Well, this one was a bit of a different call. 🤔 For those of you that are interested in the upcoming giveaway, the plaque is now in the hands of the professionals.😏 My guy was quite confident things would turn out great! Stay tuned....
I'm glad that they're ok with him posting this stuff, so many employers seem to be so secretive. It's really cool to see behind the scenes. I work in telecom but we often have to call hydro if we lose power at some of our sites so it's kind of cool to see the kind of stuff that goes on while we wait.
@@redsquirrelftw these kinds of employers are trying to create easy billable work, like switching a light switch or changing a face plate for 500 a call. They do not value anyone's time only their money
I especially appreciate your safety measures, namely reading back instructions from your dispatcher, grounding all the lines, shutting off power at the sub-station, etc. Great work and done safely! Thanks for the video.
I made a career of servicing commercial broadcast transmitters. Lots of HV to play with but you guys are the real deal. So many amperes lurking, waiting for a dummy load to complete the circuit. Somehow I survived to retirement. All the best to you.
Without the report, good chance I would have just closed the line back in. It's windy again now tonight...and dark.... Would have made for a tricky night
I’m a retired lineman and we had a few cutout doors burn up because of tracking. Fuse would blow and barrel stayed closed. Power would stay on until barrel would burn in two. Some times a member would see an arc and call it in. Stay safe. Remember a hole in a rubber brought you in to the world, an hold on yours will take you out.
Nice to see reports from citizens can actually make a difference. Sadly in my area it is usually quite a hassle to get information through the call centers to the crews actually understanding what damage a cracked insulator or broken door of a pad-mounted transformer can cause. :/
That was definitely an interesting one. I can understand when there is a need to cut power to an area in order to work safely. I don't mind being without power when it happens. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Please stay safe, and God bless.
Thank you Heather 🙏. Our guys try their best to minimize outage time but more importantly to work safe. A big part of this channel is to help the public understand why outages are often required... Many locals in my area are now very supportive and patient with our guys after seeing these videos 😌🤝
It's always fun reading through the calls trying to figure out what's going on before getting there. Although many calls read; transformer blew in my backyard... At night an arc flash is so bright, it appears to be in the backyard of about 500 homes lol
having info from customers can be confusing but very helpful. ive rang my power company before due to a crow blowing the cut-out fuses on two of three legs before the transformer. happened opposite my house i know about the system, how it works and could give powercor a location of the failure, saves hours of looking for it for you boys too.
Those tandem bucket booms are so cool. Don't see too many of them in my area. As a matter of fact I think every time I've spotted one it's been well out of my area.
I'm pretty new to your videos and find most of this stuff really pretty interesting as I consider myself an amateur sparky. This video definitely gave me a bit of perspective on why sometimes the power goes out randomly, and why I see service trucks with linemen just chillin inside. Thanks for the inside view on what happens behind the scenes during these types of outages. Lots of checklists and safety protocol, which given what you're dealing with, I really respect. Thank you for what you do, and thanks for sharing the unseen aspects. Mad respect to you all.
Your videos are always entertaining and informative. I’m very familiar with electrical on the “drop” side of the meter so “your” side of the meter is very educational for me. Thanks.
I could never do this work. But watching your channel gives me some insight into issues with outages and stuff . Keep up the good work and stay safe out there
Nice job by all involved! I always first ask dispatcher if any " key calls" or info from customers on any of the order. Sometimes speeds up the troubleshooting and other times it bad info. I think you would have found the problem, thats what we do brother. Serviceman-troubleshooter are about details. 💪
Good catch on that burned hot line clamp! I’m surprised the crew that set that pole didn’t install a ridge pin & raise that center phase up above the other two? That’s the first time I saw you or your guys close cutouts from a bucket. We do that all the time. Those are very old cutout doors with the expulsion cap. Many younger lineman don’t know about them. Very few caps are available anymore. Of course I keep a few on my truck for just such occasions. Nice job getting the lights back on for your customers. 👍🏻👊🏻 I found those double buckets clumsy unless they are set up just right. Often times with phone loops & service drops that is not practical. Last time I rode in one was thirty years ago. The guy that rides without the controls stands in right field unable to do anything but watch.
