Thank you Killington for your best effort . . .

[skiadikt]

Yes lots of noise, sparks, etc.. It happened on the pole right behind the shack where they sell beer etc at the bottom. There isn't a visible transformer there but I don't know much about power lines. The lady at guest services said they had a power surge at the base at the same time, and everything went off and then back on inside the lodge.

Don't think it was a transformer that blew. More like flash over on the pole where all the sparks were flying. I was on line when it happened and as it was explained to me by a friend that is an electrical engineer said it was a flashover. Easy fix he said.

Your friend was quite correct as the mylar streamers set off to celebrate the second opening day caught the power lines with the wind blowing them creating a phase to phase fault. Only damage was to the fuses that are designed to blow when this happens. Required a GMP crew to get up to the North Ridge and change the fuses. It is my understanding that Killington owns all their own electrical equipment on the mountain. This was not the fault of Killington. The skiers themselves own this one.

whoever's responsible cost the mtn some bux as they issued vouchers which i'm assuming are redeemable anytime this season at a loss to the mtn in addition to ruining everyone's ski day.

[Woodsrider]

Btw if it was indeed a transformer failure, infrared thermography and oil analysis are excellent methods of predicting a failure before it occurs.

If system reliability is important to you, predictive maintenance is your friend.

Seriously? You expect this level of periodic inspection on a mountain top for a ski resort for a rare event that only results in a minor inconvenience? It isn't free, do you want higher lift ticket prices to pay for it too? Can we bill you directly?

I do hope your joking. Anyone who operates critical/essential equipment that doesn't perform predictive maintenance is foolish. The savings from preventing a single outage, like yesterday's voucher give-away, would pay for the technology.

[Guy in Shorts]

Btw if it was indeed a transformer failure, infrared thermography and oil analysis are excellent methods of predicting a failure before it occurs.

If system reliability is important to you, predictive maintenance is your friend.

Seriously? You expect this level of periodic inspection on a mountain top for a ski resort for a rare event that only results in a minor inconvenience? It isn't free, do you want higher lift ticket prices to pay for it too? Can we bill you directly?

I do hope your joking. Anyone who operates critical/essential equipment that doesn't perform predictive maintenance is foolish. The savings from preventing a single outage, like yesterday's voucher give-away, would pay for the technology.

The only way yesterday's outage could have been prevented is by moving the wires from overhead to underground.

[Woodsrider]

Btw if it was indeed a transformer failure, infrared thermography and oil analysis are excellent methods of predicting a failure before it occurs.

If system reliability is important to you, predictive maintenance is your friend.

Seriously? You expect this level of periodic inspection on a mountain top for a ski resort for a rare event that only results in a minor inconvenience? It isn't free, do you want higher lift ticket prices to pay for it too? Can we bill you directly?

I do hope your joking. Anyone who operates critical/essential equipment that doesn't perform predictive maintenance is foolish. The savings from preventing a single outage, like yesterday's voucher give-away, would pay for the technology.

The only way yesterday's outage could have been prevented is by moving the wires from overhead to underground.

If Mylar streamers was the cause, then yes that is true. But they should still be performing PdM maintenance. Your response above is very common from assbackward conservative plant and maintenance managers that don't want to spend money on technology and pick one failure out of 20 that could not be predicted and say "it wouldn't have helped this". Pretty typical response from a non-reliable company. Personally, I don't like be stuck on a chair lift. It happens enough at Killington.

[Bubba]

We need to implement mylar controls.

[Talisman]

We need to implement mylar controls.

When Mylar is outlawed, only outlaws will have Mylar.

[madhatter]

We need to implement mylar controls.

well whoever did it obviously had zero concerns about retrieving the trash generated...pretty sure we already got a rule about that...and yes I know you were kidding...

