I ran upstairs and told my wife, "Our standards require that we use class 2 rubber gloves, whenever hot-sticking any primary.” She looked a little worried, and said “Huh?”
Always impressed with your professionalism. You never talk about safety procedures like they’re impeding your work, but like they’re good, reasonable precautions to take. Thank you.
My son Xavier works for Custom Truck One Source in Tallahassee, he's the production manager, they make and repair and recertify tools and rubber goods, hot sticks, etc. The crazy weather has been keeping everyone busy. Stay safe.
a handy bit of trivia: an electrician's non contact tester will trigger within about 10 feet of an energized pirmary voltage source. so if you have one and you're near a potential downed line, turn it on. if it yells at you, you're too close.
Aaaahhh, step potential. I have read about it in substations but didn't, think about it with a live wire on the ground. Mike Holt did a video where they ran a live 120 line from an outlet to a 10 ft ground rod. It did not trip the breaker. Using a multimeter they were able to measure the different voltages in the ground around the ground rod. Over more tries adding rod each time it took a lot more rod into the ground to trip the breaker. Many lessons to learn from that video, including step potential and why a live wire on the ground can still be live.
worked a troubleshoot on a mobile home where there was inexplicable voltage to ground. ultimately found out that there was a leak in an underground primary, and it was voltage FROM the ground to the grounded conductor.
@@jovetj true. I had a troubleshoot back when I was a cup where it turned out the reason I was getting wild voltage readings from nuke to ground was because my JW had pulled the bonding jumpers from the panels - and there was a ground fault looking for a way home. lucky break was, when I jumped the ground to nuke, the plumber was in the bathroom, and saw the spark where it was faulted.
You did the right thing by placing reflective witches hats around your truck to make you more visible. When the whole crew (Ausgrid) is working in my area in Australia they have traffic controllers to direct traffic as well. Last year, they replaced the crossarm & insulators on an about a 50 year old 11 kV power pole & they took up 1 lane with their truck & cherry picker !
Bob I watch your videos with much interest. I'm a retired Electronics Technician. I have a young 10 year old friend that told me recently that he would like to be a lineman! I would like to recommend your videos but wanted to make sure they are "safe" for him. I have not heard you use vulgar language so I am hoping that is the case before I suggest watching your videos.
I’m a radio tech that works a lot with electric utilities in the field with re-closer, regulator, cap bank and substation communications. Often I am by myself, but hands down my best days are when I get to work with the Line Crews helping me with antenna maintenance. Stay safe.
We had a pretty neat presentation by our local power company where they brought out a demonstration trailer and showed us what electricity does to certain things and they talked about electrical safety. Being with the road department, it was great to see because we do a lot where we can become exposed to electricity (accidents, trees down, heavy equipment hitting lines, etc). One of the things they didn't talk about was how they handle emergencies if someone is trapped in a car with a live line over the top. I think it would be interesting if you could do a video where you talk about how you would handle that call and maybe other general safety things that the public should know. One of our issues is the public doesn't realize that communications lines can be energized. During a storm we will see people going out and dragging the lines off the road. Man, you wanna piss off our power crews, let them catch you dragging a line off the road 😂
Glad you mention back-feeding. I am looking to hook up my generator to my panel during emergencies. I need to get an interlock for it to prevent the idiot move of back feeding (in case I am not home when someone needs to run it) or maybe I should just pony up the cash for an automatic transfer switch.
manual transfer systems are available in the $400-$500 range. or some panels can be fitted with a manual interlock system. they're not just smart, they're required by law.
The manual Interlocks are just as good as far as safety is concerned. (I wouldn't worry about spending the extra cash unless you're having a fully automatic system). In our area an interlock of some sort is required by law for any kind of customer feeds
@@Bobsdecline the drawback to the manual interlock is you don't have nonessentials coming back on to let you know power's been restored. plus, the prebuilt switches are inherently load managing, because you simply don't connect the nonessential loads. but the interlocks are usually cheaper. (surprisingly, not always)
My thoughts, too. The point towards the end about how cutting the line on the ground will mean the other end is no longer grounded really hit home how easy it would be to make a mistake without strict procedures and constant attention.
Even while up in the air! It can happen quite easily.... To cut a wire and lose your ground. Always have to be very attentive to what you're doing. If your mind isn't on the job, stand down, regroup, have someone else go up. Always follow procedures!
