# Unusual electrical power outage

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-electrical-power-outage/816621>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [June 23, 2018, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-electrical-power-outage/816621 "2018-06-23T15:17:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2018, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-electrical-power-outage/816621/1 "2018-06-23T15:17:00Z")

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We lost power for a moment in a storm Friday night. Here is a map of North Little Rock power outages Saturday morning June 23.  
The [map](http://nlrelectric.com/outagecenter/outage-map/)is divided into squares of about seven blocks on a side. Two blocks have 150 outages. Others have comparatively few, less than a dozen. Previous outages I have experienced have everyone in an area losing power, or just a few when a transformer is damaged. What causes scattered outages like this? I thought perhaps lightning strikes.

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**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2018, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-electrical-power-outage/816621/2 "2018-06-23T15:23:48Z")

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I’d guess that a few random houses on the neighboring blocks, along with the two blocks in red, are all fed by the same substation or large (the big green boxes at street level) step down transformer.

If it’s not that, perhaps a substation on one of those blocks failed and fuses upstream started blowing as the grid tried to compensate, eventually slowing everything down enough to get back under control.

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**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2018, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-electrical-power-outage/816621/3 "2018-06-23T16:06:13Z")

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Thanks! I didn’t realize that substations covered that small an area.

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**Author:** ![Arjuna34](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Arjuna34](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arjuna34)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2018, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-electrical-power-outage/816621/4 "2018-06-23T16:30:21Z")

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Possibly just a single phase of the 3-phase distribution system blew a fuse. Residential locations are typically fed from just one phase, but the distribution system is actually 3 phase, and individual houses tap off just one. If a single phase goes out, only houses on that phase would be affected.

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**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2018, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-electrical-power-outage/816621/5 "2018-06-23T16:59:25Z")

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Thanks. At work we sometimes lose just the lights.

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**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2018, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-electrical-power-outage/816621/6 "2018-06-23T17:20:06Z")

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> [@carnivorousplant](#):
>
> Thanks. At work we sometimes lose just the lights.

few jobs ago our building had an intermittent fault in the transformer feeding it, causing one of the fuses to blow up on the distribution pole and cut off one phase. so various lights and outlets would be out, and the disconnects for the HVAC air handlers had to be turned off until the fault could be repaired.