Working around power lines

[Davidsinatree]

I have no official training working around service lines and I generally just don't take tree work that is real close to them. That eliminates about 1/5 th of the work I look at. I intend to check with my local utility co to see what they recommend for training. My ? is , what are some does and DONTS about working around service lines.
I can tell you this, I wont be up around the higher power lines working but I would like some training for the lower stuff. Any special equipment needed.
I have seen a guy throw a rope over a service line to pull it away from the drop zone area.

Thanks

 

[wct4life]

Fortunately for me, if I have to work near lines, I'm always in a bucket.

These are my basic bucket rules;

NEVER turn my back to the lines while moving the bucket.

ALWAYS check and recheck if the branch you a cutting might swing/fall into the lines. If you think it might, get a fiberglass polesaw to make the cut.

Anyone on the ground is not aloud to touch the truck without letting me know that they need something. Then, I stop until they are finished.

I have seen a guy throw a rope over a service line to pull it away from the drop zone area.

That is something you shouldn't ever do. Contaminants and humidity could create a ground for the elec. in the rope.

Hopefully that's some food for thought.

 

[Stumper]

Service drops are potentially dangerous. Don't touch them. Don't cut them with a chainsaw. Don't cut them with a polesaw. Don't cut them with a pole pruner. If you don't cut them and don't touch them you can work around service drops with near impunity. 240 volts 60 Hertz is potentially lethal. 240 volts does NOT tend to light up trees, run down dry ropes or shock people through the dirt on wooden and fiberglass poles. Fear not but maintain respect.

 

[wct4life]

After rereading, I was thinking of the high-voltage line. Not the drops to the house. Still, I think the advice is sound. Maintain respect for sure.

A guy from another company in town was pulling on a branch that got hung up on a drop. Ended up getting shocked in the crotch. Or so the story goes.

 

[NeTree]

Remember the current potential in a service drop is disgusting... right up to the fuse rating on the transformer!

Look into an EHAP program. Alot of utilities rprovide them for free.

Treat the line as bare; insulation can be worn off by rubbing branches, and the splices are usually bare as well.

Bear in mind that even the neutral can potentially have current, if the house has a bad grounding system.

Use hotsticks to cut branches that might contact the line, or to remove hangers.

Check into "courtesy trims". Some utilities will clear the line to make it safer for you to work free of charge. (Pun intended!) Dropping the service can sometimes be well worth it, too.

 

[MasterBlaster]

You can pull a service drop back with a rope, no problemo. I do it all the time.

 

[a_lopa]

more people are killed off low voltage than high.

 

[MasterBlaster]

more people are killed off low voltage than high.

That's why I prefer higher voltage. The low stuff grabs ya, and hangs on to ya.

 

[Davidsinatree]

netree,
Whats a hotstick? is that a nickname for a fiberglass tool. I dont recall seeing that tool in any books.
I will be calling my local power co concerning this soon. I use the standard hollow core extension poles now. Are the foam core better around service lines.

 

[Eagle1]

About one year ago I posted a question just like this one. Stay from power lines unless you have training. I have seen pictures of stings form power that would make your stomach sick. Wet ropes, wet trees ,gaffs, etc, can all make you feel more than alive.

 

[NeTree]

Sorry, David... yes, a "hotstick" is what we call a CERTIFIED DIALECTRIC pruner pole.

I prefer the Jamieson (sp?) foam-core poles anyways simply because they flex less. I believe the foamies are also batch-tested for dialectric strength, the hollow-cores are not. (somebody correct me if I'm wrong, please?)

 

[begleytree]

Stay away until you are certified/trained. ansi says you can't be within, reach a tool to within, or work a limb that extends to within 10 feet plus the minimum safe working distance.
Get trained, or stay away.
FYI, voltage and current are inversely proportional. The lower the volts, the higher the amps and vice versa. voltage jumps out to you, current kills. you can take over 10Kv, but 1 tenth of an amp of current kills. Thats what makes house drops so dangerous.
again, get trained, get your ehap card, osha will ask for it. Hopefully on a random inspection and not on a post accident (electrical) inspection. That'll cost you.
Call it in ahead of time, and the pwr co will trim it back to safe for you. free.
-Ralph

 

[begleytree]

Erik, you posses no tools that are certified electrically safe, outside of your bucket truck, if you keep up on the dialectric testing. Simply put, no tree service has the training or equipment to certify tools safe to a certian voltage, and the testing usually destroys the tool (bucket liner) most pwr cos use hollow hotsticks, @ 6 feet long which extend to upwards of 36-40 feet, inner sections are extended upward.
You may buy a tool with a sticker that says so on it, but I can have stickers made up and put them on tools myself, doesn't mean they are safe though.
-Ralph

 

[okietreedude1]

Erik,

Your are correct that Jameson tests thier poles. But this is kind of like the 'clean, dry' rope discussion of two months ago.


