gas Being Turned Off In Tornado-Damaged Areas:

https://www.atmosenergy.com/newsroom/natural-gas-customers-urged-stay-safe-tornado-damaged-areas

The article contains this: “Atmos Energy crews are working on repairs, & surveying storm-damaged areas — and will restore service as quickly & safely as possible.”

An Uncommon Cause Of Electricity Blackouts

• Electricity Supply Shortage (like in Texas in Feb. 2021) — is the least likely reason for a blackout.
• These outages occur when electricity demand exceeds supply.
• This situation causes electricity generators to trip offline — to protect themselves.

• Each time another generator goes offline, the problem becomes worse — because less power is then available.
• In response — additional Electricity Generators go offline.
• This is known as a: “Cascading Failure” of the Power Grid (what happened in Texas in Feb. 2021).

Click Below To Read Our Detailed Article About Texas’ Feb. 2021 Power Crisis:

AlsPlumbing.com Texas’ Feb. 2021 Power Crisis

Rolling Blackouts (called: “Planned Outages” by power providers):            

• Electricity Demand & Supply — Must Always Be In Balance with the Power Grid.
• If demand exceeds supply — demand must be forced downward.
• If this doesn’t happen — the Power Grid will completely fail.

• Demand is lowered with Rolling Blackouts.
• During Rolling Blackouts — power is turned off within selected areas.
• As electricity to the (black outed) areas is turned back on — new areas are turned off.

The Severity & Length Of Rolling Blackouts Depend On:

• How much electricity demand must be reduced.
• How long the electricity shortage persists.

While electricity demand exceeds supply — electricity generation companies have no other choice.  They must implement Rolling Blackouts — or additional Power Generators continue to trip offline (making the shortage worse).  If electricity demand isn’t lowered — the Power Grid will collapse & completely fail.

Power Surges Caused By Other Power-Grid Events

A “Power “Blink” Is A Momentary Outage — Followed By A Surge.

Why Power Blinks Occur:

• Typically something went wrong within the power-distribution network.
• A protective device reacted to the fault — and disconnected the affected power line(s).
• When a power line is disconnected — the electricity reroutes to nearby lines.
• During the reroute, it’s common for the power to blink.

• If the affected power line is protected by a Fuse — the fuse blows.
• A blown fuse must be replaced by power-restoration crews.

• If the affected power line is protected by a Circuit Breaker — the breaker trips.
• The breaker typically retests the line — to see if the problem continues.
• The breaker may retest the line multiple times.

• If during a retest — if the problem no longer exists, the breaker reconnects the line.
• If during a retest — if the problem continues,  the breaker disconnects the line again.
• After 1 or more retests indicate the problem continues — the breaker stays off until power-restoration crews repair the problem.

Note: To Skip This Section — Scroll Down To The Next Double Lines.

The Largest Electricity Blackouts In U.S. History

• 2003 — Northeast U.S.

45 million (in 8 states) were affected.  This is 2nd largest blackout in U.S. history.  It affected; Michigan, Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Vermont & Connecticut.

• This occurred during hot summer weather — creating very high electricity demand. 
• This blackout was caused by a software bug at FirstEnergy Corp in Ohio
• AND not trimming of trees directly under power transmission lines.

• Power lines become heavily loaded during periods of high electricity consumption.
• The wires, typically made of copper or aluminum, expand when they become hot.
• The expansion causes the wire to sag

• When overloaded transmission lines touched untrimmed trees — they disconnected and routed electricity into other lines.
• Then those lines became overloaded (and also touched trees below them) and disconnected.

• Because of the software bug — no alarm warned this was occurring.
• In the end — manageable issues spiraled into a Cascading Failure of the electric grid.

Source: https://www.atcllc.com/blog/why-do-power-lines-sag-on-hot-days/

Due to this blackout, several changes were made to the National Energy Policy — with a focus on power infrastructure maintenance & protection.  Changes were also made to Homeland Security because (during the blackout) — many systems used to pick up unauthorized border crossings & port landings were without power.

