go green – Power Transformers Blog – Expert Safety and Usage Info http://www.powertransformersblog.com by MIDWEST Electrical Testing, Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin Thu, 31 Aug 2017 16:02:27 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.4.11 Replacing Transformers with Green http://www.powertransformersblog.com/2010/06/replacing-transformers-with-green/ Wed, 02 Jun 2010 14:21:03 +0000 http://www.powertransformersblog.com/?p=94 We like it when we run into something unusual.  Recently we had a request for a replacement transformer.  That wasn’t unusual until they told us they wanted a pad mount dry type transformer. That was a surprise. He was surprised we had one.  The company may have been trying to go green and was under a mandate to no longer use fluid filled transformers. This is becoming more common.  We see quite a few companies that require all replacement transformers to be dry type because of their “Green” policy.  Fortunately most of these companies are commercial facilities and do not use higher voltages and do not have huge loads. In addition, the transformers for commercial facilities are often indoors where dry type transformers are appropriate. Therefore non fluid filled replacement transformers are available and “Going Green” is a good option.  But an outdoor dry type pad mount transformer is uncommon.  Most pad mount transformers are oil filled.  And most pad mount transformers are green, painted green.  Pad mount transformers were developed decades ago for use in subdivision developments.  They were replacements for overhead distribution transformers.  The under ground distribution systems and low profile green box shaped transformers were unobtrusive in the beautiful new subdivisions.  So suburbia went green decades before it became environmentally important, but they did it for cosmetic reasons.

 

But that is not true for industrial facilities that frequently have higher voltages and larger loads, for example over 25 kv and over 3750 kva.  MIDWEST did have one occasion where a manufacturing plant wanted to eliminate the fire hazard of fluid filled transformers. But it was only because their insurance carrier determined their transformers were so close to the outside building walls that they created a fire hazard.  They were not trying to go green, they were trying to avoid going black.  Dry type replacement transformers would not reasonably work because of the size of their transformers.

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