Best of luck! I always like it when a comment gets pinned because it's awesome instead of because you're a hater to be put on blast. I am a low voltage sparky, but I enjoy this channel. I hope you do well, and be safe out there! 😎👍
I think it was 6th grade when I discovered the galvanized chain link fence surrounding the playground adjacent to our gymnasium, approximately 200 feet of it, was electrified. Not on purpose of course. This from the tingle I got from putting a full palm on the posts. Of course I immediately reported it to the elementary principle's office with as much gravity and sincerely as I could muster at the age of eleven. Several weeks later I realized nothing would be done about the dire and significant danger. Imparting another one of the sparse but profound and untaught lessons from school. That adults will never believe children, and that whatever the dire situation, malfeasance and idiocy will always overcome competence. So, at this point, I decided to celebrate the silliness of authority, and used a loose few feet of bottom stringer wire to spark-engrave ( with concomitant carbon flash soot outlines) the name of my favorite band on the newly constructed metal storage building adjacent the last post. Still no action. Sometime in between I managed to get the entire class to hold hands across the twenty foot gate opening to the parking lot. We all felt the tingle. Not a good Idea, but another lesson, to classmates on electricity, and to me in persuasion.
That is a lot to consider for that first job. I'm grateful for guys like you who do this work. And another hurry up and wait for the pole job with some comic bonus. More things to consider. You never know what job will be next. Please stay safe, and God bless.
Great video Erin. When I had my pole replaced a few years ago they actually had to use an extension on the auger to get it deep enough. I wasn't home when they started but got home about halfway through digging of the pole, my mom dosent know how to turn my computer off as they opened the tap clamp that suplys my hose & the one across the street.
Great video as always @Bodescline. I am curious why planning an emergency shutdown to open the school's load on their main switchgear and isolating their load from the secondary of the transformer wasn't the approach to reduce the possibility of arcing. The bayonet fuse removal seemed quite elaborate and riskier, or am I missing something?
Fantastic video, I'm not a lineman but sure do enjoy your videos. Sure makes me appreciate what you guys do when my power goes out in middle of the night. 🙂
I know nothing about electric circuits, but I find your job very interesting and it shows how much potential danger there is if something is done wrong. Although you are speaking in a language of electrical circuits, I still find the videos really interesting.
I’m not a lineman but I’ve always been fascinated by the work you do. I turned the volume up while the worker was removing the fuses on the pad mount transformer. The humming stopped once he removed the last fuse.
Hello everybody! Why don't you use concrete posts? Here in Brazil we no longer use wooden poles, as there is a risk of breakage. Thanks! Congratulations on the channel.
@11:07 "..just an old pole.." Nah, that's got 100,000 miles left in it! You should see some of the rot-sticks still in service and mostly standing here on Bay Rd. (The really 'mature' ones are all telco now, but so over-built that if one falls it snarls the road....)
i remember having a job at a factory once when i was young and the old guy (probably late twenties!) told me to pour the mix like this, not like how i'd been doing it. at the time i thought a pour's, a poor, a paw but as i got older i realised there are reasons. just watching the guy pull the fuses reminded me of that. give it a yank. [yoink!] okay, give the next one a little less of a yank. what's a little? give it a yank and i'll tell you! [yink!] nearly! 😅
i can't remember exactly myself. it was a plastic factory and i was probably too heavy-handed with the masterbatch or tipping the regrind into the hopper unevenly. anyway, i remember i got narky with the supervisor when he came over and showed me how to pour plastic pellets out of a bucket! i thought a pour is a pour is a pour and he must just have the hump and wants to make me look stupid in front of my workmates, why else would you tell a bloke he's tipping a bloody bucket wrong? well of course - i *was* stupid and my crappy mixing skills had already cost more than my week's wages in rejected parts and everyone else does it this way and never have any problems so yeah, when arron said give that fuse a yank then said oh, he yanked that one a bit too hard, i was thinking well, how hard is a yank? but then i remembered the bucket debacle and caught myself. the poor/paw/pour, yink/yank/yoink thing was just my way of getting across that they can be different sometimes! 😂 @@pesqair
Dam freight shakers always breaking at the wrong time. Always wondered what u guys r doing up there. I work on the trucks & booms on those trucks good to see what they r used for.
My grandson is going for climbing training next week to see if this is his thing. I had 40 yrs at a electric utility. I guess that gave him incentive to try line work.
Hello! Just found your channel and I am really enjoying these vids. As an electrical engineer about to begin college, this is great to see. I do have a question though, is there any risk when disconnecting one phase at a time (in this case via the fuses) to loads that are split/three-phase systems, such as motors/transformers/etc? Thanks!
Im a 3rd step apprentice moving from a big city contractor in the greater toronto area where we just build and upgrade line to a small 5 man utility in rural ontario with trouble calls and similar work to the videos i see here. These videos are awesome as i feel i have an idea of what i can expect going in with little to no trouble experience. We have a 15 amp standard here in ontario before load bust is required. Is there an actual amperage requirement before its needed out your way
Thanks for explaining the heck out of the upstream equipment, discussing methods, rationale, and potential issues. It makes it easier for my low voltage self to troubleshoot the effects of upstream issues. I've got a building right now I'm thinking is a very shaky, failing neutral, but that's a landlord or power company issue, according to the lease. I'd totally go through it, but the jobs with electricity where no electricity belongs I don't lose sleep about the landlord hiring a contractor. I get to play in enough sketchy panels as is. Good video, good info, and those protectors on your 20 kV gloves are slick... who makes them?
