Circuit could be the source of numerous Conneaut power outages

By MARK TODD - Staff Writer - mtodd@starbeacon.com
Star Beacon

September 09, 2008 08:25 pm

— CONNEAUT — A troublesome circuit appears to be at the root of repeated power outages that have plagued portions of Conneaut in recent days, said Mark Jones, Illuminating Co. area manager.
Technicians will give the circuit a thorough examination this week to gauge the extent of the problem, Jones said.
“If something major comes out of this, we’ll inform the city,” he said.
A handful of outages have plagued portions of Conneaut and surrounding areas in recent days. Three, and possibly four, interruptions have been recorded since an entire substation south of the city lost power on Aug. 30, officials said. The substation was back in service a short time later, but since then, one circuit has experienced problems, Jones said.
“They are all recent events since the shutdown of the substation,” he said. “It’s one particular circuit.”
Engineers are scheduled to conduct a visual inspection of the circuit in hopes of spotting potential trouble spots, Jones said. Special heat-detection equipment also will be used, he said.
The substation was shut down late in the evening on Aug. 30 after a raccoon wandered into the machinery. A large section of Conneaut, North Kingsville and Kingsville were blacked out for more than two hours.
Another outage stemming from the suspect circuit happened Thursday, when a sleeve failed, allowing a line to fall atop a moving semi-truck on Interstate 90. Power was lost to much of the city’s east side and downtown district.
Power was lost a third time within a week’s span on Saturday because of a faulty switch, Jones said. Some residents reported a brief loss of service during a Monday morning rain, according to reports.