Jim Brix and Dale Garrett of San Diego Gas and Electric will cover maintenance and updating of the Joslyn Vacuum switch type VBM in their session at Finepoint’s Circuit Breaker Test and Maintenance Training Conference in October.

Brix, a substation supervisor, and Garrett, a substation electrician, will share their experiences with these switches that they use in their 12-kV metal-clad capacitor banks throughout their system.

The ages range from the mid-60s to 2000. They will go over their experiences and present keys to prevent total failure.
“We will talk about what replacement parts to use, whether they are the old, original ones from your shelves or new aftermarket ones,” Brix said.

They will also share some methods for testing electrically and mechanically to see how the switch is acting compared to its original setting. They will display pictures of how they have performed these tasks and will show what happens if you don’t do them.

Brix has been with SDG&E since 2000, starting as a substation electrician in the maintenance and construction department. Before joining SDG&E, he worked at Puget Sound Energy for 21 years in the substation department as a groundman, apprentice, and journeyman electrician.

Garrett started with SDG&E in 1988 and has been in the substation maintenance and construction department since 1999.