Lineman Tip #6 - Fusing cutouts

Hey everyone!
By special request we are looking more in depth at how to fuse a cutout! If you have any ideas or inquiries for future videos, let me know in the comments!
Don't forget to subscribe and be safe !
#lineman #linemantips #lineworker
Audio courtesy of:
Country Cue 1 by Audionautix
KZbin audio

[@Bobsdecline]

I had a clip I somehow missed during the editing where I wanted to show one of the old cutout doors with the raw fiberglass ... When you come across those, make sure not to touch them with your bare hands! It will irritate your skin very quickly. With my new truck and all, I had cleaned out my stock of old doors and left them at the office

[@notsoserious0944]

We have really old ceramic cut outs--not just the insulator, but the body the door, everything. It looks like a little coffin. No lie.

[@richardcranium3417]

@@notsoserious0944 They call them doors because cutouts used to be made out of wood. Looked like a wood box with the door that swung down. We’ve got two on the wall.

[@notsoserious0944]

@@richardcranium3417 I thought our junk was old but it ain't that old. Actually most of our stuff is underground so management just sort of forgets about our aerial.

[@ElectroTree01]

I have seen and felt exposed fiberglass before but luckily it doesn’t bother my fingertips that much. The fiberglass arrestors bases can be painful if you don’t wear gloves when handling them.

[@quackassassin2146]

As a plumber I'm clueless as to what all of these power components are around me in the air. Journeyman lineman Aaron has been thoroughly educating me over the past month since I've discovered his channel. I'm on the east coast of Florida. And some of the equipment is the same. And now I have an understanding of how it works. He's also giving me a complete understanding of why a trouble call takes so long to get restored. Keep up the good work.

[@Deeked]

After watching your latest video of the pool getting picked over your lines, this question popped into my mind. Thank you. Inside wireman here. Local 26

[@robvanderhyde823]

Thanks for the great videos Aaron. I'm not employed by any utility, but retired fire service. Electrical distribution has always fascinated me since I was a kid. You explain things so well, it's easy to understand what's going on. Rob, Northern California. 🤜🤛

[@dewey7218]

Pro tip: if you're unsure about what size the previous fuse was, just slap a solid copper blade in there and close it in. Can't go wrong lol

[@Bobsdecline]

Lol well your not wrong 🤣

[@t.r.4496]

I pulled a door on a 15 kva transformer and found a piece of #4 copper in the door, they even took time to thread a fuse cap on the copper. We still have it hanging at the shop, nobody has claimed it yet.

[@t-bonethepowerlineworkerfi4120]

@@Bobsdecline cheers from Toledo Ohio

[@jolyonwelsh9834]

That's the same thing as putting pennies in the fuse box.

[@roylejohnson3003]

Thanks for the great information. You provide excellent tips and advice. You are also a very good instructor. Keep up the good work.

[@Bobsdecline]

Thanks Royle 🥂🙏

[@j.cbrosy4136]

I'm new to the field and I appreciate the time you're taking to show us what you know. I would love some videos on phasing parallel, and wiring delta and wye transformer banks

[@Harrier42861]

In the Carolinas we sometimes nail metal numbers to crossarms to specify line fuse sizes. Really helpful when you're designing a reconductor and the documentation mysteriously went missing.

[@MACMAN1983]

Your video are amazing, very informative, thanks you Bob for the knowledge !

[@fredsalter1915]

Another fantastic vid, sir. I'm enjoying watching all of your vids!!!

[@Bobsdecline]

Thanks so much Fred 🙏👊

[@willwaconsya3433]

I worked as an electrician for a public water utility. Looking for dropped cut outs when one of our pumping stations lost power was common. Easy to see. But many times in my career those cutouts would blow and not drop. Why does that happen?

[@xxch4osxx]

Those fuse cutouts make one hell of a bang when they blow. Seen one blow when a squirrel tried climbing the insulator on the top of the transformer that attaches to the main supply line. Threw the squirrel right off lol

[@Chern889]

Fuse sizing in a few districts I’ve been in-“whatever falls out when you open the bin door” haha, great video!

[@Bobsdecline]

Haha cause it'll blow either way right! Lol Might take out a few other lines tho 🤔🤔

[@osamajilani]

Thank you so much for making this video.

[@philiplarson2229]

Thanks, I live rural and we lose power often. Now I understand what I’m seeing on the poles when the fuse blows.

[@siegfredjala8746]

Sir thank you for your tutorial. It is so useful Like me. Because i am a Line man too from philippines.