Those are really old cutouts Aaron, They have expulsion caps on them. Not many people know anything about them now. That’s a handy feature with that pad mount transformer with the lid Tipping’s up & back. I’ve never seen that before. Who makes that pot? That fence is in violation of our clearance on switching from that pad mount. I would take that fence apart if I could before switching out of it.
Wow? No toilet seats (claws ?) on your diggers. You atleast have a nice shake on your auger though. Our boom operator has a plumber Bob & the spotter with a plumber Bob 90 degrees off. Keep up the great videos Aaron & your crews. Especially “Smooth Johnny”.
The fence should have been built where it has two gates that swing open so you have the entire front and side to escape if needed. You should ALWAYS have an escape route ready and in mind for everything you do regardless of what you’re doing cause ya never know. Thank you for the videos.
I don't know about New Brunswick, but a fence like that isn't allowed at all here in Quebec, as there's not the 4 meters of free space in front and 1.5 meter on the sides.
Electrician/Lineman here, just wondering if you've thought to open the main service disconnect inside the school yo dump the load instead of having to pull the primary fuses on the PMT. Cheers from Vancouver Island, Canada.
8:54 Do you come back after the work is done to re-pressure the nitrogen in the tank? Do you know if your utility does dissolved gas analysis on their pad mount transformers?
Those questions are bit outside of my field of expertise... But I'll say no to the first one. We do oil samples on much of the equipment where gas is captured in the syringe and analyzed. We also have a crew that works with a degasifier, mostly at substations. I'll try and catch one of the guys that work in that field for some better answers!
@@Bobsdecline Thank you sir! I started at my local utility about a year ago as a EE at a power generation plant. Pad mount maintenance seems to lack everywhere I've worked, so curious how you all do it out there. Maybe everyone really does treat them as a 'run to failure' mode....but lead time on any transformer is insane now.
Hi Aaron, love your videos your the most professional lineman I know. I've been doing distribution work with a contractor for a few years and working on energized lines every day. But the company I'm working for doesn't have an apprenticeship program so I love watching you do your service troubleshooting calls. In theory if you had another guy on scene with you could you and the other guy have ran a mechanical for the one phase where the cut out was bad remove the leads off the cut out and changed ut out without service interruption?
I worked for a old hillbilly foreman that said on a new pole hole no old pole removed that us grunts have to put every shovel of dirt into fill. Tamp like u live hard and fast. Thought u might like a old story. One more thing if we busted a wood tamp he would put a piece of ridgid pipe over the tamp handle and tamping we would go.
i know those digger derricks all too well when i worked as a mechanic (pre rona) i had to replace a main hydraulic line in the turn table it was one made by altec and it was horrid to do as they did not leave enough room in the turn table mount to get tools in there to break the line loose and when the line blew it shorted out and busted the control solenoids all in all it was around a 20,000 usd repair job
I enjoy watching your videos but do you guys not do hot work much in Canada? In America this would be a simple 15-20 minute one man job without ever killing out the service. Rubber cover-up on adjacent phases. Use a MAC to jumper out center phase. Remove stingers from cutout. And replace. No outage, low danger.
That situation does not only come from pulling fuses, but also from any failure. I would say that if that equipment can't handle a single phase being out that some safety device be installed such that it won't operate with one phase out.
Ich finde es immer wieder amüsant wenn ich die Elektriker Videos von Euch Amerikaner anschaue. Solche Arbeiten und Infrastrukturen währen bei uns in der Schweiz undenkbar und Eidgenössischen Starkstrom Inspektorat gar nicht zugelassen 😮 Wieso verlegt ihr Amerikaner eigentlich die Elektrische Infrastruktur nicht unterirdisch?und eine saubere Drehstrom Verteilung in allen Häusern Ihr hättet viel weniger Sturmschäden und keine Trafobrände 😊 Viele Grüße ein Schweizer Elektriker 😊😊😊😊
Yeah that fence around that transformer seems like more of a risk to working on it than keeping kids out, however you don’t want kids turning crispy… tough call
Last week i had a call about a pad mount that some tweakers tried to bust into, same building had part lights. Got there and tx was good except the handle was jacked up. Noticed a phase cutout open so double checked the other tx that was on the same lateral. Doors were wide open on it, all 2ndaries going into building were gone. (500kva feeding the place) Crazy part about this one was they had unbolted one of the primary bushings and pulled it out till it flashed over lmao. B & C phase were still energized. Whoever that did it had to have gotten arc flash like a mf and covered in oil lol
Nice video. I was the electrical engineer on a school renovation and discovered the Utility company installed a 460/277v padmount that should have been 208/120 v. I avoided a big problem by catching it before it was energized. Should have had a double gate in front of that padmount, I think our Utility standard is min 15ft clear.
@bobsdecline couldnt you use mechaniql jumper and bypass the load and then cut the cutput jumper? So there would be no need for de-energizing the xfmr?
We could and often do... In this case we chose not to mess around with the wires near the cutout incase it fell apart. If the outage affected a large amount of customers we may have taken a closer look at other options but ultimately if we deem it hazardous, we'll take the safety route
@@Bobsdecline Thanks.When you get a chance would you also consider recording a video about single phasing scenarios? I talked with two different GF s about it and I am still alittle confused on when you guys choose to de-energize the whole three phases in cases where one phase goes out and you need to splice a piece of wire vs to keep the two good phase energized and only de-energize the bad phase. For both OH and UG.I was told it depends on the 3 phase loads and if they think there is a. chance for backfeeding or not.Thanks
You can buy 3 phase transformers that have internal ganged switches that allow you to drop secondary load or isolate H1 or H2. Can reduce the need to pull live elbows or single phase customers.
