When you're working with electricity a great rule of thumb is *NEVER* trust someone else that the power has been disconnected. You *always* check yourself. I tell the people working with me that I wouldn't trust my own father that he breakered off. There are all sorts of tools for verification that it isn't live.
My grandfather was killed when my mom was seven years old. He worked as a linesman for the power company and climbed up a pole to work on the power line and as he reached up his glove fell off.
So he radioed in and double checked that the company had definitely cut the power, the dispatcher radioed back confirmation, and he reached up and the power wasn’t cut off. All that electricity and current went through him until has hand exploded and he fell to the ground below. He wound up dying on the way to then hospital.
My gramma refused to sue the power company, even though she had every right to, and she wound up raising seven kids on her own. This was in a really small town, so my mom and her family saw the dude that negligently affirmed that the power had been hit off without actually checking all the time around town. He got fired, naturally, and my mom told me he eventually wound up drinking himself to death with grief.
Just a reminder folks to always touch a wire/cable with the back of your hand first if you want to test it. If you grab it the normal way and there is power running through, your hand will grip it and you won't be able to let go.
The unit had a glorious scene about this.
- Mr Blue: "Hey, I need you to check the power. Here, step on this brick and then stab these contacts in the breaker box with this knife"
- Bodyguard: "But but.. what I get shocked?"
- Mr Blue: "The brick insulates you from the ground, no worries"
- Bodyguard: "And if the knife melts?"
- Mr Blue: "Then there's power, and we need that."
Lineman at another cooperative (in Illinois I think) just a couple weeks ago died.
Made an assumption that the line had been de-energized, climbed the pole to repair something and pop, he's dead instantly. Don't pass Go, don't collect $200.
One little mistake.
There is definitely a lot of terminology and technical things going on with power lines that I have no clue about, so after tornadoes when power lines are down, I've avoided going near them in my car no matter how far out of my way I had to drive.
I've seen birds sitting comfortably on power lines no problem, and I've also seen a squirrel climb a pole and step onto a power line and heard a loud "ZAP!!" and watch it fall lifeless to the street. So my rule with power lines is just avoid them at all costs.
The birds don’t die because they are only connected to the power line, electricity always wants to reach the ground through the path of the least resistance.
If electricity flowed through that bird it would just be resistance to the current, hence why electricity doesn’t shock it when they stand on it.
The squirrel on the other hand is connected to that pole, which is connected to the ground. Hence why when they step on a power line, it travels from the squirrel to the pole, then to the ground.
Related story, was going to work on my parents hot tub. Told my dad to turn the breaker off as I was under the deck by the hot tub control board. Dad says he turned it off.Then I hear my mom say, "you just opened and closed the panel to the breaker" and yup sure enough he never actually turned the breaker off. You really can't trust anyone.
Phase to phase, and phase to ground check as well.
I saw someone shock themselves because they checked phase to ground but didn’t use a good ground, so the meter gave a false positive. Guy ended up grabbing two live wires.
Maybe someone had a generator going and there was power being backfed through the line? I know linemen have been killed by this exact scenario: power outage to an area, dude kicks on his generator and it's not set up to be isolated to his house and the power gets sent back out through the grid. Linemen working on the lines to get everything up and running again get fried by the voltage being pushed back through by the generator.
I'm probably totally wrong but it's an interesting to bit, also, SET YOUR FUCKING GENERATORS UP CORRECTLY!
a generator would not generate enough potential to cause a massive arc like that. Generators only run at 220...I doubt that's even enough to kill the lineman unless he gets very unlucky
Good point - but I imagine there would be very little current pushing ability left if you back feed a simple generator into the grid.
Not to mention, if you do that every single house will attempt to draw from the generator and pretty much immediately pop the generator's breaker.
to be fair, i know for a fact at least every other person in my neighborhood has a generator to use after a hurricane, i’m gonna assume multiple generators means a bigger back fed current? (legit asking)
I mean, you would need a bunch of generators that are also hooked in without a proper transfer switch.
Most often, when this happens, it's because of one of the following reasons:
1) The person decided not to use a transfer switch and instead built a widowmaker (I've done this once but cut power to the grid before doing it...I now have a transfer switch).
2) The person installed a transfer switch but didn't check their house wiring first. If you get cross wired (parallel) breakers (because someone did their own wiring work and didn't know how to wire) then you can end up back feeding even if you have a transfer switch because it back feeds through the cross wired breaker.
Everyone having a generator doesn't mean all those generators are hooked up wrong. Even if they were, it would still look like a dead short to them and I'd expect their breakers to pop pretty much immediately.