[@Scarborough5512]

Good video man! I have also heard people being particular about when they tighten the but down making sure your tail of the fuse wraps with the direction of the nut. Ever changed an old door cut out!? Haha those are always fun! Be safe man!

[@Bobsdecline]

Thanks Luke! Ahh yes, I've heard that as well. I debated including that in this video.... I decided to leave it out because while going the direction of the nuts is expected with most mechanical connections involving wires, in this case in can add an unwanted tension to the link. I personally do it that way while pushing some slack into the fuse with my thumb

[@Bobsdecline]

Changed hundreds if not thousands of old cutout over the years .. just a guess, but I'd say about 70-80% of our cutouts are now the newer style

[@billshedd55]

Great explanation! Which end connects to the feed side?

[@rupe53]

Had an outage locally in Ct and after someone drove the line hey said it looked clear. New fuse in and blown again. Drive the line again and still nothing found so the crew chief said "upsize the fuse and we'll burn the line clear". Had a rookie out that night so he got to do the new fuse, which also went off with a bang after about 10 seconds. (and a change of shorts because it was his first time) At that point someone called in a burning limb on a wire about a mile away so they did eventually solve the issue. I still have the look on the rookie's face burned into my memory!

[@davidd1395]

Two things worth mentioning; wrap the fuse tail clockwise around the nut and don’t leave a disconnected line fuse hanging in its holder upside down where it can collect rain. The inside of the tube will expand and you won’t get a fuse link in it again.

[@richardcranium3417]

Don’t pull the nut hard tight. You can end up breaking the fuse.

[@linehandibew6205]

When in doubt throw in a hundred 💯

[@richardcranium3417]

A 5 or 10 is twice as loud

[@melmc8888]

What ever the pot size is, plus ten 😉

[@austins3153]

Good shit brother

[@crazzycris94]

How does that tiny fuse link handle any load its so small. Why does the wire size on the load side of that cut out need to be bigger than that tiny link

[@chupacabra1765]

Ohms law, and the mechanical and electrical properties of the materials used, that's how. The fuse link is short so it does not present too much resistance. The lead is sized for mechanical strength and to provide adequate slack to so when the fuse blows, the lead is whipped quickly away so as not to draw a sustained arc. Its very similar to how a "weak link" on a glider tow rope is used. The rope is sized to tow the heavy glider into the air by the tow plane. The much smaller weak link could never sustain the loads if rope was sized to the weak link, But a very short piece can,( just like the fuseable link) but if there is a sudden overload from air turbulence or the glider pilot surges the load by not controlling the glider properly, the weak link will break so nothing will get damaged. Energy is energy whether it is kinetic, mechanical, or electrical, they have many similar behaviors.

[@ryank1273]

Actually witnessed a fuse blow as soon as they closed the door!

[@Bobsdecline]

Never a good time! Lol I use ear plugs now 😟

[@ryank1273]

@@Bobsdecline I was a very good distance away, there was a small delay from seeing the flash and hearing than bang. But ear protection is very necessary, especially when you have multi ton hammers dropping down on metal rods to make military equipment.

[@jasonwise078]

Good info

[@kenwoodcoda]

Regarding fusing cutouts. Does the fuse carry the entire load on the line? Does the gray tube that encloses the fuse carry the line load? Does the tube and the fuse share the load? As you can see I’m confused. When the fuse blows what allows the top of the cutout to drop down? It appears that the mechanical device at the bottom end of the tube plays a roll. Thanks, Jim

[@Bobsdecline]

Hey Jim! It kind of works like a mouse trap. The tube isn't supposed to take any load at all. Of course as the get dirty and old sometimes they begin the track some and occasionally burn up. Once the small wire inside melts, it can not longer hold the set spring in place, the door then falls/flies open. There are a few different variations but follow the same general design of holding a Spring tightly in place.

[@ke6gwf]

If you think about one of the round glass fuses in an old car, and the size of the element in a 6 amp agc fuse, the amperage is the same at 12 v or 7.2kv. So that tiny wire will be warm at maximum load, and then melt, or melt the solder joint, above the rated load. It's really amazing how much current can flow through such a tiny wire, if you have enough volts! Lol

[@kenwoodcoda]

@@ke6gwf I am a social worker. This stuff really interests me. The relationship between volts and amps is beginning to sink in. Thanks for the example.

[@kenwoodcoda]

@@Bobsdecline Thanks for the info.

[@richardcranium3417]

@@kenwoodcoda As voltage increases amperage (load) decreases. Amperage is amperage until you raise or lower voltage. The fuse has a set rating and won’t change. The fuse barrels are made of fiberglass and won’t carry any load unless they start tracking over due to dirt, etc. The fiberglass will “bloom” on much older barrels due to the UV sunlight like an old boat will.

