Mineral oil fire explodes at CenterPoint Energy facility in Texas City

[thackney]

Mineral oil fire explodes at CenterPoint Energy facility in Texas City
http://abc13.com/flames-seen-for-miles-after-explosion-in-texas-city/3445584/
May 08, 2018

Flames and black smoke from a CenterPoint Energy facility in Texas City could be seen for miles following a transformer explosion late Tuesday afternoon.

"As soon as I saw (the) black smoke I knew something bad was going on," said Texas City resident Marshal Fezekus, who captured video of the incident as he waited to hear if he had to evacuate.

Officials say the fire exploded late afternoon at the facility near FM 517 and Highway 146.

A mineral oil fire is being blamed for the explosion....

Several refineries are in the area.  I watched the black smoke pouring out of the area last night on the drive home.  I figured it was a refinery or chemical plant burning.

[thackney]

UPDATE: Fire Reignited At CenterPoint Substation In Texas City, Officials Say
https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/2018/05/08/284298/fire-at-centerpoint-substation-in-texas-city-officials-say/

Texas City officials said a fire reignited at at a Texas City substation owned by CenterPoint Energy, early Wednesday. Texas City Emergency Management said first responders are on the scene. CenterPoint Energy said no injuries, or power interruptions, have been reported.

“The fire has reignited this morning which could happen from time to time over the next day or so due to the extreme heat of the equipment from yesterday’s fire,” said Alicia Dixon, CenterPoint spokeswoman, in an e-mailed statement to Houston Public Media. “We are working closely with the fire department. There are no customers impacted (experiencing an outage) at this time due to the fire reigniting this morning. We are still investigating cause.”...

[thackney]

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.4871978,-94.9876266,1810m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en

[Elderberry]

A mineral oil fire is being blamed for the explosion....

I would think that an exploding transformer ruptured its case and ignited the mineral oil that was within the transformer.

Mineral oil is used in transformers as both an insulator and to transfer heat from the windings to the case body.

Oh, I see now that the xformer blew yesterday.

[GrouchoTex]

I heard about the fire on my way home from work last night.
At that time, they did not know the cause, which we know now was mineral oil.

[thackney]

A mineral oil fire is being blamed for the explosion....

I would think that an exploding transformer ruptured its case and ignited the mineral oil that was within the transformer.

Mineral oil is used in transformers as both an insulator and to transfer heat from the windings to the case body.

Exactly.  I specify similar large transformers.  Sometimes, more frequently lately, we specify a less flammable oil, more expensive of course.

[thackney]

I heard about the fire on my way home from work last night.
At that time, they did not know the cause, which we know now was mineral oil.

Mineral would not be the cause of the fire.  It would be why the transformer kept burning. 

Almost certainly this was an electrical fault, some failure of equipment.  The resulting arc likely ruptured the tank and ignited the oil.

[Elderberry]

Exactly.  I specify similar large transformers.  Sometimes, more frequently lately, we specify a less flammable oil, more expensive of course.

Please don't tell me that they're still using Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

[thackney]

Please don't tell me that they're still using Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

PCBs were primarily used in indoor transformers to prevent fires (of the mineral oil).  The manufacture of them stopped in 1977.  The dangers of PCB were blown way out proportion in my opinion, partially based upon my father's industrial experience of them.

[thackney]

Please don't tell me that they're still using Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

FR3 is what I am most used to using.

https://www.cargill.com/bioindustrial/envirotemp/fr3

[Elderberry]

We only dealt with small units. 1KVA or less. Primarily medical and hi-temp downhole. Custom, small runs. No oil, only varnish and epoxy.

[catfish1957]

Please don't tell me that they're still using Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

Been retired awhile, but dielectric fluid of 1-500 ppm PCB in transformer oil was still legal 5 years ago, as long as you were doing the required testing and inspections.

[thackney]

Been retired awhile, but dielectric fluid of 1-500 ppm PCB in transformer oil was still legal 5 years ago, as long as you were doing the required testing and inspections.

I think it is 50-500 ppm.  Below 50 ppm you can call it non-PCB.

Part of the problem was the assembly line was the same for many of these transformers 50 years ago.  Transformer A gets PCB oil.  Next transformer B was supposed to be straight mineral oil, but enough PCB was in the "funnel" used to fill from the previous transformer that the non PCB transformer still had a measurable amount of PCB contamination.

https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2013-09/documents/pcbinspectmanual.pdf

[catfish1957]

I think it is 50-500 ppm.  Below 50 ppm you can call it non-PCB.

Part of the problem was the assembly line was the same for many of these transformers 50 years ago.  Transformer A gets PCB oil.  Next transformer B was supposed to be straight mineral oil, but enough PCB was in the "funnel" used to fill from the previous transformer that the non PCB transformer still had a measurable amount of PCB contamination.

https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2013-09/documents/pcbinspectmanual.pdf

Yep, enough PCB stayed in entrained in the windings even if the transformer was full drained.  Actually near impossible to get a non-detect on an even cleaned PC transformer.

Yep, 50 ppm is the threshold (Its been a while since i've looked obviously)

Reference 40  CFR 761.2 (a) (4)