Cheers from the north-east of the province 😁 you do great work, safety first. As someone who studied electronics in college, I have a big interest in your trade. The troubleshooting methods and logic is very much similar, just the safety aspect is a bit spicier when you're working in the KV range instead of lower voltages. Keep the videos coming! Cheers
Different stuff keeps things interesting. Not a week this by when I see something unusual/new in my telecom corner. It is a good catch with that insulator and nice to get that arm up there to get it right. Good work. Thank you for sharing.
Be kinda cool to be able to keep those metal pieces. At least it would be for me. I would love to keep those metal pieces. Always fun to watch what you do.
10:30 speaking of SEL I actually had posted a video to my YT of a 19.8kv single phase line that was flashing over a lightning arrestor that had a broken wire off the primary connection because of a tree right neer my place. A guy from SEL contacted me and was wanting to use my video in a webinar of theirs on I think he was saying reclosing devices. Pretty cool seeing that name in use at a station! Ive never really seen exactly to what extent their equipment is used, and how far and wide it is used.
YT just decided to show me your channel. I found it interesting. I live in the Texas boonies where everything is far apart. An hour drive to the store is routine. I moved here in 2010. I feared there would be more power outages then in the cities due to being so rural and it would take hours to repair. Thankfully I was wrong. I am often surprised how quick the outages are over. Occasionally i lose power for no obvious reasons and this video has me wondering if some of those outages are due to simple repairs that requires turning off huge areas of electricity. BTW, i am on an electric coop.
Yessir Mike! In those cases, we can usually cut the lead off with hotline cutters and then remove the stirrup with a stick. We would then replace both units
Okay obscure question: With that new pole installed, how does your pole numbering system get reconfigured? Does every pole "downstream" of the new pole get renumbered? Or does the numbering system have an option for allowing new poles to be installed between existing poles?
Great question! The poles on either side of this one are numbered 67 and 68. A pole midspan, such as this one, will be labeled as pole 67A. It's side like poles will be 67AR1 and 67AR2 (R=Right L=Left).
In old TransAlta land, poles are never renumbered until the line is rebuilt. I have seen ##A2A, and ##G (7th extra pole, on a reroute). Imagine all companies have the same policy, keeps records and history understandable. At one point we where talking about adding a year to the structure to record the standard used.
After watching so many of your videos from a completely different industry I’ve started noticing a lot of things I would have never paid attention to. Mostly my town leaves the cutout gates hanging open over sidewalks for what looks to be a bypass for a pole mounted recloser.
that was scary seeing the arching at the pole. high voltage is so dangerous to be around.especially with out the proper equipment. our site has 140 k incoming and is stepped down from there. three phase has always confused me using 3 legs over 2. great video thanks for your time.
Cut-out hot side have seen resistor heat vs insulator, causes outage as rain is stopping. The heated insulator can be seen with infrared camera, have seen water/coffee boiling temps. A midwest utility found 300 defective cut outs. Have also seen in eastern Canada where it happened the Saturday night before I arrived.
SEL is a great place. I live not to far from their secondary office in Spokane Valley that used to be a school for ITT. One of my friends tried applying there but did not get the job. Something to do with not remembering all the formula for transformers. Though they are a big player in grid control systems. Keep them lines live and powering us consumers.
I am a retired electrical tech from a public water utility on Long Island. I worked many times with our local electrical utility linemen. It was part of my job to check voltages to the pumping stations when problems occurred. Mostly during summer demand for water. Voltage drops that needed the utility guys to step up the the 3 phase voltages to the station. We had iron clad ground mounted transformers at each well field. The high tension voltage was shut off at the poles fuse cutouts. Then the linemen would then switch a voltage selection in the transformer. I was always fascinated with what you guys do. Always gazing up at transmission lines. And wondering what all the stuff in a substation did? I saw many an electrical explosion from shorted Buried HV cables. One guy with his shot stick while up in the bucket exploded a 20 amp fuse. He disappeared in a cloud of smoke. It took a minute to yell down he was ok. His ears had to hurt a bit. It was loud like a firework.
