Many utilities have disbanded their network technician teams and now have them working multiple equipment roles. In doing so, maintenance schedules for network protectors tend to slip, and the once-yearly inspection is now three and four years out, according to Jock Moffat of Network Protector Consulting Services, LLC.

Moffat will present a session on the “Maintenance of Legacy, Pre-1985, Network Protectors” at the Finepoint Test and Maintenance Training Conference on Thursday, Oct. 8. The session will discuss the Westinghouse Type CM-22 and the General Electric Type MG-8 & MG-9 pre 1985 designs, which still have asbestos components.

“There are thousands of these designs still in service and the older they get the more fragile they become,” Moffat said. He will discuss the various types of insulating materials used and how they can degrade with time and temperature. He will also cover improvements that have been made since 1985 to make the CM-22 more robust.

Moffat has performed system audits reviewing both the network protector and the network transformer and has seen first-hand the results of lack of maintenance, so he will stress an appreciation for the value of routine maintenance schedules, what to look for as potential problem items, and which tests to perform.

Moffat worked at Westinghouse, both at the East Pittsburgh Works Pittsburgh Headquarters and in Greenwood, South Carolina, from 1968 to 1994, when the Westinghouse Division was sold to EATON Corp. He retired in September 2007 and started the Network Protector Consulting Services, LLC. He is a senior member of IEEE and an original member of the C57.12.44 Network Protector Standards Working Group. He has also worked on P1547.6—DG connection onto the Network System. In 39.5 years of working service, 38.5 were dealing with network protectors in manufacturing, design, and sales and marketing. He currently holds five patents.