OVERVIEW
Many buildings within downtown Vancouver and outlying areas are supplied with electricity from the BC Hydro Dual Radial cable system. Two sets of 12,470 Volt cables feed each building; one 'running' circuit and one 'standby' circuit. These cable circuits enter into switches within the building's Electrical Dual Radial Vault. This unique system configuration ensures customers receive a high level of power reliability enabling BC Hydro to have flexibility to switch to the standby circuit for scheduled and unscheduled outages on the running circuit.
WorkSafeBC rules dictate that every three years, a building owner or property management company is required to have a certified high voltage contractor de-energize the vault, clean, maintain and test the equipment, and restore power. This process happens on two occasions every three years: once for the running circuit and once for the standby circuit.
To support customers in completing their triennial power shutdowns, BC Hydro arranges "maintenance windows" - periods of several days when a customer's circuit is isolated from other customers, enabling maintenance. The maintenance must be completed within the given windows to ensure that the building does not become 'non-compliant' and at risk for unplanned power disruptions.
WorkSafeBC rules dictate that every three years, a building owner or property management company is required to have a certified high voltage contractor de-energize the vault, clean, maintain and test the equipment, and restore power. This process happens on two occasions every three years: once for the running circuit and once for the standby circuit.
To support customers in completing their triennial power shutdowns, BC Hydro arranges "maintenance windows" - periods of several days when a customer's circuit is isolated from other customers, enabling maintenance. The maintenance must be completed within the given windows to ensure that the building does not become 'non-compliant' and at risk for unplanned power disruptions.
OUR SERVICES
As a BC Hydro approved Dual Radial Contractor, we are committed to providing a high level of service to our Dual Radial Customers.
- We provide detailed estimates to new and existing customers free of charge for every single job.
- We pride ourselves on our proactive efforts to help our customers remain compliant with the requirement for triennial maintenance.
- We are able to perform the shutdowns at any time 24/7, and we can also provide temporary power with portable diesel electric generators if necessary.
- We work closely with our customers and with BC Hydro to find shutdown times within the maintenance windows that cause the least disruption to normal building operations.
- www.bchydro.com/news/conservation/2013/dual-radial-vault-maintenance.html
MAINTENANCE REMINDER PROGRAM
To simplify the process of keeping vaults in compliance, we offer a maintenance reminder program for building owners, property managers and strata agents.
- The customer provides us with a list of the building(s) under their management.
- We provide the customer with advance notice for the maintenance windows for each building.
- The customer specifies how far in advance they would like to be informed - typically anywhere from 2-8 months.
EQUIPMENT
Although they can be significantly larger and more complex, typically an Electrical Dual Radial Vault contains a minimum of the following equipment:
- Two sets of 12.47KV Dual Radial Isolation Switches
- Two sets of 12.47KV Dual Radial Load Break Switches
- 12.47KV Fused Load Break Switch or 12.47KV Isolation Switch + 12.47KV Circuit Breaker + Overcurrent Protective Relay
- 12.47KV to 120/208V or 347/600V Dry-Core or Oil-Filled Power Transformer
- Ground Fault Protective Relay
- Main Low Voltage Circuit Breaker