[@KickAssGameplays]

Hey great videos, Keep up the hard work. I was wondering if you could make a video going into depth on correctly sizing up preforms on guy steel or on the conductor.

[@TariqGondal-my5ro]

Good great 👌

[@RT-qd8yl]

I have a cutout that was given to me by my local power company along with a bunch of insulators and lightning arrestors from when they were replacing poles and conductors in my neighborhood, but it's missing the door. Where can I buy a replacement door to make it complete? I want to use it as decoration in my livingroom.

[@jolyonwelsh9834]

That's like many brands of circuit breakers.

[@culbyj3665]

Can you do a vid on your companies policy setting Poles in 34kv. Also does the local comms company set poles and or how that relationship works. South of you we as comms guys own poles on the same run as the power CO. We will set poles and work together . tho typically power is shut on 34kv as you know for safety ..

[@deanb8424]

Quick add also if fuse is blown and you don’t know what size to replace the fuse size is engraved on top of the screw in portion. Thanks

[@FlukUnilimited]

Sometime .. When power off and i go to chang a new fuse link. Paper in fuse link it make problems . Because rain flow in to fuse link .. and How do you solve this problem? And me Broken A Paper 😆

[@linehandibew6205]

Yeah buddy. Ours on Long Island have the copper stud at the the cap. We discard the cap n washer. The fuse threads right into the copper stud. Hell when I went to Puerto Rico we ran into cutouts with no door.... just a piece of #6 bridging the cutout hahahaha

[@richardcranium3417]

Butterflies. No boom when the blow. Hell to hang with an extendo.

[@Imroytc]

A couple of questions for you. Why are the main wire sizes from pole to pole and to the weather head so much smaller than the larger wire sizes from the weather head to the individual service drop to the meter? It seems like the main lines would be carrying a much heaver load than the service drop which uses a considerably larger size wire and a much shorter length. Is there a certain voltage or amperage when a hollow wire or pipe is required? Thank you, Roy

[@WilliamHaggerty]

The answer you are looking for is a little more involved. Wire sizing on or in a building is goverened by one set of rules. Utility lines are governed by another.

[@robertstredde6798]

Wire size is determined by amperage. Volts x amps = Watts. Watts are constant. So, if a house has a 200amp service drop at 120 volts, that’s 24kW. 24kW divided by 7200 volts equals 3.3 amps.

[@WilliamHaggerty]

@@robertstredde6798 I think they want an answer as to why the triplex is such a smaller size than the consumer service wires.

[@Bobsdecline]

The main high voltage wires have a way higher wattage passing through, but the higher voltage keeps the current low ... Less heat. Approx 1:60 of the amperage. Depending on the system. When looking at the actual low voltage wires to the houses, the house must be built assuming close to all the load is on at once . The same size wire outside can be used to feed multiple house as a percentage of total load is used .... It's very unlikely each house with have Max load at same time. Also . Those wires are in open air . The natural cooling increases the ratings of the wire

[@Imroytc]

Thank you for answering my questions. I understand now I didn't even think about the outside cooling of the wires. I do understand about the voltage and current as I have been building different things and I make sure everything is fused at the proper rating. Most of what I deal with is in the 3 to 110 volt area. Again thanks for your time in answering my questions. Wishing the best for you and yours.

[@stansmith7517]

Thank you for the video.

[@JimwombatLand]

we would put a piece of # 6 copper in one to pick up cold load or to create a solid gate....

[@JimwombatLand]

i kept a piece of #4 solid hard drawn copper to cleane out fuse barrrel ...

[@bertblankenstein3738]

Thank you for this video. Now I know.

[@jhonacacha3804]

here in Philippines if we don't have available fuse link we improvise fuse we strand the old fuse my foreman said the single strand of fuse is equivalent to 2amps until now i use that and actually work everyday🤣

[@hans429]

4 min 30: i give ya a tin out of 10 🤣🤣 vor that soldering haha 🤣🤣

[@aloiziocarlosEble]

Hi! Could you let me know if it often happens that the fuse holder remains stuck (locked) after the link breaks?

[@richardnovio8531]

Good day Aaron, Question. You open the cover for the fuse holder and with the cover, there is a rod attached, what you call that, and what is the function?

[@repro7780]

Does all that voltage go through that tiny little wire? How is that possible?

[@richardcranium3417]

The short distance and the alloy of the metals that make up the wire allow it to carry the load. Stretch it out much further and it will melt faster.

