Power Grid Discussion

[Powerman620]

We have both, 14.4 and 7200

 

[dennishoddy]

Dave, the two phases would be 180 degrees out of phase so they would not cancel.

I'm thinking phase short that he is referring to was a comment of mine in another thread that if you don't isolate your home from the grid when installing a temporary generator your back feeding the line. For example, if your neighborhood utility poles are intact but everything else is down around your neighborhood so you have your own little tiny grid.
If your neighbor used the hi-point method of wiring in his generator, and the phases aren't synced to yours while not being isolated, it results in a short that would trip probably both generators because the phases would be opposed.
When syncing a power plant to the grid, it's critical that the generator is synced to the line. I've seen it once when an operator was manually syncing 550 megawatts to the grid and he hit the sync switch just a tad early. The outcome wasn't pretty nor cheap to fix. Syncing is typically done electronically, but there are times when it must be done manually.

 

[Mack45]

Dennis, I understand what you are saying about synchronization. I guess in your example, it would be best if both idiots backfeeding the line did cancel each other and blow out each other’s generators. The farther they are out of phase, the higher the cross current and “phase short” amperage.