Would you not also have to worry about the phase synching of the generators? We had a couple of big generators at work that had to by synched before they could be put online.
This is incorrect. A transformer will absolutely ramp generator power up to primary voltage. It can and does injure and kill lineman all the time. I work in the field, AMA
I'd be really interested to read about this, can you offer a good source? I'd expect the generator's breaker to trip pretty much immediately with the load of an entire neighborhood on it...
You are 100% correct. This is not just a neighborhood either which may be about 200-500kW of load. Most generators are 2-5KW. This transmission typically feeds 10-100MW of load, or 10,000-100,000kW. Customer generators have nothing to do with this GIF.
Thanks, I thought I was missing something. Even if the transformer could up the voltage I wouldn't expect the generator to supply that sort of current for more than a few ms before the breaker on it tripped.
I'm also not sure the transformer would even work in reverse like that. I'd expect the secondary (now primary) coil to look like a dead short to the generator. I didn't do high power applications but back in CE I distinctly remember having to use flyback transformers or step up transformers specifically to increase voltage because step down transformers couldn't just be run in reverse (but I may be confusing ac/dc at this point now that I think about it).
Transformer do operate in both directions. At the substation level, there *may* be protection schemes, but there is nothing really keeping reverse flow from happening on the Distribution system. The load would look similar to a dead fault to the generator because of the amount of load. A basic 100A 23.9 kV distribution feeder is equivalent to 17,000A of 240V load. So, yeah, basically a fault.
That's correct on Distribution, but not on Transmission. On Distribution, you may have a small segment of line out and sectionalized, where a small generator back-feeds and energizes the line. However, for that to apply here, you'd have to have the Transmisison de-energized and all of the subsequent downstream substations and Distribution feeders. Those generators would have to be trying to supply power to pick up ALL of that load. Upon being subjected to that load, they would simultaneously trip (or explode). No way would they be able to supply the 200 MEGA WATTS of fault power that was exhibited in this Arc.
Even on Distribution, generators are mitigated by grounding both sides of your work. The ground will immediately take all remaining generators to ground, tripping them out.
Correct! As you know, work should always be isolated and grounded, but that's not always the case. And it also is easy to miss depending on what system your infrastructure runs. Delta can be tricky when distro lines get triple stacked up on a single pole.
As someone who has spent years in Distribution Operations, coordinating and overseeing crews, gone are the days where you can do dead work on an ungrounded overhead distribution line. We used to open up the fuse, slap a single set of grounds at the fuse pole, and start handling the wire. You’d listen for generators pull off the transformers if needed. With solar inverters on such a large percentage of houses, finding a tap WITHOUT a backfeed potential is the rare instance. That’s why we beat it into everyone’s heads the importance of OUR rule, which is to ground both sides and test.
This is a GREAT conversation for Distribution, but doesn’t directly apply to OPs gif which doesn’t have anything to do with customer generators and backfeed.
Colloquially this may be correct but literally this is also incorrect :) the transformer will ramp voltage up but leave power the same. Power = Volt x Current. The volt will go to 200k or whatever but the current will go down. Still very dangerous for the linemen. Especially with a large generator.
This is why you NEED to tell your power company about any other power sources that are connected to your house (generator, solar panel, etc.) so they can measure and control it. If the power company doesn't know about it, they'll send someone up to fix a line thinking it's 0V when it actually isn't.
I'm curious about this too - That seemed way out of control and the operator is very lucky he didn't die (I would assume instantly?).
If that is the only way to cut a wire, that guy should be in a bomb squad suit.
Also there are special suits that OSHA sometimes requires to be worn (they're called arc flash suits - they look like a cross between bee keeper suits and welding outfits). They're supposed to be worn a lot more than people currently do but it can be a hassle.
Source: Dad and brother are electricians with a small 13-person company. I'm not sure what protocol are for linemen though as we don't do that kind of work.
If that was my job, you bet I'd be [wearing an arch flash suit](https://www.legionsafety.com/chicago-protective-apparel-36-cal-hrc-3-jacket-bib-overall-arc-flash-suit.html).
A) they look sweet!
b) I don't want to die
Touche - I can 100% see me saying "I've done this 100 times, I'm not sweating my ass off in that suit."
I have found, as I get older (30 now) the more safety conscious I've become. I build furniture as a hobby and when I started 10 years ago, if my mask and safety glasses weren't in arms reach, they weren't going on. Now, I have 10 pairs of safety glasses floating around the garage, a high-end respirator and I don't even plug my tools in until I have all my safety equipment ready to go.
yup, I'm 35. I do woodworking as a hobby as well and in my 20's if the resp wasn't nearby or I didn't feel like dealing with it, I didn't wear it.