Hi Aaron, We are just getting over a windstorm here with a couple thousand customers off line. Great tutorial on a downed line & treating it as energized. I recognize that off road battery vehicle from last year. Pretty cool that that little buggy has a rope capstan on it. Did you guys get to test its limits? We got the quick demonstration. Nothing serious. Keep up the great content! 👊🏻👍🏻
I would have expected securing the scene/roadway would have been the first priority. I sure don't want to drive over a downed power line, whether it's live or not.
He said they would have waited if he coned off the entire road. He didn't, so people can drive past. The wire isn't *that* visible for non-suspecting drivers, laying there flat on the road, so they may not even have noticed. They gave work truck a wide berth, so I count that as a win.
Question. So if you're working on the line and it's down what would you prefer for people to do? Would you like for them to back up and just go completely different ways would you like for them to stop and just wait from a distance? And what would you suggest for them to do if they have to go over the wire while you're working on it ?
Are the lines and how theyre built and the tools used different than those in the US? That hot stick looks very different than the ones Ive seen in the US…
Much of our stuff comes from the US! There's a few different manufacturers for sticks insulators, switches etc... Every company has slightly different standards but all follow the principles
Even if a disconnected line shows as dead, it is entirely possible a downstream generator is started on that line, at any time. So yes treat it as live. Sure, it seems a bit unlikely, but no need to take that chance - you only need to be wrong once.
A work in progress... We're trying many different makes at the moment. (For service trucks). Tbh I'll keep my international... Although I have a newer model now with a Cummins.
whodat90 said "You never talk about safety procedures like they’re impeding your work, but like they’re good, reasonable precautions to take." Are there safety procedures that you would modify if you were allowed to rewrite them? And that could be either way, simply certain ones or add additional steps to others?
Guys always remember, do NOT approach a downed power line, specially if it looks like a naked steel wire, you don’t know what it is and it could be a fatal mistake touching it…
Yup, I was a volunteer EMT in our town back in the 1980s, that was drilled into us when we would respond to car arguments with a utility pole. Local electric utility was typically pretty quick to respond.
So you say you wouldn't break load without a 12' stick or a load buster; why wouldnt you do a quick current check, if unknown, to break load? Yes, the line is down, in a normal opening of a circuit; check current so you know you have the correct fuse installed and not having to open other circuits when closing back in for over load in rush
@bobsdecline A multimeter? What on earth are you talking abooot? Perhaps a voltmeter designed for the environment you are working on, c'mon man... You have one
@@jovetj 1000v and below is LV. I am betting Aaron has a voltmeter that is designed to measure up to 37,000 volts with 1% accuracy also while reading to the volt from 1-37,000
Is interesting how you have a high voltage and a neutral in the United Kingdom we run two or three phases faces are wrong. It is not split phase as such they are both from the three system as we do not use a neutral in most high voltage cases
in rural areas, we run one phase with a grounded leg going back. in urban areas we have 3 phases, with the grounded leg. then for secondary in homes and small commercial, they run a center tapped transformer to produce our "single phase" 120/240. for large commercial and industrial, they use 3 transformers to deliver either 120.208 or 277/480 three phase.any of our big stores will have 277/480 feeding the lights and HVAC and any other big loads, and then a stepdown transformer providing 120/208 for all the "normal" loads. our lower normal voltage takes more copper, which is why big buildings will have the higher voltage system as well. and overall, when we were developing our standards, we had lots of copper, so we could afford to be generous with it; while you in the UK had it in short supply, so you went with a system that delivered the most watts on the least copper without being insanely dangerous.
@@kenbrown2808 three phases with the ground or neutral seems a bit pointless on high voltage distribution as you are paying for an extra wire that simply adds complexity
@UKsystems the majority of our 3 phase installations have the transformers in wye configuration. Only industrial applications use delta, so the 4th wire gives the flexibility to install wye, delta, or single phase transformers. And as i said, we had no copper shortage when we designed our power system. All our main transmission lines run phase, only, but our distribution network nearly always has the neutral available.
I ran upstairs and told my wife, "Our standards require that we use class 2 rubber gloves, whenever hot-sticking any primary.” She looked a little worried, and said “Huh?”
🤣🤣🤣 You and I would get along 🤝
@@Bobsdecline I'm sure we would.