Love your videos bud! I'm an apprentice undergound lineman in eastern canada, wondering if you got cutouts with the lever to blow the fuse where you're at. When we go help linemen on big storms, we open cutouts with load with a lever that'll blow the fuse, we can't use load busters on cutouts here. Keep up the vids bud!
@@Bobsdecline interesting that you guys don't carry em, wonder why. Ya we rarely open cutouts with load here, unless its rly minimal, we just blow the fuse and replace it! Costly but I think the reasoning behind it in my company is that the load buster is abit too bulky for a cutout, like in your video, as soon as they're a little worn out, they break so they rather change fuses more often then cutouts. Keep up the vids man!
had a situation locally where they were changing a series of poles (due to age) and the new poles are taller, so required a little added wire at the end of the run. The job seemed to take forever because of the narrow one-way street, and coordination between power, telco, and cable. Obviously, they had done the "call before you dig" routine, but as I watched them use the auger, I saw a hunk of sewer pipe come up (green schedule 80 with O-rings) and my first thought was oh shit there's gonna be a mess. I guess those guys can be wrong when it comes to locating pipes! BTW, no mess because it was a lateral and the rental house had been empty for a few weeks.
I only saw the first few words in the notification... Thought, I wonder where he's going with this comment. Then I opened it and was not disappointed! 🤣🤣🤣 Infact, it completely caught me off guard! 🤣🤣👊
I would like to know how you work with procedures, safety, tools and equipment. And when there are storms, how do you manage to serve customers as quickly as possible? Which company do you service?
When I left the I.S Army in 1975 I thought about becoming a lineman but after taking to some people at KCP&L I decided that I had already had enough excitement for one life. Great videos, take care and stay safe.
How long do those wooden poles last put directly into the ground like that? Where I'm from, they put a short concrete pillar into the ground first and then attach the wooden pole to the side of the pillar above ground. Like this the poles last ages without rotting, usually far outliving the concrete pillars that get damaged by freezing water.
@@jovetj got poles on my street that are well over 60 years old. Probably have a couple that are near 100, but they are abandoned at this point. (out of service due to a new feed)
In my 'town', busted/rotted poles are all over: splinted, roped, propped up etc. Overhead wiring of all sort looks a mess. Rinky dink looking, all of it. Don't know how they get away with it. Lots of outages, especially accompany weather events. EDIT: Lots of listing/leaning poles as well... work appears to be all 'reactive'.
Many years ago while on a pole setting crew we were also setting anchors on corner poles. For some reason the crew chief wanted to set all the poles first, about 6 or 7 of them, then go back and set the anchors. If I recall correctly there were 3 anchors to set, I asked the chief why set up twice, put the auger in the ground, install the Kelly bar, set the anchor, then set the pole in one set up. I had made Journeyman about 2 years before, and the chief basically had the attitude that I didn’t know shit. In actuality he was on the digger because it was a place to hide him. Well we did it his way, between setting the anchors instead of removing the kelly bar, we wound it up and stowed it like you would stow the auger. On the second anchor while stowing the Kelly bar, the auger lock sheared the stow cable and the Kelly bar free fell back to the black top almost hitting the other Journeyman. I screamed at the crew chief, called him a dumb f*ck and he would no longer speak to me. Your advice about never standing under the auger while in the process of stowing is spot on. Stay safe!
During a normal change out we would. Not worth the risk where the cutout body is suspected as cracked also the outage is only impacting a school and it's after school hours
Hey Aaron, we’ve talked before but I forgot to ask… why do you guys never use a dirt bag when backfilling holes? You’d think NB power would give those to you for a more safe/ less strenuous job on your backs.
In the USA NEC has clearance requirements based on voltage present. The guys I have worked with would have flagged this transformer and made the fence owner fix it. Safety first. Arc flash is no joke!
I know nothing of lineman work. How insulated are those trucks you use? I saw the wire touch it and wondered what would happen if those wires were exposed.
O man... Setting poles like that brings back memories.. Used to work for a small contractor 2002-2013 and did a TON of temporary power poles on new construction sites EXACTLY like this, primarily in the same area and same builder. 35' poles, shovel depth in the ground, #2 triplex, only where I live it's all clay... Also we always used a heavy duty rack with a "217" spool insulator and the same wedge grips to support the triplex.. It was fun and it sure as hell made me appreciate the crews that build and maintain the electrical transmission and distribution systems in all weather conditions..
the geology in this part of the world gives us boulders sat in heavy clay. You quite often see some of them looking decorative on the median strip after someone’s had to dig them out. I imagine plenty of poles required a couple or more attempts with the auger in different spots
You couldn't ground rod in the center and pull the old butt out and place it it in the same hole? But trust me locate people suck and I do appreciate your videos!
I have seen poles being set in my area. Sometimes, not always, but once every so often, they just leave the other pole there. 🤔 Why put in a new pole, but not take the other one away? Or cut it down flush with the grade? 🤷♀️🤔 Edit: Hello from Ohio, USA 🙂🤝
Got quite a bit of that here in Ct, and I blame subcontractors who only got hired to put in a new pole... not remove anything. Of course, now we also have the issue of power, tel-co, and cable, each sending separate crews to transfer wires, and then yet another crew to remove the old pole at a later date..... sometimes 10 years later.
