Power Line Transformer failure nonsense

I was having a conversation with a grower of a formerly illegal product. He was telling a tale of how they would over draw on power for their illegal grow needs causing the transformer to fail. The lineman, singular, would come out and upgrade the transformer to a larger unit for improved service in exchange for product.

I have several problems with this story. 1) What causes transformers to fail? As I understand it, it does not fail because it is over drawn but because of surges or simply an older transformer that has passed its life span. Drawing that much power to fail a transformer should cause breakers to trip or a catastrophic failure of the panel or even your wires to fry before a transformer fails. Also, wouldn't a fuse on the line likely fail before a transformer? Every transformer I've ever seen replaces had the fuses replaced too. B) I have never seen a lone lineman replace anything of that size. 2 1/2) I see some serious problems with stoned lineman. I imagine most companies test for drug use. 2 3/4) I cannot imagine a lineman making a change in a system without supervisory approval and consulting an engineer, even if it is an end line transformer.

In general, people who engage in legal activities seldom straighten up and fly right just because their product is now legal. It is a mind set and a pattern of behavior. Now that the product is legal, the operation has a number of projects red flagged and permits denied because of dangerous work outside of code. The guy is full of BS on everything they do and I call foul on his transformer story.

Are you referring to a yard transformer such as used where the power lines come to a farm?
A long time ago when I was just learning to weld dads yard transformer apparently got so hot that the oil started coming out the top. I never blew the fuse but I am sure the transformer wouldn't have lasted too long short all that oil . My experience the fuses used on hydro lines only blow with a dead short.
As far as the line man ---- some people get away with murder .

Transformer pops a breaker or blows a fuse when over-drawn. Funny thing about the illegal marijuana growers though and electricity. I was reading a history on portable power inverters in the USA. Seems most all the major companies got their start making units for marijuana growers hiding out in off-grid remote areas. In the early 70s a guy named Heart Ackerman came out with one of the first successful power inverters. Heart Inverters from the state of Washington. Then later some of the guys from the company started Trace (now Xantrex of Canada). From Trace came Outback. On and on it goes - all with roots in marijuana farming. At least as the story is told by the actual guys who started these inverter companies. Heart Ackerman, Steve Johnston, Ken Cox. Midnite Solar is the latest generation from these older companies still making DC to AC power inverters.

When i put in my grain dryer with two, 7 1/2 horsepower engine's, the power company told me story's too! And it's never their fault.

Yes, the story is thin, but it's no more preposterous than half the tales folks post here as gospel truth.

I believe the person you were talking with had been smoking to much of he crop or he just just plain full of $hit. More than likely Both.

On the subject of "stoned linemen?" I worked as a lineman early 70s. One of the guys was a heroin addict and another a chronic drunk. They were the exceptions, not the rule. That was way before any drug-testing was done. In fact I have never been drug tested for any job, so not sure when all that came about.

My dad was a lineman his entire working life from age 16 to 64. When he started in 1935, the New Jersey power company had a program that enabled kids to quit school and become linemen. I grew up knowing many of those old-school pole-climbers and most were quite dilligent at their work. In the 30s, my dad got sent out alone to install poles and lines. He hired local people off the street to help when needed. Much has changed. Last place I lived in central NY, National Grid no longer even did much of their own line-work. They farmed it out to guys who came up to NY from down south.

The illicit growers are still doing fine in Washington state, where the product is legal. Why? Because the state taxes the legal product so much that the serious users simply went back to their street suppliers- its cheaper. With the added bonus that they won't get busted anymore.

Over ten years ago there was a story in the news about a pot green house in a nearby town that was discovered because the renters there by-passed the meter which ultimately caused a problem upstream. There was a pic in the paper of the bypass wires. I don't recall if it was a blown transformer. Yes, an overdraw or overload as it is more commonly called would trip a breaker, unless the breaker is bypassed.

Well...

I guess it's plausible.

If an employee is willing to trade pot for secrecy, good chance he wouldn't mind putting in a bigger fuse on the transformer.

It's not his property that will get damaged, a lot easier to replace the fuse than change out a transformer.

Usually transformers get overloaded from more houses being built over the years. They will put as many on one transformer as they can get away with, push it to the limit.

But it would take a lot of grow lights to make a substantial difference on the load.

The biggest problem I see is if the utility company is like the one around here that lineman's decision will be uncovered at some point costing himself a job. They put the absolute minimum transformer on the circuit and nothing larger. Stuff like transformers is closely accounted for in the office. If this was 20 years ago around here then I could see the story happening as the linemen pretty much had free reign on what they did. Any more anything costing money is closely monitored. Even the meter readers have to be careful in terms of getting stuck in the snow as there is hell to pay if they do.

Yep, I was surprised to see O'Connell Electric out of Rochester working on a National Grid line. A private company spraying brush on the right of way. Back when Tenneco owned the gas line that runs through our farm they had their own mowing crew that used David Brown and later Case tractors to do the work and everything was mowed every summer. Now you might see a private contractor once every 10 years unless the helicopter spots something on the weekly fly over. The same with National Grid but they will send a chopper up right after a big storm as well as the weekly flyover where Niagara Mohawk seldom did that.

There is no breaker upstream of the meter.
There is a cut-out (knife switch) fuse on the upstream side of the pole transformer.
If overloaded, it will open/blow to protect the transformer from damage.
If a squirrel crawls around up there and touches too many spots at the same time you might hear a bang and your power will go out.
But don't worry about whats for supper, you can have roasted squirrel for dinner.

And believe this:
The power company will report excessive or unusual, out of average power consumption to LEO.

(quoted from post at 20:33:47 07/13/19) They put the absolute minimum transformer on the circuit and nothing larger. Stuff like transformers is closely accounted for in the office. .

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Yep, some new houses are built with 400 amp or more main breakers.
Does not mean anything to the power company.
They will install whatever THEY think is enough to handle the load they think will ever be needed.

Electric company replaced transformer on my acreage (3 houses 2 wells) lineman (2 trucks 4 guys) said transformer was dated 1948.

The lead instructor in our training program started with the company as a lineman in the early 1970's, he always had good stories. Lots of pot smoking/beer drinking on the job, working circuits hot, climbing poles. Not as much today, as a rule. Jobs at the power plant are much more monitored, I assume the linemen are as well, if not quite as closely.

A 50KVa transformer is only rated to about 200A at 240V, many home and shop setups can exceed 200A today. I can imagine a lineman swapping in a higher amp fuse at the transformer without much repercussion, but to change transformers is a different story. Most construction work is handled by a separate crew, often contractors today.

(quoted from post at 13:32:12 07/13/19) Yes, the story is thin, but it's no more preposterous than half the tales folks post here as gospel truth.

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Yep.

(quoted from post at 06:03:03 07/14/19)
A 50KVa transformer is only rated to about 200A at 240V, many home and shop setups can exceed 200A today. I can imagine a lineman swapping in a higher amp fuse at the transformer without much repercussion, but to change transformers is a different story. Most construction work is handled by a separate crew, often contractors today.

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But transformers are also rated to handle normally XXX% of the rating for XX number of hours. so even with your whole house and shop was capable of drawing more than the 200 amp load of a 45/50kVa xfmr, it would be tough to pull that amount in a house or shop continuously for that period of time.