[tyrolean_skier]

If Mylar streamers was the cause, then yes that is true. But they should still be performing PdM maintenance. Your response above is very common from assbackward conservative plant and maintenance managers that don't want to spend money on technology and pick one failure out of 20 that could not be predicted and say "it wouldn't have helped this". Pretty typical response from a non-reliable company. Personally, I don't like be stuck on a chair lift. It happens enough at Killington.

I was stuck on it and it was not that bad. It was not too cold and it did not last too long.

[Woodsrider]

If Mylar streamers was the cause, then yes that is true. But they should still be performing PdM maintenance. Your response above is very common from assbackward conservative plant and maintenance managers that don't want to spend money on technology and pick one failure out of 20 that could not be predicted and say "it wouldn't have helped this". Pretty typical response from a non-reliable company. Personally, I don't like be stuck on a chair lift. It happens enough at Killington.

I was stuck on it and it was not that bad. It was not too cold and it did not last too long.

No it wasn't that bad. And I had a couple of scared kids on the lift with me to entertain me. Only getting in 5 runs sucked though. The back up system worked well and I was not too annoyed. Lift failures at K are part of the charm I guess. I guess it is to be expected.

[Mister Moose]

If Mylar streamers was the cause, ....

Lift failures at K are part of the charm I guess. I guess it is to be expected.

So after it was determined it was a flashover caused blown fuse caused by those streamers, you still want to complain about lift reliability? More like complaining and whining is just part of the charm of Woodsrider, I guess it is to be expected....

[specialp]

Here is a similar video from a phase short.




Mylar streamers are known to do this as well. There are 3 phases being carried by the pole and connecting two of them creates a short between the voltage potentials.

http://rapidcityjournal.com/mylar-strea ... 083fb.html

Another story about mylar streamers and power lines. GIS had a pic of the streamer on the wire. Has nothing to do with transformers. And who is to say they are not maintaining transformers as you propose?

[junior]

If Mylar streamers was the cause, then yes that is true. But they should still be performing PdM maintenance. Your response above is very common from assbackward conservative plant and maintenance managers that don't want to spend money on technology and pick one failure out of 20 that could not be predicted and say "it wouldn't have helped this". Pretty typical response from a non-reliable company. Personally, I don't like be stuck on a chair lift. It happens enough at Killington.

I was stuck on it and it was not that bad. It was not too cold and it did not last too long.

You talking about the chair or the dorque?

[Woodsrider]

If Mylar streamers was the cause, ....

Lift failures at K are part of the charm I guess. I guess it is to be expected.

So after it was determined it was a flashover caused blown fuse caused by those streamers, you still want to complain about lift reliability? More like complaining and whining is just part of the charm of Woodsrider, I guess it is to be expected....

Where I come from when an asset fails to perform it's intended function it is called a failure. Doesn't matter what caused it. Kinda like how you view politics.

[Dr. NO]

If Mylar streamers was the cause, ....

Lift failures at K are part of the charm I guess. I guess it is to be expected.

So after it was determined it was a flashover caused blown fuse caused by those streamers, you still want to complain about lift reliability? More like complaining and whining is just part of the charm of Woodsrider, I guess it is to be expected....

Where I come from when an asset fails to perform it's intended function it is called a failure. Doesn't matter what caused it. Kinda like how you view politics.

So by your logic, a lightning strike on or near your industrial building that takes out computers, machines and other assets is failure, not act of God or simply a weather anomaly?

[Mister Moose]

If Mylar streamers was the cause, ....

Lift failures at K are part of the charm I guess. I guess it is to be expected.

So after it was determined it was a flashover caused blown fuse caused by those streamers, you still want to complain about lift reliability? More like complaining and whining is just part of the charm of Woodsrider, I guess it is to be expected....

Where I come from when an asset fails to perform it's intended function it is called a failure. Doesn't matter what caused it. Kinda like how you view politics.

The fuse performed, and interrupted the circuit when the amperage exceeded the fuse's limit. The power plant performed, and kept the voltage constant as the mylar heated until it heated the surrounding air to where it ionized sufficiently to spark the gap. Just exactly where was the failure?