Our local co-op needs to seriously retrain some of their guys. Why? Read all the way to the end. I stay in an RV park. The owner of the park used to build and repair substation transformers. The co-op recently decided to upgrsde the meters to smart meters. The park is fed with a 50kva padmount at 19kv single phase primary, with a CT meter. To safely change the meter, you have to deenergize the padmount. The owner and I showed up after the coop guy had already pulled the bayonet fuse. He finished, then grabbed the fuse BARE HANDED and slammed it in. The owner and I were watching this and I whispered to him "Is he f*****g insane? He just slammed that fuse live with his bare hands!" He asked what we were talking about, and I told him what he did wrong. His response? "That fuse is on the 120v side, it's safe." 😮 Both the owner and I explained how so wrong he was, and why. He claimed his boss told him it was on the low side. I told him that he and his boss are going to die soon if they really think that. (Yes I am a total ass when it comes to stupid people doing deadly things ) Hopefully the message got through his thick head before he seriously gets hurt or worse.
@@jovetj Some pole mount transformers had circuit breakers on the secondary side, and some secondary circuits are provided with "network protectors", which is a kind of fuse. Do a search for those protectors for a better explanation. But in the case I cited above, his logic and training are still flawed. One, since it is a 120/240v secondary, TWO fuses would be needed. But most importantly, the bayonet fuse is to protect the PRIMARY windings of the transformer, and is a means of disconnecting the transformer for maintenance. He was very lucky that it didn't arc or blow handling it barehanded. Or worse, since he'd set it directly on top of the (dirty) transformer, it could have tracked voltage and got him that way.
@@jovetj The pole mounts with breakers were usually the "CSP" (Completely Self Protected") kind, where the primary fuse was inside the tank in oil, and the breaker was a knob/lever that could be reset with a hotstick. They were expensive, and if the fuse inside blew, it usually required a complete oil change to allow it to be safely re-energized. They can be spotted in the field as not having an external fuse cutout, and the lever with an eye hole for the hotstick. Most companies never used them, and most that are still out there get replaced with a conventional transformer and cutout.
Yikes! Good on ya for warning him. He must have mistaken the fact that it shuts off power to the low side, but the fuse it's absolutely on the high side. 😟
Great video brother. Not sure if it’s your companies rules but why couldn’t two guy just go up on the take off pole install a jumper and bypass the cutout and clear the taps and replace the cutout and remove the jumper?? Instead of all this craziness in the padmount and taking an outage? Seems allot easier to me. Again not sure if your company policies are different.
Another viewer asked the same question... Often times, we do. Not so much if the integrity of the switch is comprised tho. During maintenance replacement, we'd have done it hot not problem. If it was on a main line, we may have jumpered it out but with an up close inspection first. With the only customer being a school (after school hours) we decided it was the safest method to use.
You're the reason I'm headed to lineman school. Starting Jan 8th. thank you.
Best of luck! I always like it when a comment gets pinned because it's awesome instead of because you're a hater to be put on blast. I am a low voltage sparky, but I enjoy this channel. I hope you do well, and be safe out there! 😎👍
I think it was 6th grade when I discovered the galvanized chain link fence surrounding the playground adjacent to our gymnasium, approximately 200 feet of it, was electrified. Not on purpose of course. This from the tingle I got from putting a full palm on the posts. Of course I immediately reported it to the elementary principle's office with as much gravity and sincerely as I could muster at the age of eleven. Several weeks later I realized nothing would be done about the dire and significant danger. Imparting another one of the sparse but profound and untaught lessons from school. That adults will never believe children, and that whatever the dire situation, malfeasance and idiocy will always overcome competence.
So, at this point, I decided to celebrate the silliness of authority, and used a loose few feet of bottom stringer wire to spark-engrave ( with concomitant carbon flash soot outlines) the name of my favorite band on the newly constructed metal storage building adjacent the last post. Still no action. Sometime in between I managed to get the entire class to hold hands across the twenty foot gate opening to the parking lot. We all felt the tingle. Not a good Idea, but another lesson, to classmates on electricity, and to me in persuasion.
Everytime I enjoy your videos, I have immense respect for you and your profession.
👊🤝
wow that is one hell of a career you got..... The true heroes when we have storms and no power.... Thanks guys
Thanks!
😮 Dang! Thanks man! Cheers 👊👊🤝
Get a coffee + sandwitch down you..! :)
Certainly will! Much appreciated 😊
Man, I love your videos. I'm a domestic electrician in the UK and really enjoy watching your stuff - very interesting and educational.
That is a lot to consider for that first job. I'm grateful for guys like you who do this work. And another hurry up and wait for the pole job with some comic bonus. More things to consider. You never know what job will be next. Please stay safe, and God bless.
Great video Erin. When I had my pole replaced a few years ago they actually had to use an extension on the auger to get it deep enough. I wasn't home when they started but got home about halfway through digging of the pole, my mom dosent know how to turn my computer off as they opened the tap clamp that suplys my hose & the one across the street.
Thanks for the videos. Nice to see what my relatives might have been doing.
Thank you for your service. God bless you
Great video as always @Bodescline. I am curious why planning an emergency shutdown to open the school's load on their main switchgear and isolating their load from the secondary of the transformer wasn't the approach to reduce the possibility of arcing. The bayonet fuse removal seemed quite elaborate and riskier, or am I missing something?
Thank you for the job you do keeping our lights on!!!!
Fantastic video, I'm not a lineman but sure do enjoy your videos. Sure makes me appreciate what you guys do when my power goes out in middle of the night. 🙂
I was in your area last week and I can't believe the growth of the area since I lived there is 1994.
I know nothing about electric circuits, but I find your job very interesting and it shows how much potential danger there is if something is done wrong. Although you are speaking in a language of electrical circuits, I still find the videos really interesting.
