If this isn't a bug, then it's pretty bad design... Read on to see what I mean.
If a pipe or cable start to malfunction, they "leak." The leak will drain resources from the entire grid. (That's right, a malfunctioning cable doesn't just stop working, it actually drains electricity from the whole system somehow.) Now, a drone will come out to repair it, but even after the little guy gets there, it takes a loooooong time to repair - much longer than just building a whole new cable/pipe actually. We're talking 5-10x longer to repair than to build brand new. Here's where the "it's broken" part really comes in to play:
The whole time the drone is trying to repair the leak, the entire attached grid is draining of resources. However, if you simple Salvage the leaking section of pipe/cable (Build Menu > Infrastructure > Salvage), the leak will stop immediately, and the drone can build a brand new pipe/cable in a fraction of the time it takes to repair it - and for the same material cost.
tl;dr - don't repair leaking pipes/cables, destroy them and build new ones.
If a pipe or cable start to malfunction, they "leak." The leak will drain resources from the entire grid. (That's right, a malfunctioning cable doesn't just stop working, it actually drains electricity from the whole system somehow.) Now, a drone will come out to repair it, but even after the little guy gets there, it takes a loooooong time to repair - much longer than just building a whole new cable/pipe actually. We're talking 5-10x longer to repair than to build brand new. Here's where the "it's broken" part really comes in to play:
The whole time the drone is trying to repair the leak, the entire attached grid is draining of resources. However, if you simple Salvage the leaking section of pipe/cable (Build Menu > Infrastructure > Salvage), the leak will stop immediately, and the drone can build a brand new pipe/cable in a fraction of the time it takes to repair it - and for the same material cost.
tl;dr - don't repair leaking pipes/cables, destroy them and build new ones.