POWER BOARD

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXX, Issue 12263, 26 May 1934, Page 10

POWER BOARD

MONTHLY MEETING ' Tho monthly meeting of the Poverty Bay Electric Power Board was held yesterday, Air F. R. Ball presiding over the following: Afessrs T. Corson, A. O. Steele, H. H. Do Costa, ,T. Torn Meson, M. T. Trafford, <J, Mills O. Blackburn, A. A. Fraser, and Dr Collins An inquiry was received from .x Reefton engineer as to the price of the hoard’s old steam plant and, on the recommendation of tho finance committee, it was decided to offer the plant at £ISOO. The Wait-aki Electric Power noarif wrote asking support for an appeal to the Government ■ for uniform charges for hulk supply.—ft was de* oided to suppoi*t the appeal. On the recommendation o? thq finance committee, it was decided io supply current to the Borough Council, for lighting and operating th« Robinson Atemorial at 3d per unit, inclusive of lamps, maintenance and replacements.—The engineer (Mr G. T. Cuthbort) reported that experiments were being conducted with a view to improving visibility at night and next week he intended to try out a svsiem of spotlights.

ENGINEER’S REPORT,

The reort of the engineer CMr I*. G. Cuthbort') included the following paragraphs *

“Interruptions tv> Alain Snr-py: Sunday. 8/4/34 (1.30 p.m. io 5.30 p.m.). —By arrangement, the powerhouse generating plant- carried' tho. board's load during the above period while the Public AYorks Department installed, earthquake release clamps on the 50,000-volt conductors between the switching structure and the e.h.t. bushings on the main transformers at Pa tut ah sub-station. The steel structure was also strength! .ened by the addition of a ehannc-l iron which supports additional insulators. Tn the case of a severe earthquake the release clamps aio designed to operate thereby relieving the porcelain bushings of undtiQ stress. This method was evolved as a result of the experience, at Tara-* dale sub-station, where a large number of bushings were destroyed during the Hawke’s Bay earthquake. Anart from a short- outage on country feeders, no interruption occurred in the general supply. Wednesday. 13/4/34 (4.35 to 6.0.5 a,m.. d.c. onlv.— During the above ' advertised shut-down, all d.c. rower was out off End the busbars were deadened in the power-house so as to enable an auxiliary switch to ha fitted to tho d.c. circuit breaker con-, trolling gear installed on the rotary converter.

“Transformers.— Maximum' dr-* mand tests have been continued, and two distribution transformers wero changed during the month. An additional 5-k.v.n. transformer was erected in the Whaiaiutu line near Pnha.

‘■lsolation Links.—No additional sefs were installed during the month, but it was found necessary to replace the links at deLautour react and at Wninui beach owing io cracked insulators.

“Rem ofe-Con trolled AY ater-Hoa fers.—Four additional water-heater:-? wore connected to the pilot wire control during the month. Tho total •lumber now stands at 207, representing a. connected load of 172 k.w.

“Maintenance Work.—Lino maintenance work has been carried out in the following localities: To. Karaka. Mafeauri, Wainui beach, Kelvin road, Seymour read, Crawford foad, and Fox street.

"Installation of Automatic Shut-ting-down Equipment on Rotary Converter in Power-house.— The m.b.d. generating sets took over tho d.c. load from 9 a.m. on 17/4/34 to 3 p.m. on while bearing thermostats, thermal overload relay, connecting cables, etc., were installed on the rotary converter under the supervision of Messrs. Met-ropolitan-A ickers Electrical Company’s erection engineer. The equipment was thoroughly tested before being taken over from the manufacturers, and the machine can now bo left to run unattended. “Inspection of Lino Extensions and Operating System.—Tho inspecting engineer from the Public Works Department visited this district on April 13, 14 -and 15, and inspected all line extensions erected by the hoard during the year ended March 31, 1934. The inpeetpr expressed l himself as being*' thoroughly satisfied with the standard of construction employed on new works, and also commented favourably on the maintenance and inspection .work " now bei’ng carried out on the board’s operating system.

‘Overhaul of Waimata Gil Switch at Gray’s Hill.—As several unaccounted- outages have occurred, oix the Waimata feeder a shut-down was arranged between 1.30 a.m. and 4,4 V p.m. on 11/4/34 in order to examino the switch mechanism and change the oil in the switch-tank at the foot of Gray’s Hill. On lifting the metal hood it was found that the enclosed space was packed tightly with birds’ nests, straw, paper, feathers, etc., and it is quite . pos-« sible that the, mechanical latch on-, tho switch was tripped by the action: of birds forcing their way into suck, a confined space. An improved type* of cover has been substituted wiitt metal partitions fitting closely owit' the working parts of the switch, it is hoped to cure the trouble by this means.”

Tho report was adopted without discussion.