I’m not a lineman but I’ve always been fascinated by the work you do. I turned the volume up while the worker was removing the fuses on the pad mount transformer. The humming stopped once he removed the last fuse.
Hello everybody! Why don't you use concrete posts? Here in Brazil we no longer use wooden poles, as there is a risk of breakage.
Thanks!
Congratulations on the channel.
Thanks for another educational and informative video.
Great video. Professional work as always.
Love your vibe and videos man! Keep it up!
I didn’t want to do it but…….this stuff is a lot of fun to watch and see how other lineman do similar tasks……so I subscriber. Lol.
Lol cheers 🍻
I enjoy your videos. Good content on what you guys do. I’m a comm network tech and I love working outside.
@11:07 "..just an old pole.." Nah, that's got 100,000 miles left in it! You should see some of the rot-sticks still in service and mostly standing here on Bay Rd. (The really 'mature' ones are all telco now, but so over-built that if one falls it snarls the road....)
i remember having a job at a factory once when i was young and the old guy (probably late twenties!) told me to pour the mix like this, not like how i'd been doing it. at the time i thought a pour's, a poor, a paw but as i got older i realised there are reasons. just watching the guy pull the fuses reminded me of that. give it a yank. [yoink!] okay, give the next one a little less of a yank. what's a little? give it a yank and i'll tell you! [yink!] nearly! 😅
what?
i can't remember exactly myself. it was a plastic factory and i was probably too heavy-handed with the masterbatch or tipping the regrind into the hopper unevenly. anyway, i remember i got narky with the supervisor when he came over and showed me how to pour plastic pellets out of a bucket!
i thought a pour is a pour is a pour and he must just have the hump and wants to make me look stupid in front of my workmates, why else would you tell a bloke he's tipping a bloody bucket wrong?
well of course - i *was* stupid and my crappy mixing skills had already cost more than my week's wages in rejected parts and everyone else does it this way and never have any problems so yeah, when arron said give that fuse a yank then said oh, he yanked that one a bit too hard, i was thinking well, how hard is a yank? but then i remembered the bucket debacle and caught myself. the poor/paw/pour, yink/yank/yoink thing was just my way of getting across that they can be different sometimes! 😂 @@pesqair
Thank you
The troubleshooting processed in the beginning few minutes was very informative. Great work!
Great Content. Thanks for sharing..🌿🕊️
Dam freight shakers always breaking at the wrong time. Always wondered what u guys r doing up there. I work on the trucks & booms on those trucks good to see what they r used for.
My grandson is going for climbing training next week to see if this is his thing. I had 40 yrs at a electric utility. I guess that gave him incentive to try line work.
like the top lid on that pad mount !!
Great vid. Always prefer service work over new installs.
Sparky here, this stuff is great to watch! Cheers
Hello! Just found your channel and I am really enjoying these vids. As an electrical engineer about to begin college, this is great to see. I do have a question though, is there any risk when disconnecting one phase at a time (in this case via the fuses) to loads that are split/three-phase systems, such as motors/transformers/etc? Thanks!
Im a 3rd step apprentice moving from a big city contractor in the greater toronto area where we just build and upgrade line to a small 5 man utility in rural ontario with trouble calls and similar work to the videos i see here. These videos are awesome as i feel i have an idea of what i can expect going in with little to no trouble experience. We have a 15 amp standard here in ontario before load bust is required. Is there an actual amperage requirement before its needed out your way
That's awesome! You'll get a ton of experience doing trouble work!
Our standard is 10 AMP here before load buster is required. (@ 7200v)
Thanks for explaining the heck out of the upstream equipment, discussing methods, rationale, and potential issues. It makes it easier for my low voltage self to troubleshoot the effects of upstream issues. I've got a building right now I'm thinking is a very shaky, failing neutral, but that's a landlord or power company issue, according to the lease. I'd totally go through it, but the jobs with electricity where no electricity belongs I don't lose sleep about the landlord hiring a contractor. I get to play in enough sketchy panels as is. Good video, good info, and those protectors on your 20 kV gloves are slick... who makes them?
Good job Aaron.
Those are really old cutouts Aaron,
They have expulsion caps on them. Not many people know anything about them now.
That’s a handy feature with that pad mount transformer with the lid Tipping’s up & back. I’ve never seen that before. Who makes that pot?
That fence is in violation of our clearance on switching from that pad mount. I would take that fence apart if I could before switching out of it.
Wow? No toilet seats (claws ?) on your diggers. You atleast have a nice shake on your auger though. Our boom operator has a plumber Bob & the spotter with a plumber Bob 90 degrees off.
Keep up the great videos Aaron & your crews. Especially “Smooth Johnny”.
Long day ey? Nice work!
The fence should have been built where it has two gates that swing open so you have the entire front and side to escape if needed. You should ALWAYS have an escape route ready and in mind for everything you do regardless of what you’re doing cause ya never know. Thank you for the videos.
I don't know about New Brunswick, but a fence like that isn't allowed at all here in Quebec, as there's not the 4 meters of free space in front and 1.5 meter on the sides.
Electrician/Lineman here, just wondering if you've thought to open the main service disconnect inside the school yo dump the load instead of having to pull the primary fuses on the PMT. Cheers from Vancouver Island, Canada.
So nice job ❤❤❤❤❤
8:54 Do you come back after the work is done to re-pressure the nitrogen in the tank? Do you know if your utility does dissolved gas analysis on their pad mount transformers?
Those questions are bit outside of my field of expertise... But I'll say no to the first one. We do oil samples on much of the equipment where gas is captured in the syringe and analyzed. We also have a crew that works with a degasifier, mostly at substations. I'll try and catch one of the guys that work in that field for some better answers!