• 1965 — Northeast U.S.

Over 30 million in the Northeast US were affected.

• A circuit breaker (protecting a transmission line headed into Canada) was set too low — and tripped during normal operation.
• The power flowing into the tripped line was diverted to other lines.
• This overloaded those lines, and their breakers tripped.
• With nowhere else to go — all the electricity headed into New York State, and overloaded those lines.
• All this occurred in under 5 minutes.

1977 New York City.

Nearly 16 million people in New York City were affected.

• This blackout out occurred due to a lightning strike at an electricity distribution sub-station (they reduce voltage) — tripping 2 circuit breakers.
• A 2nd & 3rd lightning strike caused more problems. An hour later New York’s largest power plant went offline (to protect itself).

2012 — Hurricane Sandy.

8.5 million were affected — across 24 States.

• New York was the hardest hit.
• Damage to New York was estimated at $18 billion.
• Outside of NY — $17.4 Billion in combined damages occurred.

2012 — Derecho Blackout.

4.2 million were affected — across 11 states & the District of Columbia.

• This blackout was caused by a powerful derecho storm.
• The storm moved across; large parts of the Midwestern United States, through the central Appalachians and into the Mid-Atlantic states.

Notes:

• A derecho (pronounced “deh-REY-cho”) is a; widespread, long-lived, wind storm. 
• Derechos typically have rapidly moving bands of thunderstorms.
• At times, a derecho’s winds reach that of an EF.1 Tornado.
• Tornado damage occurs in all directions within its path. 
• Derechos produce straight-line winds — that create damage in only one direction. 

Click Here To See Straight-Line Wind Damage: Straight-Line Wind Damage.

Click Here To See Tornado Wind Damage: Tornado Wind Damage.

To Be Classified As A Derecho:

• The swath of wind-damage extends for 250 or more miles
• Wind gusts of 58+ mph occur along most of its length. 
• At times, a derecho’s winds reach that of an EF.1 Tornado.
• As Compared: EF.1 tornado’s wind strength =  86 — 110 mph. 
• Several (well-separated) wind gusts are 75+ miles per hour (mph). 

1982 — 2 Separate Blackouts affected the Western U.S., Western Canada, Northwest Mexico.

Event #1: 2 million were affected.  This event originated in Idaho — because electricity demand exceeded supply.  This caused severe voltage instability — and the power grid failed.

Event #2: 4 million were affected.   During intense summer heat — many power transmission lines overheated.  This caused them to sag and touch untrimmed trees (causing short circuits).  Within an hour — Oregon was disconnected from California.  And, Northern California was disconnected from Southern California.

Source: https://www.electricchoice.com/blog/worst-power-outages-in-united-states-history/

NOTE: Texas’ 2021 Power Crisis isn’t listed above — because ERCOT’s (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) power grid didn’t fail.   Rolling Blackouts forced electricity demand downward — preventing a collapse of ERCOT’s power grid.

Click Here To Read Our Detailed Article About Texas’ Feb. 2021 Power Crisis: AlsPlumbing.com Texas’ Feb. 2021 Power Crisis

Power Surges Protection includes safeguards for both External and Internal Power Surges. Al’s Plumbing, Heating & A/C in Plano, Texas provides maintenance & repairs for all brands of Central A/C, Gas & Electric Furnace, and Heat Pumps.  Additionally, we sell and install new HVAC Systems from American Standard (same company as Trane), Ameristar (owned by American Standard), and Coleman HVAC (same company as York HVAC).

Al’s also provides Full-Service Plumbing; Maintenance, Repairs, and Replacements for every plumbing component in your home.  Al’s sells and installs gas & electric water heaters.   Al’s is near your home in Murphy, TX; Rowlette, TX; and Wylie, Texas.   We service all homes in southern Collin County with no travel charges.

Call Al’s today to discuss any concerns or problems you have with your HVAC System or Plumbing.  We will arrange an appointment at your convenience