As for trimming service drops, around here, Asplund wont trim a service drop if you paid them cash AND beer. If you call the elect. co, they will tell you the same, no. They may come out for primaries though. If you want a service line dropped, thats no problem.

David, dont grab the line w/ your hands, bare or other wise. try not to hit it. if something does but only brushes it, try better next time. if a limb gets hung up, grab your poles. You have the right ones and hollow is just fine for residential line work (even the 13kV). If your in proximity to primary lines (the ones in the alley above the transformer), find someone else.

 

[a_lopa]

the extendable poles used for switching iso's/putting modewalk on, can be tested in the same manner as a bucket.IMO s.w.e.r are the worst elec set up to be around.but USA has way bigger voltages than what i used to deal with

 

[Erwin]

"voltage and current are inversely proportional" This is only true to the power lines, not to you when you are in contact with the line. The higher the voltage on a given line, the lower the current flowes through it, just minimizes the thermal-electrical loss on the line. That's why those interstate power lines have supper high voltage (for economical reason). Once the line touches you directly or through a limb the current flowing through your body (sometime your heart too), is DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL to the voltage on the line),
"I (current) = V (voltage )/ R (resistance)

SO, if you don't want to be fried stay away from any power line. Or, if you did contact one, you better wish the resistance of your body, your boots, your pole saw is high enough to have a zero current flowing through you.

"voltage jumps out to you, current kills. you can take over 10Kv, but 1 tenth of an amp of current kills. Thats what makes house drops so dangerous." ------ voltage jumps out to you (and generate enough) current (to) kills. If you come to contact to a high voltage line and a home drop line with the same pole, your body, boots, same ground, you will be 100 times likely to die with a hig hvoltage line than a home drop line. "Thats what makes house drops so dangerous, (but not nearly as dangerous as high voltage power line)

That's just what I learned in high school. Erwin

 

[NeTree]

Which isn't to say you can't have high voltage AND current...

 

[begleytree]

That's just what I learned in high school. Erwin

okay, if you say so.
Glad I watered it down then. I learned mine in the navy, advanced avaition electronics, credits compiled to a B.S.E.E from Penn St. That and living in san diego will net you an $8/hr job on a test bench. Hence I care for trees. Pays mucho better.
Now, you started with direct contact, then moved to phase to phase direct contact, and somehow tied the 2 together.
pay attention:
voltage and current are ALWAYS indirectly proportional. not just when you want them to be.
high voltage overcomes higher resistance. house drop is 240VAC, 200 amp. the resistance exibited by a slight weatherproofing coating and a rope are enough to keep you safe enough pulling a drop sideways because it takes more volts to flow past your resistance. Find a bare spot, you'll know it. Try that with 7.2-8KV (normal single phase in US) and you'll feel it, kick it up to 69 and 138KV (normal distribution station to station) and you'll get body parts blown off, but will be alive to bleed out.
The human body is a conductor (a wire), not a transformer or inductor. When you complete a path to ground from any voltage, you are subjected to that voltage and amperage. not 1000x more cause it hit you.
you said something about touching phase and drop at the same time, thats P to P, if you are the wire, current flows. not from + to - or - to +, from greater potiential to lesser potiential. so crossing a 8KV line with a 240v line only results in a voltage flow of 7.7Kv. see, 12vdc+ connected to ground runs your car, and 6vdc+ connected to 6vdc- is a diff of 12vdc, and runs your car.
Wanna get into ac theory, like the line is 120vac+ and 120vac-, but at different times say 60x a second (or 60 hertz) or have you learned enough for one day?
-Ralph

 

[glens]

Yeah, well I'll bet you'll say, along with the books, that direct current flows <i>from</i> the anode...&nbsp; hahaha!

Glen

 

[begleytree]

if you're talking to me, glens, This thing posted before I finished typing, and I had to edit the rest in. -Ralph