Temperature Monitoring to Abate

Hot Socket Conditions

October 7 2013

How Meter Sockets Can Generate Heat

The electrical resistance between the socket jaws and
the meter blades can increase to the point where there
will be an arc or significant heat buildup between the
blade and the jaw in which heat is generated in
accordance with Ohms law which states
power = heat = current squared x contact resistance or
W= I2 x R.

Root Causes of Hot Socket Installations

Electric meter socket jaws not properly gripping meter
spades
Lost their spring memory
Jaws spread out and not firmly connect to the full surface area of
the meter blade creating air gap between meter spade and socket
jaws
Corrosion on jaws corroding metal of jaws and impeding current
flow
Contamination on jaws increasing resistance of current flow
Socket jaws are old and the metal is fatigued increasing connection
impedance
Some sockets have steel jaws which can corrode easier
Socket jaws are loose and need to be tightened
Wiring to meter socket or socket jaws are damaged
2

Example of a Hot Socket Root Cause

Hot Sockets
Have been around for many years
Meters in the past have been subjected to hot socket
conditions until they heated up to the point where they
failed
The utility found out about the event when a customer
called in with an outage
Sensus is delivering a new solution to this old problem

Detecting High Temperature

The first goal is to detect high temperatures in the meter
Meter temperature crossing a threshold
Trigger alarm
Meter opens its switch
Rules allow for the creation of actions to be taken as a
result of an alarm received.
Email, Text Message to designated utility personnel
Different information types to appropriate persons