They need a fiberglass bar with a ring in the middle that fits over a new pole, gets secured by a bolt and then clips on to all three phases to keep them from moving. It would essentially be a temporary cross brace that’s easy to (un)install.
the map you showed, I've always wondered is that like a public map or is it like a employ only sort of thing, always sort wondered what the power line map for my area would be.
Always wondered why my car radio on AM freq picks up interference while driving alongside powerlines. Would that be cracked insulators interfering with the AM signal?
I'm guessing that it is the light magnetic field from the transmission of power. Seems somewhat unlikely that a power line would have a bunch of cracked insulators.
Cracked or dirty insulators are more common than you’d think, and they will become noticeable on the AM band. That being said, a hum or relatively steady signal can be normal operation. Ham radio operators often form RFI(radio frequency interference) search groups to track down and report insulators to the power company
Nice. I'd like to see more about "grid" in the sense of how an area receives power from different directions. For example, my town has three "entry" points for the underground distribution to the town (about 3000 homes). Can these entry points be supplied by different sub-stations? How is all that managed when you're fault isolating? (Note that due to the underground distro here - in the recent ice storm we didn't lose power where 1M+ homes in the Montreal region did).
I work for a company that builds custom sub station shelter aisles and those SEL's can be a pain to wire up especially when they are in a cramped cabinet instead of on the cell door, but they do make it much safer to operate the high voltage equipment that used to be hands on and more disruptive to customers as far as down time.
I enjoy watching this stuff because I myself was a lineman, but carpal tunnel took me out of work because I let it go too long and caused nerve damage. I loved my job and miss it every day.
i feel your advice about not lifting heavy stuff when you dont have to. im 27 and have been a lineman for 10 years and my back is shot out. and just had shoulder surgery at the beginning of the year! love your videos.
@@Bobsdecline rough recovery so far. Just ready to get back to building some lines! Thanks for the reply man means a lot. Maybe I’ll see you down the line some day.
"i feel your advice about not lifting heavy stuff when you dont have to. im 27 ....and my back is shot out." Even if you don't blow your back quick, repeated injuries add-up, even multiply. After 3 MDs and two physical therapists, at 70 I am just starting to unravel the damage I did in my youth. Falling off bicycles and swings, hoisting PA speakers and kilowatt amplifiers (some tube!), and also sit-down job for most of 38 years. Stay limber, avoid major strains!!
17:05 Your company (and almost every other company) almost always tie in the telephone if you have the time, right? One company that I’ve seen that does not tie in the telephone is BC Hydro. They just leave the old pole in the ground or bolt it to the side of the new pole. Why is that?
You should have a way to use the computer over a dedicated frequency to control the substation switches. We have 2 radio links on our local substation. One is a low band link the other an 800 band link, both digital. They can remotely control everything in the substation
IMO that would get hacked/cracked incredibly quickly, if only because someone saw it as a challenge to be surmounted. That is, unless the whole thing is end-to-end encrypted, and I don't mean HTTPS. If you wouldn't trust it with your life, it's not secure enough. Because the power grid can in fact be all that's keeping people alive (like in the hospital on a ventilator, that's why hospitals have generators I know but those don't come on instantly).
@@44R0Ndin ... it could be set up so dispatch has to allow your access from the field. That way it's double secured and coded with a work permit as well.
Not always. Sometimes a piece of equipment may just blacken a bit and still be ok. A grab all for example; the very top portion isn't tested and slight discoloration won't hurt it. That being said. The piece must be taken out of service until the incident is reported and the equipment is tested.
