Identifying broken cutouts on the line
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- Опубліковано 14 тра 2021
- Hey Everyone!
I figured I'd get a few minutes coverage of this job while waiting for my back up to arrive. Just wanted to touch on a few points when approaching this type of work. Most importantly, don't become complacent: Although the problem may be obvious... don't jump right into things without first doing a full scene survey. There may very well be other unrelated hazards in your work area.
Sun is shining this weekend folks! Hope you all enjoy - 😁🍻 Cheers!
** These video's are NOT intended for training or D.I.Y. Only properly trained and authorized personal are allowed to work on this equipment. Always adhere to work methods and procedures particular to the company you are working for. **
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➡ / bobsdecline
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UA-cam audio
#Bobsdecline, #Beingalineman, #Lineman
Although the problem may be obvious... don't jump right into things without first doing a full scene survey. There may very well be other unrelated hazards in your work area. Sun is shining this weekend folks! Hope you all enjoy - 😁🍻 Cheers!
Finally outta the cold spell for now. Gonna be mid 60s and sunny today! No more rain for a bit either. We went about a month with no more than a day of no rain. Good for the farmers though, can't complain. Safety and following protocols and SOP to the T is so very important if you wann go home after work. You're leading by example and its a great one! Do you have a patreon set up? I can't give much but I wouldn't mind throwing in a little every month.
Everytime I see you in your red Helmer I am thinking of The band Devo... you look like the devo front man
@Mike Znel Yes the rain here has been relentless 😔, but like you said... It's definitely good for farmers among many other things. I do have a Patreon, I don't advertise it much, there should be a link in the description below most of my videos. I have it setup for very small $3-5 donations towards the channel. I appreciate that very much! 👊👊
@Glenn s I'm not sure what he looks like, but definitely going to have to check that out now! Lol 😁
@@Bobsdecline Awesome man I'd be more than happy to support you. Not much, but it adds up!
Good morning brother. Thanks for another great video. New guys don’t realize the dangers of an old porcelain cutout. Around Halloween I was on storm on a side line. 3 poles in from the line fuse we had tree dammage. Cleared the tree to find the primary damages and holding by a few strands. I called for permission to take intentional outage on the side line. Went to the cutout which was a really old brown porcelain cutout. I went to use my load buster on universal stick. When I pulled the door open she split in half and the high side which had a 6ft tap swung down and hit the neutral and blew the feeder. Yes before I even attempted to load bust it open I inspected the cutout and found no cracks. I didn’t get in trouble because they called it an equipment failure. But now when I have an old porcelain cutout I either go back to the next hard tap and use a load pick up to to load bust. Or utilize the load pick up to to bypass the cutout completely. And if it’s really that bad I’ll call for the closest device up stream to be dumped so I can safely clear the cutout and change it out. Basically the grey ones we still use load buster after visual inspection. But the brown ones are not to be operated. If the fuse ever blows on a trouble call we change them out during the outage and eliminate them from the system. It’s was a good thing that we had a one shot on the feeder so when it hit the neutral it was a small flash because when they put the one shot on the breaker they lower the fault current rating. Needless to say my butthole puckered up pretty tightly 🤣🤪😳
What we started doing with the Jack doors, we put reflective red and green tape on the door red at the top and green on the bottom. So when you were checking if switch was open the green tape would be up( but remember to check tail of fuse) so this way with a spot lite the tape would tell you if door is closed in or open!! It’s really helps with the storms here in Florida!!
I've never heard that one, very cool! You'd be able to easily spot that from a 100 feet away with a flashlight. Thanks for sharing!
Manufactures should start making them that way!
BC Hydro uses red on their fuseholders. Although it makes it easier to see the fuseholders from the ground I never understood why they didn't go with the red / green thing you describe. It would make trouble shooting so much easier. A whole line of greens on top and one with the red on top would be very obvious when surveying from the road.
@@gragor11 Some people are red/green colorblind so they wouldn't be able to differentiate them. (And if you can't be an electrician because you're colorblind... be a lineman!)
Great video! We had a program to get rid of porcelain cutouts. The manufacturers of these got cheaper and cheaper and tried to make the porcelain thinner and thinner to reduce the cost of material, leading to these constantly failing
Lichtenberg figures are pretty awesome in a controlled environment. Not so much when out in the field. Nice video!
