Just cut a 12' pole and leave a branch stubb at the top to form a V.
Wear rubber gloves, and prop the wires up for the truck if ya need to. Only do this on coated wires.
NEVER touch an uncoated wire with anything, ever. Even guywires. And don't make a habit of touching coated wires either.
I have to do this very thing on the lot I have been doing. Not a big deal with cable / phone. 9999 times out of 10,000 house service is OK too. Wear the rubber gloves and use a fiberglass pole for those.
:choler::choler::choler::choler::choler:
I wholly and universally hate when people give out information like this. It is wrong and it will get somebody killed. This is false ignorant information and should be removed from the thread.
Be darned careful with this. This is way bad, way wrong information. Make sure you don't actually tell this to people that might actually do it. I would hate to live with myself knowing that my advice to someone actually got them maimed or killed.
I would venture a bet that you don't have the correct type of rubber glove either. No, rubber is not rubber in this situation. Neither is a fiberglass stick, most of the sticks you see linemen using are tested to 75,000+ volts depending on usage, but 75K is the lowest I know of, and many of them are not fiberglass. Don't know exactly where you live but around us and many parts of the country the primary lines are "coated" and house drops at times are not, there is not many ways to know which is what and gambling with yours or someone elses life isn't a great thing to do. Ya it is a huge gamble. Coated/insulated means nothing at all, there is no way to know what that line is packing.
Those 9999 out of 10,000 house drop are the worst to mess with because they are the least worked on and looked at or over, those kill way more people than anything else, as far as electrical outside lines. A flash on those house drops start at an instantaneous 1200 degrees F. The electrocution hazard is on top of that. One squirrel chew or bare/bad spot and it will be at least a rodeo right above your head and quite probably in your hands before you can even think, OH CRAP. Those service drops can pack the same load and amperage as the main primary line, they are the same size and material many times as the primary wire.
I will use my past work history of 15+years, working in an electrical construction, not an electrician, but as outside climb the poles and work the wires and hot stick them capacity, and doing everything right and an act of God put me in the burn unit for a good stretch of time, to qualify my statements and message. There is a reason those line hands won't touch anything unless it is either visually open on both ends and then tested before handling or tested and grounded before handling. Unless you have some decent expensive equipment, and know how to use it, there is no way for any person to know what is safe and what is not. I have seen career linemen, pay the ultimate price for this mistake. I have had to kill and ground lines so bodies could be removed for doing this exactly what has been said/suggested, recommended and mentioned here.
I don't get on a soap box like this often, but this time it is warranted and the info that Oldtimer has posted above should be removed. Nothing against him, not at all, just against the information handed out. I do and will continue to call
BS on this very thing every time I see it.