@Bobsdecline hey I was just wondering on the telephone pole on a Transformer on a main line that comes into the Transformer and then it goes back out onto the main
I find it interesting you have to drive to the substation on your own, wonder if it's standard practice or because you're in a smaller area.. Seems like it'd be more efficient to have another guy at the substation to help
I really rate the SEL protection relays. They are easily the best relays I've dealt with, only issue I've ever had is on an undervoltage trip when the UPS batteries were fucked, and only putting out 13Vdc instead of 24Vdc and the SEL relay tripped as it should, but it didn't show any indication of why it was tripped. Ended up being an easy fix replacing the batteries I just would have liked an indication of control voltage failure instead of tripped with no fault condition indicated
Most of the podcast content is probably out of your interest, but I'd love to hear your take on the opening segment of episode 629 The Amp Hour podcast. They're talking about partial failures in house, that ended up being due to one of the lives being broken, and feeding to other circuits in the house through the water heater elements.
Hey there! I was wondering what your career path was and how you started. I've been in the telecom industry for almost 3 years now and am currently trying to move over to power. Sent my application for a groundsman position and waiting to hear back. Been watching you for a while now and love your videos, and hope to know as much about power infrastructure and be able to restore and maintain it in the future. Greetings from Georgia!
@@holdenbowling8781 All I have is a class b unfortunately, I'm applying for Pike and hopefully they'll get me an A otherwise I'll just be saving until I can get into a truck school. Also, I'm well aware of Pike and their shadiness haha.
Well, this one was a bit of a different call. 🤔
For those of you that are interested in the upcoming giveaway, the plaque is now in the hands of the professionals.😏 My guy was quite confident things would turn out great! Stay tuned....
:D
I knew it would😊
save your fingers get tape like box tape and cover damaged fiberglass ...no splinters that way
I hope your employer realizes how valuable your channel is to those in the industry, joining the industry, and those of us curious from the outside.
A lot of them don't. I work in the telecom sector - if I posted my work for the same reasons I'd be fired immediately.
I'm glad that they're ok with him posting this stuff, so many employers seem to be so secretive. It's really cool to see behind the scenes. I work in telecom but we often have to call hydro if we lose power at some of our sites so it's kind of cool to see the kind of stuff that goes on while we wait.
There are safety benefits to educating the general public, especially when it comes to something as dangerous as electricity.
@@2dfx A bunch of pencil pushers that have no real world experience. I've seen this with engineers.
@@redsquirrelftw these kinds of employers are trying to create easy billable work, like switching a light switch or changing a face plate for 500 a call. They do not value anyone's time only their money
I especially appreciate your safety measures, namely reading back instructions from your dispatcher, grounding all the lines, shutting off power at the sub-station, etc. Great work and done safely! Thanks for the video.
Thanks Rick appreciate the comments 🤝
I made a career of servicing commercial broadcast transmitters. Lots of HV to play with but you guys are the real deal. So many amperes lurking, waiting for a dummy load to complete the circuit. Somehow I survived to retirement. All the best to you.
Good deal. Detailed reports from customers can come in handy sometimes. This fault was pretty sneaky.
Without the report, good chance I would have just closed the line back in. It's windy again now tonight...and dark.... Would have made for a tricky night
I’m a retired lineman and we had a few cutout doors burn up because of tracking. Fuse would blow and barrel stayed closed. Power would stay on until barrel would burn in two. Some times a member would see an arc and call it in.
Stay safe. Remember a hole in a rubber brought you in to the world, an hold on yours will take you out.
"Remember a hole in a rubber brought you in to the world, an hold on yours will take you out."
Yeah im stealing that, that was great.
The people of Canada are lucky to have linemen like you looking out for their welfare! Thank you from Maryland, U.S.A.! 👊🏼
👊👊
Hey thanks buddy! My parents live on that road. Glad good people like yourself are lookin out for em. Cheers.
🍻
Nice to see reports from citizens can actually make a difference. Sadly in my area it is usually quite a hassle to get information through the call centers to the crews actually understanding what damage a cracked insulator or broken door of a pad-mounted transformer can cause. :/
That was definitely an interesting one. I can understand when there is a need to cut power to an area in order to work safely. I don't mind being without power when it happens. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Please stay safe, and God bless.
Thank you Heather 🙏. Our guys try their best to minimize outage time but more importantly to work safe. A big part of this channel is to help the public understand why outages are often required... Many locals in my area are now very supportive and patient with our guys after seeing these videos 😌🤝
That's pretty crazy! You always do such a good job explaining what or how to fix the problem. Thanks for the videos!