Usually an indication that something is wrong ! 😟💯
So much saftey, excellent stuff! No one should have to die for work.
So much safety and so much following of safety procedures too which is the best part. Always always always do as you're taught and told with safety. Theres a reason they have these procedures and protocols in place. In work like this and many other skilled trades, they've been written in blood. Its great to see someone doing it by the book to the T too. It may seem pointless but there's a reason the procedures are setup the way they are.
Good to see ya bud. Your dedication and respect for safety and following procedures as taught is top notch. You're a great example of how to conduct yourself and how to act on scene. Guys like you set the industry standards high. Great role model I'll tell you what. Hope everything is going well with your family amd the new house! What an adventure and I'm happy you're sharing it with us! Stay safe partner, bless you and your family!
Bob after months of watching your videos and being interested in a Lineman for over 3 years.
I've been busting ass in Manitoba Hydros Lineman Program. I was so dam lucky to get picked for initial testing but I've made it through so far.
I've got all my chips on this. I'm really excited and wanted to share the good news !!
Donavan, that's awesome! I was in the same boat back in 2003 ... My power and and water was shut off, and I invested every bit of time and money I had to get into the trade.
Really happy to hear you made the cut! Keep Bustin ur ass out there, but always be safe.
I don't like to say good luck, because it's not luck we need.We are in charge of our own destiny. Decide what to be, and go be it! 👊👊
@@Bobsdecline I appreciate the reply. The extra encouragement means alot coming from you !
I've been through all sorts of work. I was even in Alberta Oilsands. I know being a Lineman is what I want to do. I'm pumped!
@Donavan Quill That's the kind of attitude that make great lineman! When you enjoy going to work everyday, it allows you to concentrate more energy and focus on learning and doing your best.
I love working with guys that have a real passion for the trade.
@@Bobsdecline June 10 is my final testing stage before selections made for the Lineman Program.
I don't know how many there are but man oh man I am excited. I'm hoping for the best, preparing for the worst.
I just got the call today :)
Great news so far! 👊💪
Greeting from China to Mr Bob, really appreciate your hard work.
As an electrician (IBEW lu 102) and consumer of electricity, open the line! If I don’t have power for a couple hours I’ll live, and so will you ! Thanks Aaron!
Appreciate the understanding Daniel!
For those homeowners that have generators for such a situation... Please call a licensed electrician to ensure your properly transferring power and our lineman are safe... God bless...
even then, their main breaker, or lockout breakers, might be faulty. As indicated, the transformer will pickup anything & voltage it up in reverse.
@@wim0104 Agree. We have two utility meters as electric water heating is a separate rate at our location. I built a simple status panel to monitor our backup generator that has an indicator wired to the hot water circuit showing utility power. We use a circuit breaker interlock to switch between utility and generator. If we switch to back up power and the utility indicator is on it means either: 1) utility power has been restored or 2) the house did not disconnect from the utility feed so kill the generator immediately.
The indicator also overcomes the problem of detecting when utility power comes back when using an interlock.
Well you really would need have to have a big generator to power all your neighbour and don't realize it. If you don't disconnect the line, you have the load all the houses connected to the same transformer, or at least on the same phase. I don't know typical sizes of transformers in the US, but where I live is 100kVA minimum.
Also... if it will manage to still work, your generator will burn when the grid comes back online, since it will probably not be in sync and thus produce a short trough the generator windings.
By the way, couldn't these kind of protection be implemented in smart meters? It wouldn't be difficult to detect a loss of grid power (it's something that every solar inverter does) and thus disconnect immediately if the meter senses some voltage feeding back (it would also protect form faulty or badly installed solar inverters or batteries that introduce power into the grid when they are not supposed to, you get a double layer of protection that way).
No thanks
@@alerighi The size of the transformer doesn't matter much but rather the size of the load. Here in the US (probably also in Canada) transformers only feed a handful of houses, probably 10 or so at most. Near me newer neighborhoods seem to have maybe three or four houses on a transformer. Even a mid-size 5kW generator could have a good chance of powering that as long as there aren't any large loads like electric heating or air conditioning running. In a moderately rural area you're likely the only customer on the transformer.