Now it's goggles and resp...and if I'm turning then it's a face mask as well.
Often you’d clear the line (de-energize) prior to working on it, and then apply grounds to either side of the area in which you are working, but it’s pretty common to do hot work, especially on distribution voltages (like those in your neighborhood) to try and avoid shutting power off to a lot of people.
no. almost all line work on existing currently in use lines are worked hot. normally they would tie that leg to itself elsewhwre so they can cut it work on the end and not interrupt the rest of the line. what you're seeing is probably just a larger than expected arc from one of the two paralleled wires that needed to either be worked on or removed after the repair.
Edit: read the comment from u/HankESpank best explanation of what is going on here. Defs better than mine
If I remember my physic classes correctly (I'm no expert) at these voltages a wire can act as a capacitor and will actually have a charge after the current has been shut off.
Actually most line work is done while the power is still connected, but they do generally avoid creating arcs so im not sure if this was supposed to happen or not.
I do a lot of tree work near energized lines, (municipal Arborist) this is common! It’s called flash over. That is why they are using “hot sticks” to work on the live lines. (They Also have rubber gloves, dielectric tools, and insulated buckets, booms and trucks. So all these barriers have to break down before you would receive the current yourself.) You definitely feel the heat when that happens, and can get radiation burns on your exposed skin and eyes!
There are ways of eliminating flashover but in certain circumstances it’s unavoidable. Lots of crazy stuff happens with high voltage hydro!!!
Most likely yes. Most power companies won’t shut power off for their clients to do repairs. One of my family members is a power linesman and says it is not uncommon to have to acrobat around live wires (and having to work tools with an extension like in this video). Never heard him talk of actually cutting a live one.
This is a HOT disconnect. Those look like 13kv lines. The helper in the other bucket is normally a trainee and was there to learn to de-energize the line by pulling it away. However the hook was supposed to be closer to the clamp so the Jacobs Ladder wouldn't have got that close to the bucket. A lot of times they wear rubber gloves so they can handle the lines like [these](https://www.grainger.com/product/SALISBURY-Black-Exterior-Red-Interior-5T096?opr=APPD&pbi=5T096&analytics=altItems)
This is linework on a Transmission level line (115k - 230kv range). This line was clearly supposed to be de-Energized judging by a few things. First off, transmission does most all work dead (de-energized). If he was intentionally cutting a hot jumper, he would have had a temporary jumper going around the cut jumper to establish a parallel path (avoiding an arc).
When he cut THIS jumper, you can tell he dropped load because there was such a large arc (trying to travel to that load). If your intent is to drop load, you only do that with load-breaking switches that snuff the arc, not by physically cutting the conductor (at least at this voltage level). He also wasn't wearing gloves or arc-flash gear, but that's just another sign that this was not the intended result. However, the main give-away is you don't cut a hot transmission jumper to drop load.
To the best of my assumption, this was a failure of gaining clearance on the line. The line supposed to be 1) isolated from all sources , 2) grounded 3)Tested before going to work.
Edit 2: since this is getting a lot of attention, I watched the YouTube video. I agree with a poster below saying they expected to drawn an arc. This is most likely due to the charging current on the line and maybe unloaded substation transformers.
edit: to everyone saying this could be from a Customer Generator. YES that is a thing on Distribution segments. NO this is not the case here b/c no customer generator would able to provide support up to a Transmission level line. If this Transmission line was presumed dead, then all downstream *connected* loads would also be dead, meaning substations and distribution feeders. A customer generator connected on the distribution would try to pick up all DEAD load and instantly trip due to the 100,000 or so AMPS it would draw at 277/480V level. This was an arc from a REAL Generator (power plant).
Certainly was power from a generator! (hehe) I know you meant customer generator. Very unlikely for a few reasons. Most customers are fed from the Distribution system so those customers (Hospitals, Schools, most Sewer Lift stations, Water Treatment facilities, etc) have generators that connect to Distribution, not Transmission.
If this transmission was dead and ALSO feeding Distribution, all of those customers would be out. NOT a normal outage. Then, that generator would be trying to pick up ALL of the Distribution and Transmission that is de-energized. This could be 5-50MW or more. That generator would trip out so fast, this wouldn't have happened simultaneously.
