DISTIBUTION

TRANSFORMER FAILURE
REDUCTION STRATEGY –
FAILURE TRENDS AND RISK
FACTORS
PRESENTED BY:-
JOHN K. KANAMPIU, Ag. CHIEF
ENGINEER S/STATION MAINTENANCE
CENTRAL OFFICE
CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION
2. FAILURE TRENDS
3. RISK FACTORS
4. MITIGATION MEASURES
5. ILLUSTRATIONS
1. INTRODUCTION

 The company lost 3122 transformers over the

2015/16 and 2970 in 2016/17 financial year.
This is a revenue loss of over Kes 1.5B. So
far up to end of March we have lost 2839
transformers. This is a cumulative monthly
average of 315 txs. By extrapolation we are
bound to lose 3780 txs by end of this financial
year. In terms of revenue loss it over Kes. 2B.
The amount is much more if the associated
revenue loss are factored in.
INTRODUCTION CONTD.
The major identified causes of tx failures are:-
1. Lack of adequate tx protection
(shorted/oversize lv fuses, lack of surge
diverters, poor/no SD earthing, poor
construction standards)
2. Single phase overloads (No load checks,
overextension of one phase due to
heightened connectivity, illegal
connections, poor schemes by REA)
3. General overloads due to lack of load
checks
 2016/17 & 2017/18 FAILURE DATA -REGIONS
REGION NO. FAILED NO. FAILED Av/month Av (Jul’17- remarks %red
2015/16 2016/17 (2016/17) Mar 2018)

1 West Kenya 557 638 53 64 Worse

2 Central rift 479 384 32 27 Improved
3 North Rift 270 359 30 52 Worse
4 Nairobi South 401 350 29 38 Worse

5 South Nyanza 152 341 28 22 Improved

6 Mt. Kenya 385 243 20 32 Worse

7 North Eastern 279 247 21 29 Worse

8 Nairobi North 174 120 10 11 Worse

9 Coast 290 187 16 21 Worse

10 Nairobi West 135 101 8 22 Worse

2839 (Total up Total txs-

TOTAL 3122 2970 to date) 60431
TREND - COMPANYWIDE
TREND – ALL REGIONS
GENERAL TREND – MT. KENYA
2017/18 FAILURE DATA ANALYSIS -REGIONS

REGION ACTUAL
FOR
TOTAL
NUMBER OF
No of failed
txs per 100
Ranking
2017/18 TXS – by July transformers
2017 ()-Last FY
position
1 West Kenya 574 7126 8 (9) 7

2 Central rift 240 9210 4 (4) 4

3 North Rift 467 6075 8 (6) 7

4 Nairobi South 342 5510 6 (6) 6

5 South Nyanza 196 4441 4 (8) 4 (FROM 9)

6 Mt. Kenya 285 10071 3 (3) 2

7 North Eastern 257 6385 4 (4) 4

8 Nairobi North 94 2863 3 (4) 2

9 Coast 186 9210 2 (2) 1

10 Nairobi West 198 2148 9 (5) 10

TOTAL 2970 60431

 B) DEDUCTIONS FROM TABLE 1 ABOVE
 Only 2 out of the 10 regions have actually
improved on the failure rates. These are South
Nyanza and Central rift. All the others have
deteriorated.
 For Mt Kenya though the numbers are low there is
a notable sharp increase in the rate of failure
which must be checked.
 In terms of number of transformer failures per
100txs MK is leading at number 2 out of 10
regions.
 For all the regions enhanced field interventions
are necessary to internalize the skills learnt in
the training.
 JULY/AUGUST 2017 ANALYSIS
COA
CAUSE MON C/R ST M/K N/N N/S N/W N/E N/R S/N W/K TOTALS TOTAL %

Lightining JUL 4 3 1 0 1 0 0 0 3 29 41 127 18.7

AUG 6 0 7 2 2 1 1 32 2 33 86

Vandalism JUL 2 0 0 1 7 7 6 22 0 2 47 87 12.8

AUG 1 0 0 0 13 4 8 11 0 3 40

LV network JUL 7 0 5 1 1 5 5 12 1 14 51 116 17.1

AUG 10 0 2 1 13 11 6 10 0 12 65
Bushings JUL 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 1 3 0 7 16 2.4
AUG 0 1 0 0 2 1 0 0 1 4 9
burnt rods JUL 0 0 6 2 7 0 0 0 0 0 15 40 5.9
AUG 5 0 0 3 14 1 2 0 0 0 25
Leakage JUL 4 0 2 1 3 0 3 3 12 9 37 66 9.7
AUG 1 0 1 2 2 0 2 4 6 11 29
Accident JUL 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.3
AUG 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2
Overload JUL 1 0 3 1 3 0 3 0 0 0 11 32 4.7
AUG 0 0 5 1 1 0 5 9 0 0 21
on comm JUL 1 0 2 2 1 2 3 0 3 0 14 22 3.2
AUG 1 1 1 0 0 1 3 1 0 0 8
Internal
defects JUL 7 17 0 0 1 7 4 38 12 17 103 171 25.2
AUG 6 13 11 0 0 0 2 11 7 18 68
TOT 57 36 46 19 71 41 53 154 50 152 679 679

