Rodents and Other Pests

From Imrtwiki

One unusual failure mode for insulated cables and controls discussed was from pest damage. The issue was noted in the Western Australian IMRt CIWG on motors. Noel from Blue Circle indicated that he had seen instances where rodents had eaten through insulation cable causing problems. Chris from Hunter Water had seen rats that had been found dead on top of Buss Bars and could have caused serious failures. There seemed to be a common method of controlling rodent pest with the use of Capture Boxes.

Peter from OneSteel indicated that he had heard of an instance where white ants had attacked underground HV cables and the damage had occurred due to an acid exuded from the ant’s bodies. There were also comments on electrical tracking that had been witnessed due to trails of ants coming close to conductors.