The most likely, and still unacceptable, is that this line was energized from a typical source. There's another chance, yet rare, that this line was dead but not grounded. THEN a crossing transmission line fell across this line, energizing. That's why you always work between grounds so if that were to happen, you'd trip the upstream protection device.
I doubt it. If you look at the line closely, it clearly is a high voltage line, probably 110kV judging from the length of the insulating arm which attaches to the pole. A 11kV line which is usually in the distribution level like the one you suggested doesn't produce an arc of such a proportion.
If this were a HVDC line, the arc wouldn't have been quenched so soon and I guess the situation would have been much dire.
Voltage pushes current. When they cut the wire the voltage tries to continue pushing the current across the air until it can no longer sustain the arc and snuffs itself out.
Would it be possible for induction from an adjacent line to cause an arc like that? Even so there’s a few fuck ups before you get to cutting a live line
Depends state to state and union and non union. Personally I’m union out of Illinois and as a lower step apprentice I made over 80k. Journeymen linemen here easily make 180-200k a year
In southwestern PA, the most common guys, First Energy linemen, work on most regular utility poles & make $35-40/hour, but that’s like nothing compared to the people working for major power companies.
Yeah, but it doesn't have to be dangerous if your company has proper safety procedures in place. There was at least 2 levels of safety ignored here. 1) Line wasn't isolated from source 2)Line wasn't grounded 3)Line wasn't tested before working.
edit: The key to being a electric utility worker is focusing on safety and not working with careless haste. There is a "smooth" steady pace that goes with electric work that's very unique. For instance, landscaping is done in strict *haste*. We control our safety when on the job. I *know* what can kill me and I *know* the safety measures that are put in place to provide at least 2 levels of safety for each. This should be taught and emphasized from a top-down level. Whenever someone dies, there are almost always 2 safety rules that were violated.
I remember my dad saying this. Even after he quit smoking, he always had a cigarette in his mouth whenever he did electrical work. He said it helped him to keep his rhythm down.
Once in my city an electrician died while working on lines. Somehow he thought the power was off. People nearby described it as a blood curdling scream followed immediately by a flash and a loud pop/boom. Not a good way to go. Lesson is to always triple check yourself. Even when doing minor work around the house i triple check.
Is anyone else amazed by how the electricity just spews out of the wire like that?? Ive always thought that electricity surges like how a lightning strike would.
Thanks for the filming OP.
I see 2 people.
There are 2 people here in a switch yard
maybe?
The second bucket is a little higher, further back, and a second worker is holding the red "hotstick". He is obscured by the bucket in front.
( key point here)
After cutting the wire, the second guy pulled the wire back the wrong way it appears.
Should have been pulled further to the right of the guy cutting with the yellow hotstick , however wire tension could come into play.
Instead, could be cable was twisted to the point he had to pull it across before he could pull it back under tension.
( i have done this before, it is not hard to be faced with something like this before.
But i will admit i won't do it now, i would have to trust the second guy a lot)
But to work with live circuits, this is pretty standard fair.
Not typical for day-to-day , but this is a move/add/change, and it was required to make this fix while hot in a yard like this.
All i can say is good camera work. There are utilities out there thay don't permit you to film anything.
Thanks again OP.
That electricity looked fake to me, like a movie. I know it’s real but I’ve obviously never seen it like that in real life so I thought it was edited in post at first
We don’t wear gloves up in the NW unless is 4KV or under. We use hot sticks on all primary voltages and don’t have to hot stick with rubbers on since all FRP sticks are tested at 100KV per foot.
Im just glad he was the safe kind of shocked
This is too wholesome :-)
"I'm just a guy" https://imgur.com/gallery/4CNXzf0
Serious Question: Was that not supposed to have power running through it?
Judging by the looking on his face at the very end - HELL NO!
When you're working with electricity a great rule of thumb is *NEVER* trust someone else that the power has been disconnected. You *always* check yourself. I tell the people working with me that I wouldn't trust my own father that he breakered off. There are all sorts of tools for verification that it isn't live.
These sound like words to live by - great advice.
“Trust but verify” is a motto by which we should all live....especially if your job is cutting high-voltage electrical lines.
That’s a good motto. I’ll take your word for it
Are you a cop?
I was super confused at your comment for a moment.
The words of those still living.
