INSULATION RESISTANCE

What is “GOOD” insulation?

“GOOD” insulation means a relatively high resistance to current.

A “GOOD” insulation must be just the opposite form of a conductor. It

should resist current and keep the current in its path along the conductor.

“GOOD” insulation means a relatively high resistance to current.

Comparison of water flow (a) with electric current (b).
As per IE Rules-1956

At a pressure of 1000 V applied between each live

conductor and earth for a period of one minute the 
insulation resistance of HV installations shall be at least
1 Mega ohm

Medium and Low Voltage Installations- At a pressure of

500 V applied between each live conductor and earth for a
period of one minute, the insulation resistance of medium
and low voltage installations shall be at least 1 Mega ohm

 1 Megaohm (MΩ) is equal 1000000 Ohms (Ω)

For any installation, the insulation resistance
measured shall not be less than:

HV – Earth 200 M Ω
LV – Earth 100 M Ω
HV – LV 200 M Ω
The IR value of transformers are affected by

• Surface condition of the terminal bushing

• Quality of oil

• Quality of winding insulation

• Temperature of oil

• Duration of application and value of test voltage

IR Value Measurements:

• If during periodical testing, insulation resistance of cable is

found between 5 and 1 MΩ /km at buried temperature, the
subject cable should be programmed for replacement.

• If insulation resistance of the cable is found between 1000

and 100 KΩ /km, at buried temperature, the subject cable
should be replaced urgently within a year.

• If the insulation resistance of the cable is found less than

100 kilo ohm/km., the subject cable must be replaced
immediately on emergency basis.
6. IR Value for Transmission / Distribution Line

Equipment Megger Size Min IR Value

S/S .Equipments 5 KV 5000MΩ
EHVLines. 5 KV 10MΩ
H.T. Lines. 1 KV 5MΩ
LT / Service Lines. 0.5 KV 5MΩ
Insulation Test is done to find the insulation resistance (IR).

During this test, HV lead of the test kit is connected to the conductor and LV lead is connected to the ground.
For example, in case of cable, the HV lead will be connected to conductor and LV lead to the ground.
High voltage (250 V, 500 V, 1000 V or 5 kV as per the cable voltage rating) is injected by the kit.
This high voltage causes leakage current through the insulation.
This leakage current is measured by the kit to evaluate IR value.
A perfect insulator is nothing but a capacitor having small capacitance. How? Due to small capacitance, the
reactance offered will be high leading to small value of leakage current. Also, the loss in the insulator will also be
zero. This is the reason, a perfect insulator should be a perfect capacitor with small capacitance.

Therefore, if we apply AC voltage during IR test then there will always be a flow of current through the capacitor
and thus a leakage current to the ground. Therefore, the resistance measured by Megger will not actually
represent the Insulation Resistance.

If we apply DC voltage then as we know Capacitor blocks the flow of DC, only leakage current due to
imperfection of insulator will flow and hence the Resistance measured by Megger will actually represent 
Insulation Resistance. This is the reason, an Insulation Tester or Megger have DC voltage generator.