It's always fun reading through the calls trying to figure out what's going on before getting there.
Although many calls read; transformer blew in my backyard... At night an arc flash is so bright, it appears to be in the backyard of about 500 homes lol
having info from customers can be confusing but very helpful.
ive rang my power company before due to a crow blowing the cut-out fuses on two of three legs before the transformer. happened opposite my house i know about the system, how it works and could give powercor a location of the failure, saves hours of looking for it for you boys too.
These are great! I love the insight into how electrical distribution works and is maintained by the people that understand and do it. Thanks!
Those tandem bucket booms are so cool. Don't see too many of them in my area.
As a matter of fact I think every time I've spotted one it's been well out of my area.
You DEFININTELY can't get them into tight spots.
intermittent problems are the hardest to find. Thanks for sharing. Beautiful country you have.
As a utility worker on the transmission side I respect and appreciate what you do
I just finished my apprenticeship at 55 years old and I love it
That's awesome! 👊🤝
I love your videos, man be safe out there
Congrats Christopher!
What were you doing before? Congrats on your accomplishment.
I was working for a sign comtractor
I'm pretty new to your videos and find most of this stuff really pretty interesting as I consider myself an amateur sparky. This video definitely gave me a bit of perspective on why sometimes the power goes out randomly, and why I see service trucks with linemen just chillin inside. Thanks for the inside view on what happens behind the scenes during these types of outages. Lots of checklists and safety protocol, which given what you're dealing with, I really respect. Thank you for what you do, and thanks for sharing the unseen aspects. Mad respect to you all.
Man, this job is no joke. Thanks for the insight into your world and attention to safety, very important.
Your videos are always entertaining and informative. I’m very familiar with electrical on the “drop” side of the meter so “your” side of the meter is very educational for me. Thanks.
Really enjoy your videos and how you explain everything, Thank you for what you and your company does there. From Kansas City Mo. USA Be safe!
I could never do this work. But watching your channel gives me some insight into issues with outages and stuff . Keep up the good work and stay safe out there
Nice! Looks like an SEL-351R? I used to be part of the engineering group at the factory. Nice to see it in the field doing its job.
Love these videos. Thanks for posting.
🍻🤝
Thank you for putting in the hours so our homes can be comfortable.❤
I always check the wires for any electrical problems 👍 great job! You channel has grown so much ⬆️
Nice job by all involved! I always first ask dispatcher if any " key calls" or info from customers on any of the order. Sometimes speeds up the troubleshooting and other times it bad info. I think you would have found the problem, thats what we do brother. Serviceman-troubleshooter are about details. 💪
You have a very clear voice man. Tks
Good show woodstepper. I wish there were more channels for our industry on TH-cam.
Thanks for the video Aaron. Great skies in your area.
A Great Video! Thanks for bringing us along,
Good catch on that burned hot line clamp! I’m surprised the crew that set that pole didn’t install a ridge pin & raise that center phase up above the other two? That’s the first time I saw you or your guys close cutouts from a bucket. We do that all the time. Those are very old cutout doors with the expulsion cap. Many younger lineman don’t know about them. Very few caps are available anymore. Of course I keep a few on my truck for just such occasions. Nice job getting the lights back on for your customers. 👍🏻👊🏻
I found those double buckets clumsy unless they are set up just right. Often times with phone loops & service drops that is not practical. Last time I rode in one was thirty years ago. The guy that rides without the controls stands in right field unable to do anything but watch.
Brilliant ! Love these videos
love your videos. I do not look at power poles the same way now.
Cheers from the north-east of the province 😁 you do great work, safety first. As someone who studied electronics in college, I have a big interest in your trade. The troubleshooting methods and logic is very much similar, just the safety aspect is a bit spicier when you're working in the KV range instead of lower voltages. Keep the videos coming! Cheers
Different stuff keeps things interesting. Not a week this by when I see something unusual/new in my telecom corner. It is a good catch with that insulator and nice to get that arm up there to get it right. Good work. Thank you for sharing.
Equipment didn’t look old at all. So glad someone else is working on it than me.