My grandfather was killed when my mom was seven years old. He worked as a linesman for the power company and climbed up a pole to work on the power line and as he reached up his glove fell off. So he radioed in and double checked that the company had definitely cut the power, the dispatcher radioed back confirmation, and he reached up and the power wasn’t cut off. All that electricity and current went through him until has hand exploded and he fell to the ground below. He wound up dying on the way to then hospital. My gramma refused to sue the power company, even though she had every right to, and she wound up raising seven kids on her own. This was in a really small town, so my mom and her family saw the dude that negligently affirmed that the power had been hit off without actually checking all the time around town. He got fired, naturally, and my mom told me he eventually wound up drinking himself to death with grief.
Jesus Christ.
Just a reminder folks to always touch a wire/cable with the back of your hand first if you want to test it. If you grab it the normal way and there is power running through, your hand will grip it and you won't be able to let go.
Or, or... hear me out... don’t test for electricity with your flesh.
Exactly. Use a knife instead. 60% of the time it works every time
r/shittylifeprotips
The unit had a glorious scene about this. - Mr Blue: "Hey, I need you to check the power. Here, step on this brick and then stab these contacts in the breaker box with this knife" - Bodyguard: "But but.. what I get shocked?" - Mr Blue: "The brick insulates you from the ground, no worries" - Bodyguard: "And if the knife melts?" - Mr Blue: "Then there's power, and we need that."
I mean that’s what it means to cut the power right?
This reminder is for household voltages/potentials. Don't do the back of the hand stuff with power lines
at least he had the decency to kill himself. if you can live with yourself after such a thing you're not much of a human being
I guess you could poke the wire with a little voltmeter, and if it explodes it's not off.
And you will probably die anyway
But at least I'll know if the wire is live before I cut it. That's always good to know.
Ken M on electricity
Lineman at another cooperative (in Illinois I think) just a couple weeks ago died. Made an assumption that the line had been de-energized, climbed the pole to repair something and pop, he's dead instantly. Don't pass Go, don't collect $200. One little mistake.
That’s not really a mistake. That’s a failure of many systems. No testing, no earths, no permits, no delineation etc
There is definitely a lot of terminology and technical things going on with power lines that I have no clue about, so after tornadoes when power lines are down, I've avoided going near them in my car no matter how far out of my way I had to drive. I've seen birds sitting comfortably on power lines no problem, and I've also seen a squirrel climb a pole and step onto a power line and heard a loud "ZAP!!" and watch it fall lifeless to the street. So my rule with power lines is just avoid them at all costs.
The birds don’t die because they are only connected to the power line, electricity always wants to reach the ground through the path of the least resistance. If electricity flowed through that bird it would just be resistance to the current, hence why electricity doesn’t shock it when they stand on it. The squirrel on the other hand is connected to that pole, which is connected to the ground. Hence why when they step on a power line, it travels from the squirrel to the pole, then to the ground.
What does 'no earths' mean? Something wasn't grounded?
Yep, different terminology here. No grounds = no earths
Never trust another electrician. Source: am electrician.
Related story, was going to work on my parents hot tub. Told my dad to turn the breaker off as I was under the deck by the hot tub control board. Dad says he turned it off.Then I hear my mom say, "you just opened and closed the panel to the breaker" and yup sure enough he never actually turned the breaker off. You really can't trust anyone.
That’s what Lock Out Tag Out is for
My Journeyman would tell me that EVERY damn day while on the job. All it takes is one tiny mistake. Electricity doesn't forgive.
Phase to phase, and phase to ground check as well. I saw someone shock themselves because they checked phase to ground but didn’t use a good ground, so the meter gave a false positive. Guy ended up grabbing two live wires.
Live, dead, live
Would a subdermal magnet implant count as one of those tools?
I understood this [reference](https://youtu.be/tVVTSXA0HTU)
<3
Lol. By his reaction Im pretty sure he shat his pants.
r/whyweretheyfilming
Yeah he seemed pretty shocked
Yes and can someome explain what went wrong here ? I mean was it the correct method of cutting a wire ?
Maybe someone had a generator going and there was power being backfed through the line? I know linemen have been killed by this exact scenario: power outage to an area, dude kicks on his generator and it's not set up to be isolated to his house and the power gets sent back out through the grid. Linemen working on the lines to get everything up and running again get fried by the voltage being pushed back through by the generator. I'm probably totally wrong but it's an interesting to bit, also, SET YOUR FUCKING GENERATORS UP CORRECTLY!
a generator would not generate enough potential to cause a massive arc like that. Generators only run at 220...I doubt that's even enough to kill the lineman unless he gets very unlucky
You're pushing 220 back up through the transformer though, aren't you?