@@Bobsdecline Thank you sir! I started at my local utility about a year ago as a EE at a power generation plant. Pad mount maintenance seems to lack everywhere I've worked, so curious how you all do it out there. Maybe everyone really does treat them as a 'run to failure' mode....but lead time on any transformer is insane now.
Hi Aaron, love your videos your the most professional lineman I know. I've been doing distribution work with a contractor for a few years and working on energized lines every day. But the company I'm working for doesn't have an apprenticeship program so I love watching you do your service troubleshooting calls. In theory if you had another guy on scene with you could you and the other guy have ran a mechanical for the one phase where the cut out was bad remove the leads off the cut out and changed ut out without service interruption?
Im surprised the pothead pole didnt have the switches on them, itd free up some space on the buck pole at least. Good work boss!!
The switch was at the road, don’t need 2 switches.
looks like someone needs to get the weedwacker out lol
Hahah the maintenance guy came out and asked if he could snip it while we had it open 👐
Wow that 240v pole was old! Had an old cast insulator pin on it. Me who collects stuff like that wants that old pin lol
Respect i would not do that job.
I worked for a old hillbilly foreman that said on a new pole hole no old pole removed that us grunts have to put every shovel of dirt into fill. Tamp like u live hard and fast. Thought u might like a old story. One more thing if we busted a wood tamp he would put a piece of ridgid pipe over the tamp handle and tamping we would go.
At least when you opened up that pad mount there wasn’t a mega hornets nest built on the fuses! 😅
It's that time of year that it happens 😦
Are the fuses on the pole sometimes referred to as an "air break"?
Nice vid, but frankly surprised the pole was allowed to get into such "scrawny" condition.
How come it aint got no arrestors on the b side bushings? Just dead end caps
Dear ol’ miss dig. They don’t break the turtle 🐢 speed record coming out 😅 That would of been a whole lot easier in sun light 🤦♂️ great job
I wish I was an outside wireman sometimes. Nope. Inside commercial and industrial for 35 years. Oh well. Still good fun.
i know those digger derricks all too well when i worked as a mechanic (pre rona) i had to replace a main hydraulic line in the turn table it was one made by altec and it was horrid to do as they did not leave enough room in the turn table mount to get tools in there to break the line loose and when the line blew it shorted out and busted the control solenoids all in all it was around a 20,000 usd repair job
I have a load buster for open front pad mounts
I enjoy watching your videos but do you guys not do hot work much in Canada? In America this would be a simple 15-20 minute one man job without ever killing out the service. Rubber cover-up on adjacent phases. Use a MAC to jumper out center phase. Remove stingers from cutout. And replace. No outage, low danger.
Does 3 phase equipment of the customer or utility ever get damaged when pulling fuses one at a time?
That situation does not only come from pulling fuses, but also from any failure. I would say that if that equipment can't handle a single phase being out that some safety device be installed such that it won't operate with one phase out.
Ich finde es immer wieder amüsant wenn ich die Elektriker Videos von Euch Amerikaner anschaue. Solche Arbeiten und Infrastrukturen währen bei uns in der Schweiz undenkbar und Eidgenössischen Starkstrom Inspektorat gar nicht zugelassen 😮
Wieso verlegt ihr Amerikaner eigentlich die Elektrische Infrastruktur nicht unterirdisch?und eine saubere Drehstrom Verteilung in allen Häusern Ihr hättet viel weniger Sturmschäden und keine Trafobrände 😊
Viele Grüße ein Schweizer Elektriker 😊😊😊😊
Yeah that fence around that transformer seems like more of a risk to working on it than keeping kids out, however you don’t want kids turning crispy… tough call
Safety is most important while you are working on live high voltage lines
💯
@@Bobsdecline you got that right young man 👍😎
Last week i had a call about a pad mount that some tweakers tried to bust into, same building had part lights. Got there and tx was good except the handle was jacked up. Noticed a phase cutout open so double checked the other tx that was on the same lateral. Doors were wide open on it, all 2ndaries going into building were gone. (500kva feeding the place) Crazy part about this one was they had unbolted one of the primary bushings and pulled it out till it flashed over lmao. B & C phase were still energized. Whoever that did it had to have gotten arc flash like a mf and covered in oil lol
Nice video. I was the electrical engineer on a school renovation and discovered the Utility company installed a 460/277v padmount that should have been 208/120 v. I avoided a big problem by catching it before it was energized. Should have had a double gate in front of that padmount, I think our Utility standard is min 15ft clear.
I don't see the problem. What's wrong with twice the learning?? LOL!
@bobsdecline couldnt you use mechaniql jumper and bypass the load and then cut the cutput jumper? So there would be no need for de-energizing the xfmr?
We could and often do... In this case we chose not to mess around with the wires near the cutout incase it fell apart.
If the outage affected a large amount of customers we may have taken a closer look at other options but ultimately if we deem it hazardous, we'll take the safety route
@@Bobsdecline Thanks.When you get a chance would you also consider recording a video about single phasing scenarios? I talked with two different GF s about it and I am still alittle confused on when you guys choose to de-energize the whole three phases in cases where one phase goes out and you need to splice a piece of wire vs to keep the two good phase energized and only de-energize the bad phase. For both OH and UG.I was told it depends on the 3 phase loads and if they think there is a. chance for backfeeding or not.Thanks
You can buy 3 phase transformers that have internal ganged switches that allow you to drop secondary load or isolate H1 or H2. Can reduce the need to pull live elbows or single phase customers.