% 8.4 5.3 6.8 2.8 10.5 6.0 7.8 22.7 7.4 22.4
GENERAL REMARKS
 Most affected regions are West Kenya, North rift
and Nairobi south
 The general trend is worsening with only 2 regions
showing signs of improvement
 Regions have to carry out immediate field
interventions to reverse the trend.
 One of the major causes of tx failures which needs
to be addressed urgently is the transformer
protection (Fuse grading and surge diverters). There
are adequate stock levels of fuses to address this.
Where surge diverters are no available arcing horns
can be properly adjusted to offer necessary
protection.
 Central office to support the interventions by
providing the necessary resources
RISK FACTORS
RISK FACTOR PREVALENCE REMARKS

1 Solidly linked LV fuses OVER 75% In towns and rural areas

2 No surge diverters OVER 50% In towns and rural areas

3 Poor earthing of surge diverters Over 75% Across all installation

4 Vandalised earths Over 25% Mostly in towns

5 Over -extended single phase Over 25% Mostly in rural areas

circuit

6 More LV circuits than standard Over 10% Mostly in rural areas

7 Overrated fuses Over 50% Across all installations

8 Leakages Less than 10%

9 Poor earthing Over 75% Across all installations

10 Overheating LV leads Less than10% Mostly in towns

11 Poor bushing terminations Over 25% Mostly in towns

12 Bypassed HV fuses Over 50% Accross all installations

13 No fuse carriers Over 75% Across all installations

14 Poor lv circuit wiring Over 50% Mostly in towns

RAPID INTERVENTIONS
PRIORITY ACTION TARGET REPORTING ACTION REMARKS

1 Install right size LV fuses 20 txs per weekly Regional Majority of failures are due to shorted/overrated fuses. The right fuse will save the tx and direct the
week O&M maintenance teams on the areas requiring corrective measures
incharge

2 Connect all vandalized surge diverter earths 10 txs per Weekly “ Ensure some protection against surges. Inspect all failed tx structures for priority action.
to earth mat correctly week

3 Ensure all transformers on terminal 5 per week Weekly ‘ Most of the transformers struck by lightning are on terminal structures without surge diverters and/or
structures have surge diverters and without proper earthing or
connected to earth mat correctly

4 Load balancing 10 txs per Monthly A good number of transformers are failing due to single phase imbalance as a result of heightened
connectivity exercise where the tendency to extend one single phase circuit to all customers is very
common. A number of customers in the grain basket regions have connected single phase phosho mills up
to 11HP (8.2KW). The source is mainly a 50KVA tx .

5 Carry out load checks at the peak of each 10 txs per Monthly This is the only way to identify overloaded transformers and those with load imbalance for corrective
transformer month action before they fail

6 Test and improve all the transformer 10 per month Monthly This is a very slow exercise which may require a team well trained and continuously on the program
earthing mats without distraction. Regional manager to facilitate

7 Maintain and reinforce all the LV network 10 per month Monthly Incidences are a guide to the risk factors the tx is exposed to. All the 10 most problematic txs should be
guided by the incidence reports. attended fully

8 Ensure no transformer is commissioned in 100% Report on all Cases of poorly installed s/stations are very common which are commissioned by Hiab drivers without the
the system with defects either on the newly presence of a supervisor.
structure or the LV network commissioned
txs per month

9. No transformer should be issued by the store 100% Stores to Transformers need to be inspected by a competent person before they leave the store and on site before
keeper to any other person other than a compliance enforce and give they are put on the structures. Cases of faulty txs being commissioned or txs being damaged or oil
competent supervisor and action should be a report on non- siphoned on transit have been noted.
taken on any supervisor sending a hiab driver compliance
to collect transformers from store monthly

10 All relevant reports are mandatory. These 100% Weekly reports The company has not been able to claim any compensation for failed transformers under the warranty
are:- compliance on failures and agreement due to failure to comply with the documentation procedures during commissioning and after
1. Failure reports replacements. failure of the transformer.
2. Commissioning reports
Action to be taken on the respective
supervisors for non-compliance.
OTHER LONG TERM MITIGATION MEASURES
 Investigate all cases of fuse blowing and rectify
 Carry out regular load checks at peak load
 Earth the surge diverters properly
 Protect the earth leads against vandalism
 Inspect s/stations regularly to identify cases of
vandalism
 Check and ensure earth values are correct
 Ensure loads are balanced on 3-phase
transformers. Raise reinforcement schemes to
balance the loads
 Raise reinforcement schemes to correct
overextended lv lines
 Ensure no sub-standard construction is accepted
in the network
MITIGATION MEASURES CONTD.
 Ensure number of lv circuits as per
construction standards
 Replace 3-phase transformers in rural areas
with single phase where applicable
 Correct all transformer oil leakages as soon
as identified
 Replace all LV leads with burnt insulation
 Use the correct termination accessories
 Ensure all transformers have fuse carriers
 Ensure the wiring is neat and colour coded
ILLUSTRATIONS
 END
Presented by :
John K Kanampiu
Ag. Chief engineer, S/Station maintenance,
Network Management