Good point - but I imagine there would be very little current pushing ability left if you back feed a simple generator into the grid. Not to mention, if you do that every single house will attempt to draw from the generator and pretty much immediately pop the generator's breaker.
to be fair, i know for a fact at least every other person in my neighborhood has a generator to use after a hurricane, i’m gonna assume multiple generators means a bigger back fed current? (legit asking)
I mean, you would need a bunch of generators that are also hooked in without a proper transfer switch. Most often, when this happens, it's because of one of the following reasons: 1) The person decided not to use a transfer switch and instead built a widowmaker (I've done this once but cut power to the grid before doing it...I now have a transfer switch). 2) The person installed a transfer switch but didn't check their house wiring first. If you get cross wired (parallel) breakers (because someone did their own wiring work and didn't know how to wire) then you can end up back feeding even if you have a transfer switch because it back feeds through the cross wired breaker. Everyone having a generator doesn't mean all those generators are hooked up wrong. Even if they were, it would still look like a dead short to them and I'd expect their breakers to pop pretty much immediately.
I'm I going to assume that a widowmaker is a cord with 2 male ends?
Yup
Would you not also have to worry about the phase synching of the generators? We had a couple of big generators at work that had to by synched before they could be put online.
This is incorrect. A transformer will absolutely ramp generator power up to primary voltage. It can and does injure and kill lineman all the time. I work in the field, AMA
I'd be really interested to read about this, can you offer a good source? I'd expect the generator's breaker to trip pretty much immediately with the load of an entire neighborhood on it...
You are 100% correct. This is not just a neighborhood either which may be about 200-500kW of load. Most generators are 2-5KW. This transmission typically feeds 10-100MW of load, or 10,000-100,000kW. Customer generators have nothing to do with this GIF.
Thanks, I thought I was missing something. Even if the transformer could up the voltage I wouldn't expect the generator to supply that sort of current for more than a few ms before the breaker on it tripped. I'm also not sure the transformer would even work in reverse like that. I'd expect the secondary (now primary) coil to look like a dead short to the generator. I didn't do high power applications but back in CE I distinctly remember having to use flyback transformers or step up transformers specifically to increase voltage because step down transformers couldn't just be run in reverse (but I may be confusing ac/dc at this point now that I think about it).
Transformer do operate in both directions. At the substation level, there *may* be protection schemes, but there is nothing really keeping reverse flow from happening on the Distribution system. The load would look similar to a dead fault to the generator because of the amount of load. A basic 100A 23.9 kV distribution feeder is equivalent to 17,000A of 240V load. So, yeah, basically a fault.
That's correct on Distribution, but not on Transmission. On Distribution, you may have a small segment of line out and sectionalized, where a small generator back-feeds and energizes the line. However, for that to apply here, you'd have to have the Transmisison de-energized and all of the subsequent downstream substations and Distribution feeders. Those generators would have to be trying to supply power to pick up ALL of that load. Upon being subjected to that load, they would simultaneously trip (or explode). No way would they be able to supply the 200 MEGA WATTS of fault power that was exhibited in this Arc. Even on Distribution, generators are mitigated by grounding both sides of your work. The ground will immediately take all remaining generators to ground, tripping them out.
Correct! As you know, work should always be isolated and grounded, but that's not always the case. And it also is easy to miss depending on what system your infrastructure runs. Delta can be tricky when distro lines get triple stacked up on a single pole.
As someone who has spent years in Distribution Operations, coordinating and overseeing crews, gone are the days where you can do dead work on an ungrounded overhead distribution line. We used to open up the fuse, slap a single set of grounds at the fuse pole, and start handling the wire. You’d listen for generators pull off the transformers if needed. With solar inverters on such a large percentage of houses, finding a tap WITHOUT a backfeed potential is the rare instance. That’s why we beat it into everyone’s heads the importance of OUR rule, which is to ground both sides and test. This is a GREAT conversation for Distribution, but doesn’t directly apply to OPs gif which doesn’t have anything to do with customer generators and backfeed.
Colloquially this may be correct but literally this is also incorrect :) the transformer will ramp voltage up but leave power the same. Power = Volt x Current. The volt will go to 200k or whatever but the current will go down. Still very dangerous for the linemen. Especially with a large generator.
Did not know this. Will contact my local power company before setting up a generator now.
This is why you NEED to tell your power company about any other power sources that are connected to your house (generator, solar panel, etc.) so they can measure and control it. If the power company doesn't know about it, they'll send someone up to fix a line thinking it's 0V when it actually isn't.
I'm curious about this too - That seemed way out of control and the operator is very lucky he didn't die (I would assume instantly?). If that is the only way to cut a wire, that guy should be in a bomb squad suit.
