Posted 9:13 pm Wednesday, January 30, 2013
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Water inside cables causes TJC outage
Water inside electrical cables caused the power outage on the Tyler Junior College campus Saturday.
TJC spokesman Fred Peters said water somehow got inside two of the three main electrical cables on the main campus.
It is unclear exactly how this happened because the cables are heavily insulated and about 5 inches in diameter, Peters said.
He said the college is working with the electrical and construction companies to determine exactly how it happened so they can do everything possible to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
The power outage affected all but three buildings on campus, and caused the cancellation of activities and classes for the day as well as an SAT exam.
TJC spokesman Fred Peters said water somehow got inside two of the three main electrical cables on the main campus.
It is unclear exactly how this happened because the cables are heavily insulated and about 5 inches in diameter, Peters said.
He said the college is working with the electrical and construction companies to determine exactly how it happened so they can do everything possible to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
The power outage affected all but three buildings on campus, and caused the cancellation of activities and classes for the day as well as an SAT exam.
The unaffected buildings were Campus Safety, and Bateman and Hudnall halls, which house students.
Peters said crews replaced cable and other equipment on Saturday. Some equipment had to be brought from Dallas, which caused a delay in getting power back on, Peters said.
In 2011, the college installed underground electrical lines to minimize the chance of power outages.
The installation was part of many projects designed to upgrade campus infrastructure and funded by more than $24 million in maintenance tax notes.
Because the previous electrical system was above ground, squirrels, twigs and anything else that fell on the lines near the transformers caused power outages.
Campus officials were forced to shut down the campus as many as four times in a year because of it, which was one of reasons they decided to make the upgrades, according to newspaper archives.
Peters said crews replaced cable and other equipment on Saturday. Some equipment had to be brought from Dallas, which caused a delay in getting power back on, Peters said.
In 2011, the college installed underground electrical lines to minimize the chance of power outages.
The installation was part of many projects designed to upgrade campus infrastructure and funded by more than $24 million in maintenance tax notes.
Because the previous electrical system was above ground, squirrels, twigs and anything else that fell on the lines near the transformers caused power outages.
Campus officials were forced to shut down the campus as many as four times in a year because of it, which was one of reasons they decided to make the upgrades, according to newspaper archives.