As always, Great content and you got home safe to the family. Giving a 👊 from Washington State!
I was happy when I had the notification that bobsdecline had uploaded a new video. A great video as always and as I had already watched all the previous videos you had posted it was great to see a new one. I know you don't upload on a daily or weekly basis as your work comes first and you have to fit it in to your busy schedule but when you do put a video up it's always great to see.
Another outstanding video.
Another great video! Thank you
How long have you been a troubleman? And can you put out a video on the pros , cons and the differences on being in the overhead construction side vs now being a serviceman/ troubleman and is the job better suited for a younger lineman in his prime vs a season lineman on his last year's???.... love your videos and energy!! Thanks ....
Ca doots 'n narcs 🤣 I fucking love you Canadians, Bob 👍
Nice job would've liked too seen the complete work bit very informative as always thanks mike iron river m.i. 👍
Love it, not only an excellent job but what a place to be doing it👍🏻
So much information, thanks ! 👍🏻
well spotted! Another use for the FLIR on my Ulephone :-)
Started watching your channel a WHILE back, went to lineman school and just got a job with TECO. Love the videos and narration, that's what ita all ABOOT!!!
these are really, really great videos. congratulations, you are truly a credit to your profession.
Thanks Alain, I Appreciate you taking the time to write that!
Always enjoy your videos here in Western NY state.
👊👊. Another good video, Aaron. Hope all is good! Be safe.
I came across your channel as I am trying to educate myself on electrical systems for an upcoming project that requires 6MW of power. Your videos are great and easy to understand even for someone who has no background in your field.
If you could do a video on the process of getting new (or more) power to a site, that would be great. I'm trying to figure out the logistics of getting 6MW to my site and the power company is less than helpful. Same goes for the town. Your easy to understand style would be perfect.
In Connecticut they had so many problems with Chance cutouts cracking, that after one incident at 23kV burning down a Dunkin Donuts in Farmington the Governor herself ordered Eversource/NU to change all Chance cutouts in the state grid.
You should change to Hendrix visetop insulators - no more tie wires to worry about.
Good info! We have hundreds of those on the line still. when it gets really hot out they will break in half
actually still quite a lot of those cutouts around here in the US, at least in the south, they still seem to be hanging on
I like how he went ouuuuuuuut side and changed the cut-ouuuuuuut
It’s a cut-owwt, not a cut ouuuuuut....get it right
@@CGrantL lol or is it ooooooot?
@@TheKdizzle1971 lol, like oot and aboot?
I'm surprised you don't have a second battery and charger for that headlamp. I have the same one, and keep a spare charged at all times, in the charger. They last until they don't, but it does have that tricolour LED on it to let you know status of charge. VERY helpful.
There is a pole on one of my in my town that has 10 bird gards and ten barels.
Here in the states(in Oregon specifically), I see very few polymer cutouts, probably less than 1 in 5. Must be the weather conditions that cause the porcelain ones to last longer here then they do where you are. I’ve even seen a few brown glaze ones still in service!
Love ♥ From Bangladesh
your making me want to go back to college
Meanwhile .... Best profile pic/name of the week! Hah
@@Bobsdecline Haha thank you very much! Keep on living your best life!! ✌🤟🤙
Still hanging porcelain cutouts to this day lol. Stay safe man
We've been on situation like that.broken cut out.but we don'thave the tool as like you shown ,the hotsick cutter..😁
It sure does come in handy sometimes!
When I must run a generator I just run an extension cord I made for that purpose to whatever I need to power. I unplug it from the house wiring and plug it into the generator extension cord. That way there is no possibly of back feeding the line. All I would power with the generator is the refrigerator on one side of the 220 volt generator extension cord and the freezer on the other side. Also on each side of the line is a single light bulb for use at night. No way would I ever connect a generator to my house wiring.
May allahu bless you welcome to Eid I am lineman indian
In my area in Australia we also have the SWER (single wire earth return) power distribution system about 75 kilometres away from where I live in the mountains where it does snow during winter time.
That's because they only power cabins & sheds which people camp in !
NZ has SWER in rural areas too..when visiting there i stopped and looked at a mini substation were conventional went to swer service. It puzzled me at first what they were doing. I think nz was 11 kv to earth voltage
You must have good conductive earth there.