Keep the fire in the wires, my friend. Guidance and blessings upon you and your colleagues from above.
Be kinda cool to be able to keep those metal pieces. At least it would be for me. I would love to keep those metal pieces. Always fun to watch what you do.
Nice double bucket truck. Never seen one of those before. Good job!
A lot of rules and procedures. Knowing them & following them keeps people safe and keeps the lights on. A lot to know!
A very nice repair 👍👍👍
I know nothing about this but could this all have been prevented if the cross arm was installed when the pole was set?
yes
Good eye brother. That’s a tough one to spot for sure.
SEL manufactures a lot of their equipment right here in my area. I enjoy seeing their stuff in the wild
its nice to de-energize the line... it's much safer for the linemen... ❤❤😊
That was an interesting call.
10:30 speaking of SEL I actually had posted a video to my YT of a 19.8kv single phase line that was flashing over a lightning arrestor that had a broken wire off the primary connection because of a tree right neer my place. A guy from SEL contacted me and was wanting to use my video in a webinar of theirs on I think he was saying reclosing devices. Pretty cool seeing that name in use at a station! Ive never really seen exactly to what extent their equipment is used, and how far and wide it is used.
Nothing better than when the wind blows in arc into a big loop
Very cool channel. Thank you for making this.
What a great video. Love learning about your trade.
YT just decided to show me your channel. I found it interesting. I live in the Texas boonies where everything is far apart. An hour drive to the store is routine. I moved here in 2010. I feared there would be more power outages then in the cities due to being so rural and it would take hours to repair. Thankfully I was wrong. I am often surprised how quick the outages are over. Occasionally i lose power for no obvious reasons and this video has me wondering if some of those outages are due to simple repairs that requires turning off huge areas of electricity. BTW, i am on an electric coop.
Very interesting episode, Aaron. Thanks for all you do.
That support at 3:05 did seem like a sketchy solution to me allowing the two other phases to come near when swinging.
This video is so educated 👍 keep it up
I’ve seen those old load break barrels blow and not drop open but will have fire shooting out the bottom still trying to carry the load of the line.
16:15 ever had to work with a tap clamp where the bottom of the grab hole was blown out?
Yessir Mike! In those cases, we can usually cut the lead off with hotline cutters and then remove the stirrup with a stick. We would then replace both units
@@Bobsdecline Gotcha. Thanks for the reply Aaron. I’ve been a bit absent from utube lately what for work. Hope all is well with your family and you!
Okay obscure question: With that new pole installed, how does your pole numbering system get reconfigured? Does every pole "downstream" of the new pole get renumbered? Or does the numbering system have an option for allowing new poles to be installed between existing poles?
Great question! The poles on either side of this one are numbered 67 and 68. A pole midspan, such as this one, will be labeled as pole 67A. It's side like poles will be 67AR1 and 67AR2 (R=Right L=Left).
In old TransAlta land, poles are never renumbered until the line is rebuilt. I have seen ##A2A, and ##G (7th extra pole, on a reroute). Imagine all companies have the same policy, keeps records and history understandable. At one point we where talking about adding a year to the structure to record the standard used.
After watching so many of your videos from a completely different industry I’ve started noticing a lot of things I would have never paid attention to. Mostly my town leaves the cutout gates hanging open over sidewalks for what looks to be a bypass for a pole mounted recloser.
that was scary seeing the arching at the pole. high voltage is so dangerous to be around.especially
with out the proper equipment. our site has 140 k incoming and is stepped down from there. three
phase has always confused me using 3 legs over 2. great video thanks for your time.
Cut-out hot side have seen resistor heat vs insulator, causes outage as rain is stopping.
The heated insulator can be seen with infrared camera, have seen water/coffee boiling temps. A midwest utility found 300 defective cut outs. Have also seen in eastern Canada where it happened the Saturday night before I arrived.
SEL is a great place. I live not to far from their secondary office in Spokane Valley that used to be a school for ITT. One of my friends tried applying there but did not get the job. Something to do with not remembering all the formula for transformers. Though they are a big player in grid control systems. Keep them lines live and powering us consumers.
