Around 7:05 AM this morning, two tremendously loud explosions were heard across Bethesda. It appears two Pepco transformers blew, as the 4900 block of Cordell Avenue, and most of the the 4800 block of Cordell were left without power. It's unclear what the cause would have been, as we are experiencing near-perfect weather this morning.
11 comments:
Classic Pepco!
Looks like 36 customers affected.
12:11 PM - Also the streetlamp on the far left reveals that the photo wasn't taken during a blackout.
Has the power been restored on Cordell Avenue?
Has the power been restored at Montgomery Mall?
Was the Apple Store open at Montgomery Mall today (Sunday*)?
*Date specified because Robert Dyer's Bethesda blog does not include date-stamps on comments, unlike his three other blogs.
I heard those bangs here in Hillmead off of Greentree. Scared the crap out of me.
6:04: I think it set a record for loudest transformer explosions in Bethesda history. It was heard in Lyttonsville, NW DC, Westbard, to name a few. Unreal. Whoever was next to those things is probably deaf today.
Apparently, the Bethesda Place apartments at the corner of Woodmont and Old Georgetown were without power for most of the day, so the power outage may have been more extensive than first thought.
Is Dyer clairvoyant? He said the outage happened at "today at 7:04am", but the blog post is at 6:21am....weird
6:10 - No doubt. An electrician friend says that the new technology (which of course we don't have) prevents the transformers from blowing. The new ones are electronic and when there's an issue, they try and restart once. If they don't fire on the first attempt, they shut themselves down thus preventing an explosion. Don't know if that's 100% accurate but sounds right to me.
Transformers don't "start", "restart" or "fire". They have no mechanical parts.
They blow up because they experience an overload, typically caused by a bolt of lightning or a short circuit, not because they "don't fire on the first attempt".
6:15 - Not correct at least not for the new, electronic transformers. They do try and restart and if the first attempt fails, they shut themselves down to help prevent them from exploding.
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