@@IceBergGeo Google the inventor's paper to see the info on the grounding and earth conductance. "Rural power supply, especially in back country areas”, in 1947. New Zealand engineer Lloyd Mandeno.
@@IceBergGeo SWER designers paper of 1947 www.delahyde.com/tauranga/pagest/Rural_Power_Supplies_Lloyd_Mandeno_1947_Address.pdf
I am actually really curious about the configuration of single phase vs three phase distribution transformers and the different three phase voltage configurations.
Awesome! There are still quite a few of those porcelain cutouts here in my city but they are being replaced at every opportunity possible.
As for the generators, so many people want that capability but always want to half ass the connections with " double male" cords to back feed into their dryer receptacle and say " I will remember to turn off the main".😆 No you won't and I am not helping you do any of that..
it's why i installed a interlock kit on my panel. can have the main or the genny not both :) it's more of a pain to use than the double male cord but it's much safer for everybody. even installed the proper rated generator inlet :) anyway stay safe and have a good time
@@patricklegault6383 Right on!
I did my place and my parents with one of those separate generator panels, a generator inlet and cord..
Was a real treat to have during the blackout of 2003 and one hell of a nice thing to have during the ice storm we had in 2013...
great video once again. Quick question if you are in an area where bonds or grounds are broken and in a wet weather environment can u see potential from the pole enough to be a hazard or even a vertical ground wire be a potential for danger? Hope this question makes sense. The part about the browning or burning on the pole is what seemed to be an indicator for you, so how could it effect the utilities below you be it telecom or CATV personnel?
I would love to be your apprentice
Still have thousands in our system..nothing worse than having one cracked, can't see it, no tracking, but have the cutout break in half when you close it in!!
I wonder how much interference that caused on the hf radio bands the whole time until it fell apart and blew the fuse. I was listening to the hf radio bands years ago the noise that several cracked insulators was causing and it made listening to hf nearly unbearable
I have a bad lightning arrester on the transformer across the street, at least I am blaming the arrester because the local am radio station is being rebroadcast from that pole on multiples of the base frequency of 1350 kHz and has a harmonic right on 5400 kHz in 60 meter ham band that is a garbled wide signal of the ESPN sports broadcast. I am thinking that there is some non linear action in the stack of MOVs that makes up the arrester. I contacted Duke Energy and reported it a few months ago, apparently not a priority
You mentioned the insulation rating of the hot stick. Does it change when you're operating in a rain storm such as in this video?
How do you determine whether or not the pole needs to be replaced due to the arcing damage?
What headlamp do you use? It seems like it’s really good
It's from Milwaukee, the hard hat version I forget the exact name. Its micro USB rechargeable and will run for about 2 hours on high, 3 hours on medium-high and 10 hours on low. I love mine and the rechargeable battery pack is field replaceable, just pop off the black base to access the battery compartment to put in a fresh one. I got mine at home depot for 60 bucks with a special for an extra free battery. I also added some padding to the light so I can wear it without my hard hat. Best headlamp I have had. I got real tired of buying 20 bucks worth of batteries a week for other kinds of lamps.
Is that normal to fuse protect a SP transformer ? Ours are hard tapped here in California where I work
Hey what kind of boots you use for climbing poles ?
Step one in Quebec... New 45' Class 4.
6 phase?
New 45' Class 2.
What are your thoughts on using drones for inspections? I live in the Midwest and they have started using drones for inspections. They have installed high definition cameras, and thermal cameras on these drones.
I think it's an excellent idea! More so for Transmission lines, and structures in hard to reach places.
We've used them a few times now!
Fiberglass service poles EXPIRE???
Just need to be retested at our maintenance center
You open the line to prevent further kaputtage, right?
What are your rules for working alone do you have a guideline that you guys go by
That's a video on its own!
You didn't have to replace the entire pole given it was arcing through the center? How much safety margin is there in the pole strength?
Also what causes the ceramic cutouts to crack? Thermal cycling, defects in manufacturing, or something else?