I am a retired electrical tech from a public water utility on Long Island. I worked many times with our local electrical utility linemen. It was part of my job to check voltages to the pumping stations when problems occurred. Mostly during summer demand for water. Voltage drops that needed the utility guys to step up the the 3 phase voltages to the station. We had iron clad ground mounted transformers at each well field. The high tension voltage was shut off at the poles fuse cutouts. Then the linemen would then switch a voltage selection in the transformer. I was always fascinated with what you guys do. Always gazing up at transmission lines. And wondering what all the stuff in a substation did? I saw many an electrical explosion from shorted Buried HV cables. One guy with his shot stick while up in the bucket exploded a 20 amp fuse. He disappeared in a cloud of smoke. It took a minute to yell down he was ok. His ears had to hurt a bit. It was loud like a firework.
This was a fun one. Thanks again for sharing!
Nice episode. Now reading about autoreclosers!
They need a fiberglass bar with a ring in the middle that fits over a new pole, gets secured by a bolt and then clips on to all three phases to keep them from moving. It would essentially be a temporary cross brace that’s easy to (un)install.
That 3 way communication is solid
the map you showed, I've always wondered is that like a public map or is it like a employ only sort of thing, always sort wondered what the power line map for my area would be.
Always wondered why my car radio on AM freq picks up interference while driving alongside powerlines. Would that be cracked insulators interfering with the AM signal?
I'm guessing that it is the light magnetic field from the transmission of power. Seems somewhat unlikely that a power line would have a bunch of cracked insulators.
Cracked or dirty insulators are more common than you’d think, and they will become noticeable on the AM band. That being said, a hum or relatively steady signal can be normal operation. Ham radio operators often form RFI(radio frequency interference) search groups to track down and report insulators to the power company
Nice. I'd like to see more about "grid" in the sense of how an area receives power from different directions. For example, my town has three "entry" points for the underground distribution to the town (about 3000 homes). Can these entry points be supplied by different sub-stations? How is all that managed when you're fault isolating?
(Note that due to the underground distro here - in the recent ice storm we didn't lose power where 1M+ homes in the Montreal region did).
I work for a company that builds custom sub station shelter aisles and those SEL's can be a pain to wire up especially when they are in a cramped cabinet instead of on the cell door, but they do make it much safer to operate the high voltage equipment that used to be hands on and more disruptive to customers as far as down time.
I wish I was a lineman. Seems like a cool job.
Keep safe always sir!!
I enjoy watching this stuff because I myself was a lineman, but carpal tunnel took me out of work because I let it go too long and caused nerve damage. I loved my job and miss it every day.
Your employer permits you to perform an unscheduled outage on your own in a substation. Keep up the excellent work and stay safe.
@881chicago, it looks like he just operated a Recloser. It just happens to be in the Sub instead of being up-stream the lead.
Thank GOD for your Training because this Work is Dangerous and Deadly if you’re Not paying attention. 👍🙏
Repeating dispatch orders is sweet , no question as to what your doing
Redundancy
In recent years, my city has replaced a number of those 3 phase disconnects with disconnects that can be remotely commanded to open or close.
16:10 can those be cleaned up and reused or are they trashed?
nice job and a good find. stay safe SIR
👊🤝
i feel your advice about not lifting heavy stuff when you dont have to. im 27 and have been a lineman for 10 years and my back is shot out. and just had shoulder surgery at the beginning of the year! love your videos.
Oh man, I hope the surgery worked out! 🤝💪
@@Bobsdecline rough recovery so far. Just ready to get back to building some lines! Thanks for the reply man means a lot. Maybe I’ll see you down the line some day.
Don't dive in head first Joseph... get that shoulder used to working again 👊 cheers man! 🍻
"i feel your advice about not lifting heavy stuff when you dont have to. im 27 ....and my back is shot out."
Even if you don't blow your back quick, repeated injuries add-up, even multiply. After 3 MDs and two physical therapists, at 70 I am just starting to unravel the damage I did in my youth. Falling off bicycles and swings, hoisting PA speakers and kilowatt amplifiers (some tube!), and also sit-down job for most of 38 years. Stay limber, avoid major strains!!
