Belgravia street explodes - 11,000 volt cables fails

[Lectrician]

Not seen this on here yet, happened today....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=I515SEYGbIw

Hard to believe it's just 11,000volt that causes that fireball!

 

[JohnW2]

Not seen this on here yet, happened today....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=I515SEYGbIw
Hard to believe it's just 11,000volt that causes that fireball!

Whre does your information about the 11kV come from? - the YouTube upload comment describes this as a gas explosion.

Kind Regards, John

 

[Lectrician]

Several Tabloids, and the BBC news. Keep seeing snippits all day.

"The blast, believed to be caused by a faulty cable carrying 11,000v cable".

I must admit, I find it hard to believe it's 11,000 volt that has caused this, I have seen the effects of a couple 11,000 volt fails, and it has never been like that! Perhaps the protection failed...

Struggle to find it online, other than here...

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/lond...sending-flames-shooting-into-sky-8589118.html

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Several Tabloids, and the BBC news. Keep seeing snippits all day.

They all just repeat what the others say.

Once an original report injects "gas explosion" or "11kV" or whatever into a story it just propagates - no news organisation is likely to send anybody out to start doing original investigation of an event like that, they just sit at their desks and take stuff off the internet.

Take any story you like, of only "local" significance, no mayhem/death/destruction etc, and start Googling for it - you'll find newspaper after press agency after broadcaster churning out the same text.

I'm not an expert on explosions, but to me there looks like too much black smoke for it to be a gas explosion.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I must admit, I find it hard to believe it's 11,000 volt that has caused this, I have seen the effects of a couple 11,000 volt fails, and it has never been like that! Perhaps the protection failed...

Highish resistance fault causes overheating, insulation starts to melt (how old might this cable be? Might there be bitumen?), fault becomes low resistance, ignites polymers, bitumen?

Also, don't forget the basic physics - a stick of dynamite contains about 0.64kWh.

 

[westie101]

I've seen LV do worse than that on occasion