...."Hey-O!"
😆
Giggity
She should have asked about the secondary.
Always impressed with your professionalism. You never talk about safety procedures like they’re impeding your work, but like they’re good, reasonable precautions to take. Thank you.
Safety procedures ARE the work
Sad to say that all of the safety process comes as a result of someone or many people's unfortunate outcomes in the past.
My son Xavier works for Custom Truck One Source in Tallahassee, he's the production manager, they make and repair and recertify tools and rubber goods, hot sticks, etc. The crazy weather has been keeping everyone busy. Stay safe.
Sounds like an interesting job!
I met a few people from Custom truck one source in Kentucky last year!
a handy bit of trivia: an electrician's non contact tester will trigger within about 10 feet of an energized pirmary voltage source. so if you have one and you're near a potential downed line, turn it on. if it yells at you, you're too close.
Aaaahhh, step potential. I have read about it in substations but didn't, think about it with a live wire on the ground. Mike Holt did a video where they ran a live 120 line from an outlet to a 10 ft ground rod. It did not trip the breaker. Using a multimeter they were able to measure the different voltages in the ground around the ground rod. Over more tries adding rod each time it took a lot more rod into the ground to trip the breaker. Many lessons to learn from that video, including step potential and why a live wire on the ground can still be live.
That sounds like a great vid. I'm off to find it now.
worked a troubleshoot on a mobile home where there was inexplicable voltage to ground. ultimately found out that there was a leak in an underground primary, and it was voltage FROM the ground to the grounded conductor.
The lesson is that 120V does not go through the ground that easily.
@@jovetj true. I had a troubleshoot back when I was a cup where it turned out the reason I was getting wild voltage readings from nuke to ground was because my JW had pulled the bonding jumpers from the panels - and there was a ground fault looking for a way home. lucky break was, when I jumped the ground to nuke, the plumber was in the bathroom, and saw the spark where it was faulted.
th-cam.com/video/Yg6G5VUSsWA/w-d-xo.html
You did the right thing by placing reflective witches hats around your truck to make you more visible.
When the whole crew (Ausgrid) is working in my area in Australia they have traffic controllers to direct traffic as well.
Last year, they replaced the crossarm & insulators on an about a 50 year old 11 kV power pole & they took up 1 lane with their truck & cherry picker !
Bob I watch your videos with much interest. I'm a retired Electronics Technician. I have a young 10 year old friend that told me recently that he would like to be a lineman! I would like to recommend your videos but wanted to make sure they are "safe" for him. I have not heard you use vulgar language so I am hoping that is the case before I suggest watching your videos.
I’m a radio tech that works a lot with electric utilities in the field with re-closer, regulator, cap bank and substation communications. Often I am by myself, but hands down my best days are when I get to work with the Line Crews helping me with antenna maintenance. Stay safe.
We had a pretty neat presentation by our local power company where they brought out a demonstration trailer and showed us what electricity does to certain things and they talked about electrical safety. Being with the road department, it was great to see because we do a lot where we can become exposed to electricity (accidents, trees down, heavy equipment hitting lines, etc). One of the things they didn't talk about was how they handle emergencies if someone is trapped in a car with a live line over the top. I think it would be interesting if you could do a video where you talk about how you would handle that call and maybe other general safety things that the public should know. One of our issues is the public doesn't realize that communications lines can be energized. During a storm we will see people going out and dragging the lines off the road. Man, you wanna piss off our power crews, let them catch you dragging a line off the road 😂
Glad you mention back-feeding. I am looking to hook up my generator to my panel during emergencies. I need to get an interlock for it to prevent the idiot move of back feeding (in case I am not home when someone needs to run it) or maybe I should just pony up the cash for an automatic transfer switch.
manual transfer systems are available in the $400-$500 range. or some panels can be fitted with a manual interlock system. they're not just smart, they're required by law.
The manual Interlocks are just as good as far as safety is concerned. (I wouldn't worry about spending the extra cash unless you're having a fully automatic system).
In our area an interlock of some sort is required by law for any kind of customer feeds
@@ronblack7870 sometimes cheapest - I've paid a few hundred dollars for one brand.
