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Old 01-22-2010, 01:36 AM   #13
Steven
Avalon Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Temiscouata
Posts: 873
Default Re: Surge Protectors Worldwide for the Electrical Power Grid?

Quote:
Originally Posted by sunflower View Post
Hi Steven, as a fellow Quebecoise I am really happy to hear what you had to say about Hydro Quebec. Perhaps from hindsight we can say that we are fortunate that we experienced the '89 blackout and the '92 Ice storm. Our crumpled hydro towers were replaced by much more solid structures and to hear that integral components have been shielded is music to my ears.

Thank you and whenever you have more info regarding all this stuff which I don't truly understand I for one would appreciate reading it. We have heavy duty foil and metal containers stored in the basement. Now all we need is sufficient advance warning!
Hello Sunflower. I am also happy to tell you that indeed, we are well prepared for another EMP in Quebec. To say the truth, we had another EMP of high magnitude in 2000, which was measured, but caused nothing on the DC protections.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark Lipschitz View Post
I've always wondered about this, and maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong here...

But isn't it kind of silly to put your electronics in Faraday cages or otherwise shield them if there isn't going to be any power to run them on?

I mean, the electrical grid isn't set up to withstand a massive EMP or CME. Regardless of where you live I think. So if there is no electricity what is the point of shielding your electronics? You could only use them if they have a battery and after that it is useless.

If there is a EMP event and the grid goes down, it's not going to come back online for a long time. Maybe never. If it's a localized occurrence that is one thing, but if it is global then it is back to the stone age for us.
It isn't Mark, because chances are high that DC components will get damaged while Large AC power components like 500MVA transformers would not be affected at all. If it happens, the grid might go down because the protection DC components might fry and the lines "opens" by default when a line loose its protection. The time to repair is not long like it would be if large AC transformers or breakers would break.

So it might be useful if you want to protect your data in your computer or other useful electronic tools you use, because chance are high the power grid will be back online after several hours or a couple days, depending of the state of your electrical power network and the magnitude/time of the EMP.

Once again, EMP will not burn large AC components like transformers or breakers. It might burn some badly shielded electronics, but not AC power grid. If a line goes down, it is not because transformers are fried, but it is because the DC components which monitors and protect the lines with algorithm have been damage. They are easy to replace and repair, much more than a large AC component.

Namaste, Steven
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