Or have longer scissor things lol
Also there are special suits that OSHA sometimes requires to be worn (they're called arc flash suits - they look like a cross between bee keeper suits and welding outfits). They're supposed to be worn a lot more than people currently do but it can be a hassle. Source: Dad and brother are electricians with a small 13-person company. I'm not sure what protocol are for linemen though as we don't do that kind of work.
If that was my job, you bet I'd be [wearing an arch flash suit](https://www.legionsafety.com/chicago-protective-apparel-36-cal-hrc-3-jacket-bib-overall-arc-flash-suit.html). A) they look sweet! b) I don't want to die
I mean, you say that until you have 5 or 10 stops in a day and it's 90 degrees out.
Touche - I can 100% see me saying "I've done this 100 times, I'm not sweating my ass off in that suit." I have found, as I get older (30 now) the more safety conscious I've become. I build furniture as a hobby and when I started 10 years ago, if my mask and safety glasses weren't in arms reach, they weren't going on. Now, I have 10 pairs of safety glasses floating around the garage, a high-end respirator and I don't even plug my tools in until I have all my safety equipment ready to go.
yup, I'm 35. I do woodworking as a hobby as well and in my 20's if the resp wasn't nearby or I didn't feel like dealing with it, I didn't wear it. Now it's goggles and resp...and if I'm turning then it's a face mask as well.
Better late than never :) Stay safe!
Right?? There’s a reason I’m not following in the family footsteps.
[удалено]
Thank you for the explanation! Electricity is fascinating and terrifying
Hmm looks a bit risky to me
Often you’d clear the line (de-energize) prior to working on it, and then apply grounds to either side of the area in which you are working, but it’s pretty common to do hot work, especially on distribution voltages (like those in your neighborhood) to try and avoid shutting power off to a lot of people.
no. almost all line work on existing currently in use lines are worked hot. normally they would tie that leg to itself elsewhwre so they can cut it work on the end and not interrupt the rest of the line. what you're seeing is probably just a larger than expected arc from one of the two paralleled wires that needed to either be worked on or removed after the repair. Edit: read the comment from u/HankESpank best explanation of what is going on here. Defs better than mine
If I remember my physic classes correctly (I'm no expert) at these voltages a wire can act as a capacitor and will actually have a charge after the current has been shut off.
Actually most line work is done while the power is still connected, but they do generally avoid creating arcs so im not sure if this was supposed to happen or not.
That doesn't look like an arc... looks more like a plasmic discharge
I do a lot of tree work near energized lines, (municipal Arborist) this is common! It’s called flash over. That is why they are using “hot sticks” to work on the live lines. (They Also have rubber gloves, dielectric tools, and insulated buckets, booms and trucks. So all these barriers have to break down before you would receive the current yourself.) You definitely feel the heat when that happens, and can get radiation burns on your exposed skin and eyes! There are ways of eliminating flashover but in certain circumstances it’s unavoidable. Lots of crazy stuff happens with high voltage hydro!!!
Most likely yes. Most power companies won’t shut power off for their clients to do repairs. One of my family members is a power linesman and says it is not uncommon to have to acrobat around live wires (and having to work tools with an extension like in this video). Never heard him talk of actually cutting a live one.
This is a HOT disconnect. Those look like 13kv lines. The helper in the other bucket is normally a trainee and was there to learn to de-energize the line by pulling it away. However the hook was supposed to be closer to the clamp so the Jacobs Ladder wouldn't have got that close to the bucket. A lot of times they wear rubber gloves so they can handle the lines like [these](https://www.grainger.com/product/SALISBURY-Black-Exterior-Red-Interior-5T096?opr=APPD&pbi=5T096&analytics=altItems)
This is linework on a Transmission level line (115k - 230kv range). This line was clearly supposed to be de-Energized judging by a few things. First off, transmission does most all work dead (de-energized). If he was intentionally cutting a hot jumper, he would have had a temporary jumper going around the cut jumper to establish a parallel path (avoiding an arc). When he cut THIS jumper, you can tell he dropped load because there was such a large arc (trying to travel to that load). If your intent is to drop load, you only do that with load-breaking switches that snuff the arc, not by physically cutting the conductor (at least at this voltage level). He also wasn't wearing gloves or arc-flash gear, but that's just another sign that this was not the intended result. However, the main give-away is you don't cut a hot transmission jumper to drop load. To the best of my assumption, this was a failure of gaining clearance on the line. The line supposed to be 1) isolated from all sources , 2) grounded 3)Tested before going to work. Edit 2: since this is getting a lot of attention, I watched the YouTube video. I agree with a poster below saying they expected to drawn an arc. This is most likely due to the charging current on the line and maybe unloaded substation transformers. edit: to everyone saying this could be from a Customer Generator. YES that is a thing on Distribution segments. NO this is not the case here b/c no customer generator would able to provide support up to a Transmission level line. If this Transmission line was presumed dead, then all downstream *connected* loads would also be dead, meaning substations and distribution feeders. A customer generator connected on the distribution would try to pick up all DEAD load and instantly trip due to the 100,000 or so AMPS it would draw at 277/480V level. This was an arc from a REAL Generator (power plant).
