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Show 'Salt Storms' Culprit In Many Power Outages You are about ready to sit down to dinner. There is no wind, and the slight drizzle that had begun a few minutes ago has stopped. The lights go out And, later, you learn from the radio the power outage is weather caused. Weather? There was no wind. No snow1. Just a few drops of rain. The circumstances are typical of the outages that have been recurring for the past few months. They arfiEcaused Day', conditions unique to Utah, particularly western Utah. Especially vulnerable are Sevier, and Salt Lake counties; Tooele, Delta and Milford. Utah Power & light Co. explains that the outages are due to "salt storms". The utility said that the state has been especially vulnerable this unusual weather year to fronts from the west and northwest. The fronts, introduced by wind carrying salt, minerals and alkalai, deposit a coating on power line insulators. This insulator contamination does not affect service, the company says, until a slight drizzle occurs not heavy enough to completely wash them. In effect, when the insulators are moistened, it makes their coating of mineral and salt dust highly conductive and causes current to leak into the pole top or pole crossarm. Usually this leakage causes a pole top fire, dropping the conductors and the circuit trips out. . UP&L, System Operations Supervisor Gary Adams said there were more than 80 transmission pole top fires in the month of March alone the greatest number in many years according to UP&L records. In addition to customer inconvenience, its costly. Replacement poles, including labor, average $1,000. This figure does not include distribution pole top fires which occur more often than transmission facilities. |