HOROWHENUA POWER BOARD

Shannon News, 22 October 1929, Page 1

HOROWHENUA POWER BOARD

REPORT BY THE ENGINEER. Reporting on the work of tho past month the engineer (Mr. J. A. Smith) supplied the following particulars to tlie Horowhcuua Power Board yesterday : Thirty new service lines have been erected, extra 'phases run on seven exist ir-g services,-two service lines externa.,,, niul two temporary services put 'in. iiigkty-fivo poles have been jitted am! erected and 317 chains of \Vire- i an out.

•'iliree oat-door sub-stations have been elected and one put into service, and a 2D k.v.a, condenser installed at the Whitaunui. sub-station, a 22 k.v.a. at Levin, and a b" k.v.a. moved from Levin to Paekakariki. The reticulation of the Faim has been completed and all consumers have been changed over to the new lines.

The extension of l.t. south of Waikanao has been completed and the necessary alterations made to l.t. circuits in that a'r>ea. A small extension of l.t. was made at old Hautcre Road, to supply a new., consume, and extra. phases run in Lindsay Eoad, Levin, to supply a range. • L.T. has been extended along Kikby's Road, Koputaroa, to pick up new load. A small extension of l.t. was made on Levin-Koputaroa Road and extra phases run on existing poles. A shipment of 1-13 poles'has been offloaded and about 72 distributed on,the Makerua-Rangitanc section, and IS to various other positions.

Transformers at Beach Road, Levin, Ohau, Erasers', Waikanac, have been changed on account of the growth of load.

Workshop. —The usual maintenance to vehicles was carried out and three ladders, two pikes and two canthooks constructed; one 11,000-volt line switch aifd one 11,000-volt switchpanel completed, and a large amount of line material made up. Fifty-five single and four polyphase meter's have been tested, and 33 single phase meters repaired and re-tested, and one range dried out and tested. • General.—On September 17th, an intermittent dislocation of the service occurred between 5 and 6 p.m. on the Shanno'n-Levin-Paekakariki line, and again from midnight to 1 a.m. on the 18th. The lines were patrolled and the fault was traced to a defective insulator at the top of Pott's Hills,. Ihakara. Power was cut off this section between 5.30 a.m. and C. 20 a.m. while the in-sula-tor was renewed.

.On September 19th a dislocation occurred on the Levin-Paekakariki section at 6.15 p.m. The fault was located on Muhunoa West Road, where' two e.h.t. wires were brought down through a wild duck flying into them,, causing them to clash together and burn through. This area was isolated and repairs effected by 9 p.m.

The condensers installed at Whitaunui and L&vin h'ave resulted in a saving of between 11 and 12 k.v.a. in the iast quarter's account, as the peak occurred after their installation, reducing the amount that would nave otherwise been paid for electricity by between £22 and £24. Purther Particulars about Condensers.

The chairman (Mr. G. A." Monk), who moved the adoption of the report, said lie hoped that the condensers put ■in' would be an indication of what might be a more extensive scheme.

Mr.. T. G. Vincent: How did the Public Works Department, view them? The engineer: -ney favour them; they take up the same position as Avt do with our consumers —to get the be.s! out of everything. / In ans Aver to a question .by Mr. Viu vent, the engineer stated that the cost of the condensers was £l2O each plus the installation expenses, whiet' would not amount to more than. £l* for the two. The condensers wouh~ ;ive, - perhaps, twenty years' service it was necessary to con'' ; ' them fairly frequently, as in the case of transformer?. Mr. Vinceut: Would it be a recoinui'iidaiion 1o the "Shannon Dairy Co. or any other big consumers to instal them?

The engineer: I am going into Iliat now. It would be the people on a k.v.a. basis.

The motion for the adoption of the report, which Avas seconded by Mr. A. Seifert. was received.