Experience with oil circuit reclosers on REA systems

For three years surveys have been made of the operation of small single-pole automatic reclosing oil circuit breakers (also called “oil circuit reclosers” and “service restorers”¹) on rural electric distribution systems financed by the Rural Electrification Administration. Results of these surveys indicate that the ratio of lockouts to operations is less than five per cent in most cases, and that there are from four to nine operations per month per breaker during the spring and summer, with each breaker controlling about 20 miles of line. The number of breaker failures and other breaker difficulties have been a small percentage of the total number of breakers installed. These surveys, together with discussions with system managers, have indicated that automatic reclosing breakers offer many advantages for rural line sectionalizing. Presently available breakers can be much improved in operating characteristics, and new sectionalizing devices are needed. This paper presents suggestions for such improvements.