Love your videos bud! I'm an apprentice undergound lineman in eastern canada, wondering if you got cutouts with the lever to blow the fuse where you're at. When we go help linemen on big storms, we open cutouts with load with a lever that'll blow the fuse, we can't use load busters on cutouts here. Keep up the vids bud!
Thanks man! 🤝
We don't have them here, but it's definitely something I want to look into further. Do you like em?
@@Bobsdecline interesting that you guys don't carry em, wonder why. Ya we rarely open cutouts with load here, unless its rly minimal, we just blow the fuse and replace it! Costly but I think the reasoning behind it in my company is that the load buster is abit too bulky for a cutout, like in your video, as soon as they're a little worn out, they break so they rather change fuses more often then cutouts. Keep up the vids man!
had a situation locally where they were changing a series of poles (due to age) and the new poles are taller, so required a little added wire at the end of the run. The job seemed to take forever because of the narrow one-way street, and coordination between power, telco, and cable. Obviously, they had done the "call before you dig" routine, but as I watched them use the auger, I saw a hunk of sewer pipe come up (green schedule 80 with O-rings) and my first thought was oh shit there's gonna be a mess. I guess those guys can be wrong when it comes to locating pipes! BTW, no mess because it was a lateral and the rental house had been empty for a few weeks.
Glenn Campbell did for Linemen, what Top Gun did for the Navy.
Maybe on a more regional scale, Wichita, to be exact. 😂
Need to tell the guy on the auger that if he shakes it more than three times then he's just playing with it.
I only saw the first few words in the notification... Thought, I wonder where he's going with this comment. Then I opened it and was not disappointed! 🤣🤣🤣 Infact, it completely caught me off guard! 🤣🤣👊
Настоящий мужик должен уметь минимум три раза подряд встряхнуть своим шнеком!)
That’s funnn-nay sir!
I would like to know how you work with procedures, safety, tools and equipment.
And when there are storms, how do you manage to serve customers as quickly as possible?
Which company do you service?
Is that a glass insulator @ 11:30?!
Nope sadly. But it is a very old cast iron leat threaded insulator pin. Still would be a cool find for me!
Funny how we're always waiting on the com's companies. In CA or US, they all seem to not have any since of urgency.
When I left the I.S Army in 1975 I thought about becoming a lineman but after taking to some people at KCP&L I decided that I had already had enough excitement for one life.
Great videos, take care and stay safe.
They use expanding foam on new poles around here.
To place the pole instead of backfilling? When the pole needs to be removed it would be a difficult cleanup.
They use it here as well but only where there is muddy rock and dirt that I’ve seen anyway
We've gotten a few sample products and are currently trying it out in a few applications.
Shouldn't you use a ceramic insulator on that new pole for fastening the neutral conductor of the triplex?
No, the pole shouldn’t be insulated from the neutral connection
How long do those wooden poles last put directly into the ground like that? Where I'm from, they put a short concrete pillar into the ground first and then attach the wooden pole to the side of the pillar above ground. Like this the poles last ages without rotting, usually far outliving the concrete pillars that get damaged by freezing water.
Might depend on how they're treated but I'm sure there are 50-60+ year old poles around where I am.
@@jovetj got poles on my street that are well over 60 years old. Probably have a couple that are near 100, but they are abandoned at this point. (out of service due to a new feed)
⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️
In my 'town', busted/rotted poles are all over: splinted, roped, propped up etc. Overhead wiring of all sort looks a mess. Rinky dink looking, all of it. Don't know how they get away with it. Lots of outages, especially accompany weather events.
EDIT: Lots of listing/leaning poles as well... work appears to be all 'reactive'.
I’m going to take your kid to work day and I’m going to Nova Scotia power for that in cape, Breton shout out ghost to all the lineman’s across Canada
Could you have put a Mac on both sides of the cut out then remove cutout leads and install the new cutout
Many years ago while on a pole setting crew we were also setting anchors on corner poles. For some reason the crew chief wanted to set all the poles first, about 6 or 7 of them, then go back and set the anchors. If I recall correctly there were 3 anchors to set, I asked the chief why set up twice, put the auger in the ground, install the Kelly bar, set the anchor, then set the pole in one set up. I had made Journeyman about 2 years before, and the chief basically had the attitude that I didn’t know shit. In actuality he was on the digger because it was a place to hide him. Well we did it his way, between setting the anchors instead of removing the kelly bar, we wound it up and stowed it like you would stow the auger. On the second anchor while stowing the Kelly bar, the auger lock sheared the stow cable and the Kelly bar free fell back to the black top almost hitting the other Journeyman. I screamed at the crew chief, called him a dumb f*ck and he would no longer speak to me. Your advice about never standing under the auger while in the process of stowing is spot on. Stay safe!
How can I get one of those caps?
Are you ever tasked with sourcing replacement pad mounts or substations?
Линейщикам в нашей стране стоит завидовать.. Спасибо, что вы показываете, как должно быть👍
Why wouldn't you shunt (jump across) the CO, replace the CO and remove the shunt? No loss or service, no grounded cage work..
During a normal change out we would. Not worth the risk where the cutout body is suspected as cracked also the outage is only impacting a school and it's after school hours
Hey Aaron, we’ve talked before but I forgot to ask… why do you guys never use a dirt bag when backfilling holes? You’d think NB power would give those to you for a more safe/ less strenuous job on your backs.
In the USA NEC has clearance requirements based on voltage present. The guys I have worked with would have flagged this transformer and made the fence owner fix it. Safety first. Arc flash is no joke!
I know nothing of lineman work. How insulated are those trucks you use? I saw the wire touch it and wondered what would happen if those wires were exposed.
the bucket he stands in is fiberglass and so are parts of the boom.