@@Bobsdecline the drawback to the manual interlock is you don't have nonessentials coming back on to let you know power's been restored. plus, the prebuilt switches are inherently load managing, because you simply don't connect the nonessential loads. but the interlocks are usually cheaper. (surprisingly, not always)
@@kenbrown2808 Considering installing an "essential load" panel [with the interlock]. That would allow the non-essentials to come back on.
Why did the high voltage line cross the road?
To lower its potential.
Take your Like and leave.
🤦 the fact that I read that...
@@Code3News Bad hair day?
@@macdadstromboli2762 I assure you I can do worse, so chalk it up as a win.
What did the road say to the fallen HV line? I'm shocked at your behavior! :) I'll show myself back to the truck.
Thanks Aaron for your video.
Thanks for always taking the time to leave a comment Jeffrey! Always great to see ya here 🤝
Thanks for the video, Aaron! 👍
Always nice to see some routine work because it's the easy stuff where people get lax and screw up.
Absolutely
My thoughts, too. The point towards the end about how cutting the line on the ground will mean the other end is no longer grounded really hit home how easy it would be to make a mistake without strict procedures and constant attention.
Even while up in the air! It can happen quite easily.... To cut a wire and lose your ground. Always have to be very attentive to what you're doing. If your mind isn't on the job, stand down, regroup, have someone else go up. Always follow procedures!
I usually call 'em chicken sticks, but you're playing with a few more angry pixies than I do.
Wow! Great stuff!!
Hi Aaron,
We are just getting over a windstorm here with a couple thousand customers off line.
Great tutorial on a downed line & treating it as energized.
I recognize that off road battery vehicle from last year. Pretty cool that that little buggy has a rope capstan on it. Did you guys get to test its limits? We got the quick demonstration. Nothing serious.
Keep up the great content! 👊🏻👍🏻
Hi there nicely done. What is the yellow robot it looks wonderful do you have more information and footage
Step potential is up there with my major fears
9:03 people would have waited ... 3:42 car dives over downed line
I would have expected securing the scene/roadway would have been the first priority. I sure don't want to drive over a downed power line, whether it's live or not.
He said they would have waited if he coned off the entire road. He didn't, so people can drive past. The wire isn't *that* visible for non-suspecting drivers, laying there flat on the road, so they may not even have noticed.
They gave work truck a wide berth, so I count that as a win.
It was an hour drive out of town too... Where no emergency responders were on scene, I imagine a few cars drove over it before my arrival
Question. So if you're working on the line and it's down what would you prefer for people to do? Would you like for them to back up and just go completely different ways would you like for them to stop and just wait from a distance? And what would you suggest for them to do if they have to go over the wire while you're working on it ?
Great video as always. Is this a single wire earth return system ?
Thank you! Yes it is
I have a pair of class 2 gloves... So if i was doing something with electric i wasn't sure about i should wear them just in case
Have you had to work on poles that had an Osprey nest?
Are the lines and how theyre built and the tools used different than those in the US? That hot stick looks very different than the ones Ive seen in the US…
Much of our stuff comes from the US! There's a few different manufacturers for sticks insulators, switches etc...
Every company has slightly different standards but all follow the principles
Even if a disconnected line shows as dead, it is entirely possible a downstream generator is started on that line, at any time. So yes treat it as live. Sure, it seems a bit unlikely, but no need to take that chance - you only need to be wrong once.
my region has automatic reclosers, now.
Good to see you ooot and abooot
🤣
That horizontal wire you are grounding to, how do you know it is grounded? Do you test that first?
You don't need to bond/ground the other side before cutting?
Stay safe my friend
Thanks Jonathan, always 🤝
Why don't they use OxGuard or Anti-Seize on the tap threads in these high-salt environments?
Thanks!
How does fleet maintainance like those Navistar service trucks like you drive?
A work in progress... We're trying many different makes at the moment. (For service trucks). Tbh I'll keep my international... Although I have a newer model now with a Cummins.
Whats the decline in Bobs decline mean plz?
m.th-cam.com/video/JLnH35zd6o4/w-d-xo.html&pp=ygUTV2hvIGlzIGJvYnNkZWNsaW5lIA%3D%3D
⤴️ much easier than trying to explain in writing 😅
@@Bobsdecline I kinda over thought it, health issues, you name it. At one point was having trouble sleeping....
