I sometimes need mineral oil to be regular.

EnviroDude: A cheap to build earthen berm would have contained this. Who has a 10K capacity without one? Maroons.

Boston's great molasses flood comes to mind...

There are a lot of stupid people. A failure by any one might not lead to any problems, but when they get together...

The last few sane people in NJ seen diving into the mineral oil to avoid the Orange People.

rkiller1: I sometimes need mineral oil to be regular.

tmi

BronyMedic: As regular? Really? That's what you went with? No Oil on Anus jokes?

My God, Submitter. Are you in a nursing home? Do you need to take your afternoon dose of geritol?

Yeah we need more cliche headlines.

n00B

Quick! Get some chicks in bikinis to wrestle in it!

as someone who is about to start a new job with an environmental firm, I'm getting a kick (and employment) out of this

I didn't get it at first... but then I read the thread and now I do.

/Milk of magnesia kind of guy

BalugaJoe: [coolinthe80s.com image 356x237]

Came for this, leaving because some like it hot

Apologizes profusely, bangs a gong, then watches dark haired female drones play air guitar and waddle side to side while avoiding eye contact.

So, "regular" as opposed to "chunky"?

bhcompy: /Milk of magnesia kind of guy

that stuff tastes horrendous and it made me shiat in my sock

There are a lot worse things than mineral oil that can be spilled from a power station though. They got lucky.

EnviroDude : A cheap to build earthen berm would have contained this. Who has a 10K capacity without one? Maroons Maniacs.

fixed

Oil leaking from the transformer

Damnit Optimus

ultraholland: bhcompy: /Milk of magnesia kind of guy

that stuff tastes horrendous and it made me shiat in my sock

You poop out your foot? You must have the world's worst foot odor.

What oil leaking from a transformer looks like. (new window)

At first they thought it was just residue from NJ residents who got caught in a rainstorm.

Coulda been worse.

EnviroDude: A cheap to build earthen berm would have contained this. Who has a 10K capacity without one? Maroons.

Substations are required to have a containment barrier around the transformers if the reservoir is above a certain capacity. I don't know when that regulation took effect though so this might have just been an old facility that hadn't been spec'd up.

/used to design SVC and SC control systems

Mineral oil not flammable? That's stretching it a bit. Much higher flashpoint than gasoline or diesel, sure, but if it DOES get going... the energy content per gallon's not too much different.

In the Days of Old, though, the stuff in a transformer would've been 10,000 gallons of PCBs. So darn all those gummint regulations and red tape for banning that stuff, and cheating all those HazMat response teams out of a full-on evacuation, lockdown, and cleanup.

EnviroDude: A cheap to build earthen berm would have contained this. Who has a 10K capacity without one? Maroons.

For a transformer that size, they will most often include a rock filled reservior surrounding the transformer foundation that is designed to catch leaking oil. I'm not sure what jurisdiction New Jersey based Utilities fall into, but most environmental agencies require a spill containment plan demonstrating that catastrophic oil spill would not reach water ways.

Also, Transformers have several protective relays that measure, alarm and trip out transformer circuits for loss of oil. Unless all other protective systems have failed and the Transformer has caught fire (as in the video above), this process is slow even in exceptional cases. Normally SCADA systems would have reported oil level alarms back at the head end long before loss of oil became significant, so I'm quite suprised this happened.

This tells me that the substation and transformer were very old, which could mean that the transformer still contained trace amounts of PCB's (new window). Fishies won't like that.

/Substation Engineer

EddyKilowatt: Mineral oil not flammable? That's stretching it a bit. Much higher flashpoint than gasoline or diesel, sure, but if it DOES get going... the energy content per gallon's not too much different.

In the Days of Old, though, the stuff in a transformer would've been 10,000 gallons of PCBs. So darn all those gummint regulations and red tape for banning that stuff, and cheating all those HazMat response teams out of a full-on evacuation, lockdown, and cleanup.

We need to get rid of these ridiculous government agencies like the EPA, Dept of Education, and uh....

Regular.... as opposed to... Extra Crispy?

LoneWolf343: ultraholland: bhcompy: /Milk of magnesia kind of guy

that stuff tastes horrendous and it made me shiat in my sock

You poop out your foot? You must have the world's worst foot odor.

He was whacking with the sock when he had to shiat.

not flammable? ok.
can ignite? yes.

see here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZipeaAkuC0

NJ. Now with 50% more slippery water.

Don't cry over spilled mineral oil

Mr. President please leave the humor to Dane Cook. He ain't funny either, but that joke was so bad.... eet was so bad, eet ees terrible!

Was it Radioactive?

clowncar on fire: Was it Radioactive?

Aw poop. That was The Firm. My eighties fu is weak.

Dahnkster: [www.theblaze.com image 512x422]
Don't cry over spilled mineral oil

Mr. President please leave the humor to Dane Cook. He ain't funny either, but that joke was so bad.... eet was so bad, eet ees terrible!

[1.bp.blogspot.com image 304x380]

And yet you're still talking about it. Man must've done something right.

valar_morghulis: And yet you're still talking about it. Man must've done something right.

I love the guy. He's getting my vote. Hell, I've even gotten 3 or 4 members of my family who are going to vote for him that supported McCain-Turtle ticket last time. He did do something right-- the speech was positive, but the spilled milk joke...not so much. Toodles.

quite the 'situation'.

I'd call it lubed.

detroitdoesntsuckthatbad: /used to design SVC and SC control systems

Neat! Judging by Raleigh in your profile, I'm guessing ABB? I've worked with some of those people, and holy crap are they smart.

Franchez: This tells me that the substation and transformer were very old, which could mean that the transformer still contained trace amounts of PCB's (new window). Fishies won't like that.

/Substation Engineer

We've had an active program to get rid of anything and everything with PCBs. I understand the cost of a PCB spill is more than replacing the equipment proactively. Wasn't there a requirement to get rid of anything with PCBs? Like a law or something? I'm a couple years out of that game, so I may be forgetting.

Last I knew we were doing the rock filled pits under transformers. The voids were intended to capture 100% of the oil + a certain amount of rainwater that may accumulate before maintenance can address the leak. Like you said, that may vary significantly for old sites.

/former substation engineer
//moved to transmission planning and love it

Keep it greasy so it will go down easy.

Gould be worse...could be 500 tons of molten glass

Link (new window)

Lone Stranger: Keep it greasy so it will go down easy.

Zappa FTW.

;)

Somebody's going to be digging a big hole, taking some confirmation samples and writing a report to the state. Sweet, sweet billable hours, baby.