ABSTRACT
Faults kill. Faults start fires. Faults force interruptions. Faults create voltage sags. Tree trimming, surge arresters, animal guards, cable replacements: these tools reduce faults. We cannot eliminate all faults, but appropriate standards and maintenance practices help in the battle. When faults occur, we have ways to reduce their impacts. This chapter focuses on the general characteristics of faults and specific analysis of common fault types with suggestions on how to reduce them. One of the definitions of a fault is (ANSI/IEEE Std. 100-1992):
Fault: A physical condition that causes a device, a component, or an element to fail to perform in a required manner; for example, a short circuit or a broken wire.
