what went wrong,man electrocuted
news was on tonight and and a man here died while trimming a tree and got electrocuted. married guy with twins ,makes a guy stop and take a deep breath and thankfull for all those stupid things you’ve done and gotten by with. i don’t really understand exactly how this happens unless you drop a tree limb down on the main lines out on the pole. i understand that there are 2 bare wires on the ploes carring at least 120v each and possibly much more,so you get tied up with one of those and your in trouble. but the wire coming from the pole to the house is a little different storie. around here if the wire is older 60-125 amp it is usally 2 wires wrapped with a sprial aluminum wire, newer wire twisted with ground twisted with it.seems to me that if there is bare wire it would short out on the ground. i hate to admit it but i don’t have alot of fear of entrance wires.i ask this because we had a bad storm and everybody has limbs laying everywhere including some laying on entrance wires. thanks larry
hand me the chainsaw, i need to trim the casing just a hair.
Replies
"i hate to admit it but i don't have alot of fear of entrance wires."
Maybe it's time to readjust your thinking.
I don't know the exact cause of the situation you are talking about but I don't want to be getting hit with 60- 100 amps.
That's why I behave, I don't have to worry about running into that electric chair.
Or like the skydiver was quoted " It's not the jump that'll get ya, it's the GROUND."
Remembering years ago on a ladder painting exterior around a peak where old lines coming in were hooked to the insulators screwed to the house.
Old wire coating obviously not in the best of shape.
I recall just thinking I ought to be real careful around these lines when I suddenly looked down and saw my paintbrush on the ground below.
thats one reason why I went underground for my entrance wires.
at least it wasn't you.....
proud member of the FOR/FOS club...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Edited 1/21/2005 10:37 pm ET by IMERC
When a friend of mine had here old service upgraded the first thing that the electrican did was to move the old meter and service cable to the side to install a new steel mast.The service cable was old (1950's) era cable with the cloth and (??) sheathing over rubber coated wires.As soon as he started moving it you could see arcing under the remains of the insulation.So a lot of what looks good might break off it it is hit with a ladder.
I remember way back when I was just starting out - tearing off roofs in Florida. We were on one with part shingles and part falt on the gable end. I would presume the flat was an addition after original house built. The service drop hit a mast on the gable end and those wires ran about two to three feet above the flat roof.I knew next to nothing back then, and viewed that wire as a big extension cord so it didn't bother me to think about touching it. Surely my boss would have said something if it was dangerous to be around... It was a woven material insulating it, but had some wear showing. the flat roof had water puddling on it, so I was standing in water when i ducked down to go under it.My salty sweaty back brushed the wires and I could feel a tingle as some discharge went crawling over my skin to the bottoms of my boots. It was a rather exciting science fiction sort of experience, but not one I would like to ever repeat. No singed hair or anyt5hing like that, but i told the boss that it might be a good idea to get a big rubber hose to wrap it with. meantime - I worked on the other side of the roof.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
A coupla year ago, my SIL and daughter had just fininshed an exterior remodeling. The overhead service had to be changed to accomodate the extended eave. My SIL installed the riser but was going to call an electrician to make the new connection.
Since the guy across the street worked for the Electric company, stringing wire, he decided to ask him for a referral. Instead of a referral, the guy just offered to do it since it was "no problem".
I watched as the guy undid the old connection on the three wires. Then, to my utter amazement, he jambed THE BARE LIVE WIRES DOWN THE RISER! It was arcing, smoking and spitting all the way through till he pulled it out and then he simply bolted each end into it's respective spot.
My SIL and I just stared at each other laughing.
I guess he knew what he was doing....
blueJust because you can, doesn't mean you should!
Warning! Be cautious when taking any framing advice from me. There are some in here who think I'm a hackmeister...they might be right! Of course, they might be wrong too!
The rule is, no line is safe to touch, anytime! If you are working around an entrance line, call the power company and they will put a protective wrap around it. They do it for free around here and usually within a day or two. Electricity will kill you.
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
Two points for you to consider:
On the utility pole feeding the service entrance conductors,there is no fuse or circuit breaker to limit the current on the wires going to your house,only on the primary side of the transformer feeding your street or neighborhood.So,a service drop might be # 2's, but if you short them together,there's nothing to stop the current at 115 amps,instead the transformer is likely to produce thousands of amps before either the #2's melt or the cut outs ahead of the transformer blow.It would be nice if the power company could protect each individual house but they can't,at least everywhere that I've worked.As others have pointed out,old ratty service drops are a fireball waiting to happen.I hate working on them and if I have to make connections to them on a service upgrade,and the insulation is suspect,a call is made to the utility to upgrade the drop first.
As to hot wires laying on the ground or road not opening a fuse,remember that the ground is actually a poor conductor.For the energized end of a broken wire to actually pass enough current to open an overcurrent device takes some doing.Until it does though it lays there potentially lethal.Last week in the next county over from where I live,an ice storm pulled a power line down onto a roadway and it became tangled up in a young Amish man's buggy who happened along.He tried to untangle it and was killed instantly.The horse survived.Isn't that a bitch,to shun electricity and still get killed by it?
Barry
The only reason you don't die from a plugging yourself into a normal residential socket is that most times you don't conduct real well.But 35ma across your heart and you will not be toast but dead.The extra current flow just makes you well done!!We picked up pieces of a kid who got involved with a super grid pylon from a 50' radius circle
There are several ways to get electrocuted. First off, as has been said, the insulation on the old, separate-wire service drops was less than robust, and would often flake off. Coming in contact with the bare wire (especially if you grab it when slipping, etc) would be sufficient to electrocute you if the ladder or tree is offering a halfway decent ground. (A really "good" way to do yourself in is to be moving an aluminum ladder when it contacts a bare wire. You're standing on the ground and have a good, tight grip on the ladder.)
Next, the if the tree is on the back property line or wherever the power poles run, then it would be possible to come in contact with the high voltage line near the top of the poles. This line carries something like 13KV, enough to electrocute you in literally a heartbeat. A ground is hardly required.
Finally, if using an electric chain saw or hedge trimmer or some such, one can fairly easily get the cord into the blade. Zap.
Probably a few more options as well.