Notes

Difference Between Live and Dead Tank Circuit Breakers 

By on


Siemens Dead Tank Circuit BreakerA quick post in connection with an email question:

Live Tank -  the circuit breaker the switching unit is located in an insulator bushing which is live at line voltage (or some voltage above ground). Live Tank circuit breakers are cheaper than dead tank and require less space.

Dead Tank -  the switching unit is located within a metallic container which is kept a earth potential.  As the incoming/outgoing conductors are taken through insulated bushings, it is possible to place current transformers on these (with a Live Tank arrangement this is not possible and separate CTs are required). 

The terms Live and Dead Tank normally only apply to high voltage circuit breakers

, ,

More interesting Notes:
Steven McFadyen's avatar Steven McFadyen

Steven has over twenty five years experience working on some of the largest construction projects. He has a deep technical understanding of electrical engineering and is keen to share this knowledge. About the author

myElectrical Engineering

comments powered by Disqus

View 2 Comments (old system)

  1. tang's avatar tang says:
    8/23/2012 8:15 AM

    What is the ground clearance for dead tank CT?

    • Steven's avatar Steven says:
      8/26/2012 12:17 PM

      With a dead tank circuit breaker, the CT primary side is still isolated, so I'm not sure about why you are worried with ground clearance.

Comments are closed for this post:
  • have a question or need help, please use our Questions Section
  • spotted an error or have additional info that you think should be in this post, feel free to Contact Us
Low Voltage Fault Tables

The following tables provide quick order of magnitude fault levels for a a range of typical low voltage situations.

Electromagnetic Fields - Exposure Limits

Exposure to time varying magnetic fields, from power frequencies to the gigahertz range can have harmful consequences.  A lot of research has been conducted...

Post Editing Tips

If you at all familiar with programs like office and outlook, then adding and editing posts is pretty straightforward and intuitive.  However, there are...

Equipment Verification (to IEC Standards)

One of the requirements to ensuring that everything works is to have equipment selected, manufactured and verified [tested] to IEC standards. Not all equipment...

3 Phase Loads

Three phase systems are derived from three separate windings, either connected in delta or star (wye). Each winding can be treated separately, leading...

What are you reading!

Reading is a bit of a hobby of mine and I"ve done a few off-topic posts in the past on this. Rather than continue doing the occasional post I thought ...

Dielectric loss in cables

Dielectrics (insulating materials for example) when subjected to a varying electric field, will have some energy loss.   The varying electric field causes...

DC Component of Asymmetrical Faults

The image (reproduced from IEC 60909) shows a typical fault in an ac system.  From the illustration it can seen that there is an initial dc component ...

Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC)

Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) is the study of coordinating electromagnetic fields give off equipment, with the withstand (compatibility) of other...

UPS Sizing - Rules of Thumb

It wasn't so long ago I was telling someone that I don't use rules of thumb as most things are easily calculated anyhow.   As it turns out I last week...

Have some knowledge to share

If you have some expert knowledge or experience, why not consider sharing this with our community.  

By writing an electrical note, you will be educating our users and at the same time promoting your expertise within the engineering community.

To get started and understand our policy, you can read our How to Write an Electrical Note. 

Footer
(click here to extend)
Copyright (c) 2025 myElectrical