I saw a car go by
whodat90 said "You never talk about safety procedures like they’re impeding your work, but like they’re good, reasonable precautions to take." Are there safety procedures that you would modify if you were allowed to rewrite them? And that could be either way, simply certain ones or add additional steps to others?
Guys always remember, do NOT approach a downed power line, specially if it looks like a naked steel wire, you don’t know what it is and it could be a fatal mistake touching it…
Yup, I was a volunteer EMT in our town back in the 1980s, that was drilled into us when we would respond to car arguments with a utility pole. Local electric utility was typically pretty quick to respond.
Seen a car go over it in the beginning!
I don't recognize the area. Riverside-Albert/Alma area?
Just outside the driveway to enrage
@@Bobsdecline Took me a bit but I finally found the spot. Very pretty area!
It is indeed! Check out a video I posted probably 4 years ago... I think it's title was a view from my office or something like that
That's what's at the end of the road. Beautiful spot!!
m.th-cam.com/video/19uZHie3_JM/w-d-xo.html&pp=ygUZTGluZW1hbiB0aGlzIGlzIG15IG9mZmljZQ%3D%3D
How can get job like your work
I am electric engineer 😢
4:10 there was a lineman here in MB who recently d!ed on the job. I'm guessing you heard about it, since those incidents are rare :(
👊👍‼️
Alternative title: how to remove a road that is blocking a power line
🤣
So you say you wouldn't break load without a 12' stick or a load buster; why wouldnt you do a quick current check, if unknown, to break load? Yes, the line is down, in a normal opening of a circuit; check current so you know you have the correct fuse installed and not having to open other circuits when closing back in for over load in rush
Any idea why it was down?
Yeah, I wish he could've expanded on any possible causes, how many customers (maybe just one) etc.
Possibly someone was trying out the new Milwaukee electric chainsaw...
I'll bet you only forget to change gloves once.
This cannot touch will be for a very good reason
Not my problem
Indian electricians are freaking out he's not wearing the halal safety flip flops.
on LV stuff in uk we can't use non contact to prove dead
Multi meter is definitely much better for LV
@bobsdecline A multimeter? What on earth are you talking abooot? Perhaps a voltmeter designed for the environment you are working on, c'mon man... You have one
@@nateroth1302 a multimeter. you know a meter that includes voltmeter, ohmmeter, and ammeter in one box.
@@nateroth1302 You're talking about 7200 as LV. Aaron is not.
@@jovetj 1000v and below is LV. I am betting Aaron has a voltmeter that is designed to measure up to 37,000 volts with 1% accuracy also while reading to the volt from 1-37,000
If it is from above a transformer LEAVE IT ALONE call 911
Is interesting how you have a high voltage and a neutral in the United Kingdom we run two or three phases faces are wrong. It is not split phase as such they are both from the three system as we do not use a neutral in most high voltage cases
in rural areas, we run one phase with a grounded leg going back. in urban areas we have 3 phases, with the grounded leg. then for secondary in homes and small commercial, they run a center tapped transformer to produce our "single phase" 120/240. for large commercial and industrial, they use 3 transformers to deliver either 120.208 or 277/480 three phase.any of our big stores will have 277/480 feeding the lights and HVAC and any other big loads, and then a stepdown transformer providing 120/208 for all the "normal" loads. our lower normal voltage takes more copper, which is why big buildings will have the higher voltage system as well. and overall, when we were developing our standards, we had lots of copper, so we could afford to be generous with it; while you in the UK had it in short supply, so you went with a system that delivered the most watts on the least copper without being insanely dangerous.
There are areas in North America of delta 3ϕ in distribution too.
@@kenbrown2808 three phases with the ground or neutral seems a bit pointless on high voltage distribution as you are paying for an extra wire that simply adds complexity
@ however when it is used it still differs in a lot of ways that mean it is less practical than the way it is implemented in the United Kingdom
@UKsystems the majority of our 3 phase installations have the transformers in wye configuration. Only industrial applications use delta, so the 4th wire gives the flexibility to install wye, delta, or single phase transformers. And as i said, we had no copper shortage when we designed our power system. All our main transmission lines run phase, only, but our distribution network nearly always has the neutral available.
HV don't talk it swears
Are you just going to tease us with that robot / remote controlled tank thing at the end, and give no details?? Really??? What is that thing??
Haha! Sorry I had to 🤫🤫 video is coming out in a couple weeks!
First