A line crew working a radial circuit, which accounted for a large service area, required clearance to support an upcoming job. Because this portion of the circuit had limited existing equipment to sectionalize, such as reclosers or solid blade switches, obtaining the necessary clearance would have required a significant outage.
The crew had two options: move upstream to open the closest sectionalizing switch, which would maximize the number of customers affected, or move downstream, closer to the worksite, and use the Break-Safe® to minimize the outage.
The Break-Safe® was installed at the work site and a parallel circuit was created using the Break-Safe® to pick up the load.
Crews cut the permanent jumpers to achieve the needed clearance, then dropped the load using the Break-Safe® load break feature. The stick-operability of the Break-Safe® not only provided a safe way to drop the load, but also isolated the circuit, ensuring the safety of the crew and the system.
With the clearance cut and load dropped, the Break-Safe® was removed, and grounds were applied to the de-energized circuit.
While there are various work methods for dropping loads and creating clearances, the convenience and effectiveness of the Break-Safe® portable switch offers a turn-key, stick-operable solution. Using a single tool to make parallel circuits and perform load break and load pick-up using creates a safer, more efficient solution than traditional methods and reduces the number of affected customers