Landscaping services often puncture holes and tear off the corners of Xcel Energy's fiberglass transformer pads. In turn, the company's field crews invest a significant amount of labor hours into replacing or patching this broken equipment.

To address this time-consuming and costly problem, the Minnesota utility turned to American Polywater Corp. The utility's headquarters and the manufacturer's offices are fairly close, and the two companies often work together on field testing and product development. By joining forces again, Xcel Energy hoped to resolve this long-standing problem.

Creating a Prototype

The first step was for two of Xcel Energy's field operations managers to visit American Polywater's headquarters. The vendor developed a prototype based on the utility's needs. After seeing the prototype, the managers then shared information on damage sizes and made suggestions on the repair kit's contents.

During the visit, the Xcel managers showed the manufacturer how the crews made repairs in the field and explained what they were looking for in a fiberglass repair kit. For example, the utility wanted a product that was self-contained, easy to clean and didn't require a lot of extra personal protective equipment. The vendor took these requests into consideration when creating the PowerPatch Pad N Pole repair system.

Testing the Kit in the Field

American Polywater spent two days with the Xcel Energy crews to repair transformer pads, and the linemen conducted a field trial of the system in July 2009.

Essentially, the product consists of a unique two-part resin system packaged in a dual cartridge that, with a special applicator tool, can be used for multiple repairs of damaged utility enclosures and fiberglass poles. A two-part adhesive bonds to fiberglass, polyethylene, metal, concrete and composites, preventing human, water, pest or debris entry through the repaired enclosure.

Field professionals simply dispense the adhesive resin onto a fiberglass cloth and then adhere it to the defect on the enclosure. For particularly severe damage, they can reinforce the repair by saturating a second fiberglass cloth with more adhesive. The easy procedure ensures a long-lasting repair, protecting corners from further lawn mower damage.

The product kit contains all the components necessary for a repair, such as an adhesive cartridge, extra mixing nozzles, a strip of sanding cloth, cleaning wipes, foam brushes, patch material, an instruction sheet and a dispensing tool. The kit protects and seals the enclosure, making it resistant to sunlight and extreme environmental conditions. It can repair a wide variety of defects, from small cracks to holes up to 6 inches in diameter.

Now that the product is available commercially, the utility stores the kits in its shop. In addition, linemen and troublemen usually keep a kit inside their truck so they can be prepared to repair a fiberglass basement at any time. The around-the-clock trouble department serves as the first responder when doing routine work, and when they come across a hole or other defect, they can easily repair it on the spot.

Ready-to-Use Kit

The kit is easy to use, so the utility didn't need to provide any special training for its field workforce. Linemen simply take the kit off the shelf, read the instructions and within minutes, they can apply the adhesive and then go on to the next job.

The ease of installation is one of the advantages of the product. Before having these fiberglass repair kits, linemen had to dig a 70-lb basement 18 inches out of the ground by hand. It would often take about four hours of backbreaking work to penetrate the hard soil and remove the broken basement.

The repair kit, however, saves the utility in labor, transportation and material expense. One lineman can now easily patch the hole in a fiberglass basement under 100 kV and below single-phase pad mount.

The utility has been using the kit for over a year now, and so far, the utility has received positive feedback to the product. By repairing, rather than replacing, the fiberglass basements, the utility can improve productivity, save time and cut costs.

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Don Wishard (donald.a.wishard@xcelenergy.com) is the field operations manager for Xcel Energy in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. He is responsible for managing the distribution operating and construction group.