[@ljmike1204]

What happens to a holder if it receaves to mutch amps above what the holder is rated for

[@ke6gwf]

I was totally not expecting how tiny the wire is when you broke the fuse capsule open lol Everything else is so massive, and then the relatively small fuse tail, and I was picturing it melting, but then after recovering from my shock I remembered that the amperage is the same for a 6 amp 12 volt agc glass fuse for my Jeep, or for your 6 amp macho 7.2kv utility cutout, so the element is going to be a similar size! Do you know if the solder melts for a slow blow moderate overload, and then the wire vaporizes for a short, or is it always the wire that blows?

[@richardcranium3417]

It melts under overload. A fault is like a load on steroids which makes it melt much faster. The heat expelled from the super fast melt enclosed in the fuse barrel is what makes it BOOM when you close it on a fault. Take that same fuse without a barrel and put it across a cutout feeding a fault and it won’t boom.

[@techgaming8]

Always wanted know how all that works and it to gather that was awesome to watch an learn anout

[@yusuphabaldeh8462]

hi bobs, is it possible to use a cutout door for line grounding.

[@Bobsdecline]

A cut out door should never be between you and your grounds. Especially a fused one. A solid door is better then nothing but is only rated for 300 amp and would be a week point that could be compromised

[@ocsrc]

Wait, if the wire size is only rated for 100 amp, how do you know if it needs a 100 amp or a 200 amp ? What prevents putting in a fuse too big for the line ? What about wattage? If the line is rated for 240 volts 100 amp, and a 7200 volt 100 amp , is it the same fuse ? Because the wattage is 24k for the 240 volt line and 720k for the 7200 volt line Does wattage not matter ? It seems like wattage would matter Amps is linked to watts I don't know if voltage doesn't matter What am I missing ?

[@WizardVespian]

How in the world do they get 100 amps through that tiny little internal fuse?

[@James-ql8bo]

So your ÷ 5 are you sizing the fuse at 150% of the TX

[@troyaldridge7257]

Cool videos bro keep it up! Are you selling any merchandise?

[@Bobsdecline]

Not at the moment :( but might be in the future!👊

[@TariqGondal-my5ro]

I am interested in fiberglass Rod please advise some sources of quality fiberglass rode manufacturer

[@danielgeng2306]

Grab an apprentice that still has good eyesight... guilty ! Lol

[@braniganirby7676]

🤞🏻👉🌩

[@LiftTech]

At the end you shared a 6A fuse. Is there a 5A fuse type in the selection, or does the math from 25kVA/5=5A round up to 6A?

[@Bobsdecline]

Yessir! I'm not even really sure why that is actually!? We've only ever had 1amp - 3 amp - and 6 amp fuses. So we use the 6 amps for the 25 KVA

[@LiftTech]

@@Bobsdecline Thank you for the clarification!

[@jhonacacha3804]

@@Bobsdecline here in my work we use 3amps for 25kva x'mer

[@James-ql8bo]

If your fusing for a TX and your company fuses at 100% just do the math example 25KVA take 25000 ÷ primary voltage just say 7620 you'll need size 3 fuse. We use T style on overhead

[@AEthridge13]

@1:46 So how many times has this happened to you? Haha

[@tumbleweedking5668]

Put in a 200 amp door drive off and come back in an hour with the primary burnt down. Kva dived by primary voltage times 150 percent equal xcel energy fusing schedule for transformers.

[@richardcranium3417]

Fuse sized too high. It shouldn’t ever burn the primary down if it coordinated right. I did have a 70 amp fuse that was melting out feeding #4 solid copper.

[@robertmelanson9360]

I just wanted to say Hi & be Safe.

[@ryank1273]

Actually have one of those in my room!

[@robertogonzalez4053]

😎👍👷

[@harrisvalues8172]

Do you guy's use fuse saver in Canada

[@Bobsdecline]

We don't use that exact brand , but something similar - trip saver. We had some problems with the ones we were using, and just started installing a newer "better" version. They fit in a regular cutout although we do have a more rugged version of a cutout that helps support the extra weight a little better

[@rasmousein]

You say 6 !! I say 9 !!! Lol Lol, I try to get the apprentice every time I can !! Friendly fun !!

[@Bobsdecline]

Haha that's a good one!

[@DimensionFluke]

The fuse might be silver.

[@Hero1395]

Fuse fatigue

[@Bobsdecline]

Yes! I can't believe I left that term out in the video. I also forgot to mention that load stress can sometimes melt a fuse link prematurely without completely destroying the link. Thanks for mentioning!

[@Hero1395]

Bobsdecline - Lineman blogger you’re videos are great. Keep it up.

[@armandoniebla]

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