Great video, Aaron! 🙂
17:05 Your company (and almost every other company) almost always tie in the telephone if you have the time, right? One company that I’ve seen that does not tie in the telephone is BC Hydro. They just leave the old pole in the ground or bolt it to the side of the new pole. Why is that?
Hey Aaron, is there no LOTO method when you trip a recloser electronically like that? no tags you leave behind while you work on the line?
You should have a way to use the computer over a dedicated frequency to control the substation switches.
We have 2 radio links on our local substation. One is a low band link the other an 800 band link, both digital. They can remotely control everything in the substation
IMO that would get hacked/cracked incredibly quickly, if only because someone saw it as a challenge to be surmounted.
That is, unless the whole thing is end-to-end encrypted, and I don't mean HTTPS.
If you wouldn't trust it with your life, it's not secure enough. Because the power grid can in fact be all that's keeping people alive (like in the hospital on a ventilator, that's why hospitals have generators I know but those don't come on instantly).
@@44R0Ndin ... it could be set up so dispatch has to allow your access from the field. That way it's double secured and coded with a work permit as well.
in our town leon gto mexico the voltage before the transfo is 13200 volts , in the usa is it than much higher ?
What happens if someone is back feeding your lines before grounds have not been installed? Also what happens to the person that energized the lines?
does every piece of kit (including the covers) that is involved with a flash over get tossed in the recycle bin?
Not always. Sometimes a piece of equipment may just blacken a bit and still be ok.
A grab all for example; the very top portion isn't tested and slight discoloration won't hurt it.
That being said. The piece must be taken out of service until the incident is reported and the equipment is tested.
@Bobsdecline hey I was just wondering on the telephone pole on a Transformer on a main line that comes into the Transformer and then it goes back out onto the main
Curious to know why the new pole with the cover was left like it was and didnt get tied in prior to you guys doing it.
@user-jq5ni5du4f - We have a contractor that does pole installs only. A crew is then scheduled to do the transfer a few days after.
Every apprentice needs 4 Journeymen. I served great men and kids. Stay safe. Especially the gals..please post
That massive arc is exactly why I'm terrified of electricity
I find it interesting you have to drive to the substation on your own, wonder if it's standard practice or because you're in a smaller area.. Seems like it'd be more efficient to have another guy at the substation to help
I really rate the SEL protection relays. They are easily the best relays I've dealt with, only issue I've ever had is on an undervoltage trip when the UPS batteries were fucked, and only putting out 13Vdc instead of 24Vdc and the SEL relay tripped as it should, but it didn't show any indication of why it was tripped. Ended up being an easy fix replacing the batteries I just would have liked an indication of control voltage failure instead of tripped with no fault condition indicated
Most of the podcast content is probably out of your interest, but I'd love to hear your take on the opening segment of episode 629 The Amp Hour podcast. They're talking about partial failures in house, that ended up being due to one of the lives being broken, and feeding to other circuits in the house through the water heater elements.
I have had something like that happen when its more then 20 degrees celsius outside i can hear like a little arching sound from the power lines
Great videos! So what’s starting pay for a lineman in Texas area? What’s the typical work schedule?
As a ham radio operator, I will say that with the hobby comes finding issues like this on the grid as we don't like RFI or EMI.
Since they were coming back out to do more work, would simply covering up the other phases have been another possible option?
Hey there! I was wondering what your career path was and how you started. I've been in the telecom industry for almost 3 years now and am currently trying to move over to power. Sent my application for a groundsman position and waiting to hear back. Been watching you for a while now and love your videos, and hope to know as much about power infrastructure and be able to restore and maintain it in the future. Greetings from Georgia!
If your in Georgia put in an application to SELCAT, union is the way to go, All you gotta have is a class A cdl
@@holdenbowling8781 All I have is a class b unfortunately, I'm applying for Pike and hopefully they'll get me an A otherwise I'll just be saving until I can get into a truck school. Also, I'm well aware of Pike and their shadiness haha.