Is it possible to just parallel in another set of temporary cutouts or is it not safe to work on the broken cutouts while energized?
O man... Setting poles like that brings back memories.. Used to work for a small contractor 2002-2013 and did a TON of temporary power poles on new construction sites EXACTLY like this, primarily in the same area and same builder. 35' poles, shovel depth in the ground, #2 triplex, only where I live it's all clay... Also we always used a heavy duty rack with a "217" spool insulator and the same wedge grips to support the triplex..
It was fun and it sure as hell made me appreciate the crews that build and maintain the electrical transmission and distribution systems in all weather conditions..
At 13:50 rocks were mentioned. Do you ever deal with bedrock? Not an issue in my area but I’ve been to Flin Flon once which is the other extreme.
Oh yeah, it sucks.
I worked in an area years ago, we had to set a bunch of poles using air compressors and rock bolt trip anchors.
the geology in this part of the world gives us boulders sat in heavy clay. You quite often see some of them looking decorative on the median strip after someone’s had to dig them out.
I imagine plenty of poles required a couple or more attempts with the auger in different spots
@@Bobsdecline next time show how it goes? Thanks for taking the time make all the vids.
@@Bobsdeclinecan u do more videos on street lights on changing them to led ?
"That pole was rotten" lol
Lol
You couldn't ground rod in the center and pull the old butt out and place it it in the same hole? But trust me locate people suck and I do appreciate your videos!
That fuse compound was certainly tight. Literally a minimum of space to use the hotstick.
in my area there's NOTHING within 5 feet of a pad transformer. There's a tag on the outside stating the same thing.
At least It forces people to stand to the side when poking it with a pole, just in case.
The Pole is rotten - and u put the same wood pole in the same hole. so why not imprignating them, so they last longer? didnt see any ^^
I have seen poles being set in my area. Sometimes, not always, but once every so often, they just leave the other pole there. 🤔
Why put in a new pole, but not take the other one away? Or cut it down flush with the grade? 🤷♀️🤔
Edit: Hello from Ohio, USA 🙂🤝
Got quite a bit of that here in Ct, and I blame subcontractors who only got hired to put in a new pole... not remove anything. Of course, now we also have the issue of power, tel-co, and cable, each sending separate crews to transfer wires, and then yet another crew to remove the old pole at a later date..... sometimes 10 years later.
What are those little cups full of white stuff under the bayonet fuses?
Ah you answered it lol thx
Our local co-op needs to seriously retrain some of their guys. Why? Read all the way to the end.
I stay in an RV park. The owner of the park used to build and repair substation transformers. The co-op recently decided to upgrsde the meters to smart meters.
The park is fed with a 50kva padmount at 19kv single phase primary, with a CT meter. To safely change the meter, you have to deenergize the padmount.
The owner and I showed up after the coop guy had already pulled the bayonet fuse. He finished, then grabbed the fuse BARE HANDED and slammed it in. The owner and I were watching this and I whispered to him "Is he f*****g insane? He just slammed that fuse live with his bare hands!"
He asked what we were talking about, and I told him what he did wrong. His response? "That fuse is on the 120v side, it's safe." 😮
Both the owner and I explained how so wrong he was, and why. He claimed his boss told him it was on the low side. I told him that he and his boss are going to die soon if they really think that. (Yes I am a total ass when it comes to stupid people doing deadly things )
Hopefully the message got through his thick head before he seriously gets hurt or worse.
Why would the low voltage side have or need a fuse of any kind? 🤦
@@jovetj Some pole mount transformers had circuit breakers on the secondary side, and some secondary circuits are provided with "network protectors", which is a kind of fuse. Do a search for those protectors for a better explanation.
But in the case I cited above, his logic and training are still flawed. One, since it is a 120/240v secondary, TWO fuses would be needed. But most importantly, the bayonet fuse is to protect the PRIMARY windings of the transformer, and is a means of disconnecting the transformer for maintenance.
He was very lucky that it didn't arc or blow handling it barehanded. Or worse, since he'd set it directly on top of the (dirty) transformer, it could have tracked voltage and got him that way.
@@mxslick50 Must be those off-brand models...
@@jovetj The pole mounts with breakers were usually the "CSP" (Completely Self Protected") kind, where the primary fuse was inside the tank in oil, and the breaker was a knob/lever that could be reset with a hotstick.
They were expensive, and if the fuse inside blew, it usually required a complete oil change to allow it to be safely re-energized. They can be spotted in the field as not having an external fuse cutout, and the lever with an eye hole for the hotstick.
Most companies never used them, and most that are still out there get replaced with a conventional transformer and cutout.
Yikes! Good on ya for warning him.
He must have mistaken the fact that it shuts off power to the low side, but the fuse it's absolutely on the high side. 😟
I noticed the stick handle touched the fence. Is that ok?
Good to see you're not evil with the fence around the pad mount transformer, some people would cut the fence down and do the work.
Great video brother. Not sure if it’s your companies rules but why couldn’t two guy just go up on the take off pole install a jumper and bypass the cutout and clear the taps and replace the cutout and remove the jumper?? Instead of all this craziness in the padmount and taking an outage? Seems allot easier to me. Again not sure if your company policies are different.
Another viewer asked the same question... Often times, we do. Not so much if the integrity of the switch is comprised tho.
During maintenance replacement, we'd have done it hot not problem. If it was on a main line, we may have jumpered it out but with an up close inspection first. With the only customer being a school (after school hours) we decided it was the safest method to use.
@@Bobsdecline makes sense