Had a box load of those things start fires a few years after the road had been widened and hydro upgraded the distribution with new poles and cutout with lightning arresters. This line was within a mile of the substation and these wires are thick. Line voltage is 14.4kv to ground and 25kv phase to phase. Some of those poles had burn holes through them that were a quarter of the diameter of the pole. Quick fix found the linesman through bolting cross trees to both sides of the pole as splints and rehooking it all back up again. 15 years later the cross-tree splints are still there and still going fine.
Unrelated question for any linemen or other power utility employees. Why would a utility lie about the cause of an outage? Specifically, why would a utility state that the cause of two broken poles was a motor vehicle collision when that wasn’t the case? People who live in the area said there was no collision and the incident Twitter feed for our fire department (lists every call they respond to via their Computer Aided Dispatch system) doesn’t list a collision anywhere near the area on that day.
Hard to answer this question without specifics. It's possible that a vehicle accidentay have occurred several days before, and nobody reported it. The damage may not have knocked the power out initially, while presenting a dangerous enough situation that once discovered, immediate repairs were required.
Sometimes we arrive on a scene and the customer indicates that things were "that way" for a while now. For liability reasons, once discovered or reported, immediate actions are often required.
Just an example of one possible scenario
@@Bobsdecline Thanks for the quick reply, Aaron. Really appreciate it. Your reply makes sense. I guess there could have been an unreported vehicle accident that weakened the two poles and caused them to finally break under the weight of 5 transformers (two on one pole and three on the other). It just seems a bit suspicious as our utility is well known for deferring maintenance, leading to frequent outages.
Kudos to the actual lines crews, though. Could not have been an easy job to replace the two poles, the five transformers, and get all the lines moved over. Plus having to coordinate with the phone and cable companies to get their lines moved over and the traffic signal contractor to get the traffic signals back online. I might not have good things to say about the management at my local power utility, but the “crews on the ground” are top notch.
nguy hiểm
be careful out there! always hate seeing guys working around HV! scares me! the wires seem so close together... 7.2KV is not friendly when touched.
You ever short the lead and hear a customer's generator bog down and blow?
If their generator gets blown for not connecting it properly, it's their own fault 😆☇
It's why I ask. I think I'd have a chuckle at both their stupidity and how close I may have just come to death
You mention the old cutouts. What are they being replaced with?
Most cutouts installed now are polymer. Plastic cut outs and insulators were a thing years ago, but the sun did a number on them... The plastic would break down and fail. Porcelain was the answer!... Only to find out, it would eventually crack from heat/cold stress and vibration. The newer polymer insulators are supposed to be u.v. resistant, but ultimately everything has a lifespan
@@Bobsdecline ah got ya. Thanks for the detailed reply! After watching this video, I recognize that sparking sound. I hear it at my favorite ice cream place. They have 3 phase transformer on pole. You always hear this faint “sparking/ticking” noise from it. I will have to call that in.
Do any Canadians wear sleeves?
#582 thumbs uP
The worst sound a restoration crew can hear, a running generator.
dumb question..... each line is 7.2 kv, how do the three become 12kv? and is that standard throughout North America? thanks, the old medic!
each phase is 7.2 KV to ground/earth and it's 12 KV phase to phase on a 3 phase line and yes that is what's used in most of US/Canada
@@jadon-sc1zj thanks!
Do not assume, anything about anything or anyone, period.
I don't know how you get paid with ads, but there is a fourty some minute ad at the end of this video, I just put my phone down and took care of some chores. It's almost over, I hope you make a buck off it
Dude That was awesome
I have that same milwalkee head lamp and also needed a spare battery. Online I found buy a Rover mini light and extra battery combo so now I have 3 batteries and 2 lights. When the headlamp flashes I just pop the back off and swap out the redlithium battery and I'm good for another 3 hours. I love the headlamp but it needs a double battery option to last twice as long without changing batteries. It's easy to swap the batteries just pry the black part off the red part, your not breaking anything it's meant to be removed.
On low, I can go weeks between chargings, cuz I turn it off in between needing to and not needing to use it. I did buy the separate charger though, and it will charge a USB device with the battery or charge the battery itself.
nguy hiểm
Can you help me out with a question? I am an industrial electrician In the states. Our utility bonds their transformers. What is the benefit for them on this? We bond our first source disconnects but does that not create a parallel path between the service and our MDP?