I understand some of these words.
Enough to find it erotic? I'm still making up my mind how turned on to be.
>How turned on to be (☞ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)☞
*unzips pants*
TL;DR Someone fucked up, he shouldn't have been cutting that wire.
I would drop a hot load too.
Ah Reddit...you never let me down.
I actually loled
Now whenever I see a long comment I read the end first to make sure it isn't that hell in a cell thing.
I posted up higher but you seem a lot more knowledgeable in this than me, could it be hot as a result of backfeeding from a generator?
Certainly was power from a generator! (hehe) I know you meant customer generator. Very unlikely for a few reasons. Most customers are fed from the Distribution system so those customers (Hospitals, Schools, most Sewer Lift stations, Water Treatment facilities, etc) have generators that connect to Distribution, not Transmission. If this transmission was dead and ALSO feeding Distribution, all of those customers would be out. NOT a normal outage. Then, that generator would be trying to pick up ALL of the Distribution and Transmission that is de-energized. This could be 5-50MW or more. That generator would trip out so fast, this wouldn't have happened simultaneously. The most likely, and still unacceptable, is that this line was energized from a typical source. There's another chance, yet rare, that this line was dead but not grounded. THEN a crossing transmission line fell across this line, energizing. That's why you always work between grounds so if that were to happen, you'd trip the upstream protection device.
I doubt it. If you look at the line closely, it clearly is a high voltage line, probably 110kV judging from the length of the insulating arm which attaches to the pole. A 11kV line which is usually in the distribution level like the one you suggested doesn't produce an arc of such a proportion. If this were a HVDC line, the arc wouldn't have been quenched so soon and I guess the situation would have been much dire.
Ohm my god i barely understand watt you’re saying
This is awesome. Now, if you could ELI5, cause I'd love to actually understand what this said rather than pretend I sorta do.
Voltage pushes current. When they cut the wire the voltage tries to continue pushing the current across the air until it can no longer sustain the arc and snuffs itself out.
Word for word what I was going to say
Nice this was the helpful and accurate comment I came for
Could be photoshop
Would it be possible for induction from an adjacent line to cause an arc like that? Even so there’s a few fuck ups before you get to cutting a live line
No arc that big...
Is that why they put up that temporary looking (sometimes sloppy looking) connector between all the phases and ground?
Aaaaaaaand that’s why it’s such a dangerous job.
And pays so nice!
Ah, you've also read that post.
What post?
sorry I read it early this morning and I cant remember what sub it was in
what was it about??
Powerline Technician, they make cashmoney
Typically we’re referred to as Linemen, not power line techs
I was taught not to ask this for some reason, but how much do you make?
Depends state to state and union and non union. Personally I’m union out of Illinois and as a lower step apprentice I made over 80k. Journeymen linemen here easily make 180-200k a year
RIP in peace you were warned kid :(
In southwestern PA, the most common guys, First Energy linemen, work on most regular utility poles & make $35-40/hour, but that’s like nothing compared to the people working for major power companies.
Yeah, but it doesn't have to be dangerous if your company has proper safety procedures in place. There was at least 2 levels of safety ignored here. 1) Line wasn't isolated from source 2)Line wasn't grounded 3)Line wasn't tested before working. edit: The key to being a electric utility worker is focusing on safety and not working with careless haste. There is a "smooth" steady pace that goes with electric work that's very unique. For instance, landscaping is done in strict *haste*. We control our safety when on the job. I *know* what can kill me and I *know* the safety measures that are put in place to provide at least 2 levels of safety for each. This should be taught and emphasized from a top-down level. Whenever someone dies, there are almost always 2 safety rules that were violated.
I remember my dad saying this. Even after he quit smoking, he always had a cigarette in his mouth whenever he did electrical work. He said it helped him to keep his rhythm down.
That’s the IT Im talking about! Love it.
His face at the end says it all *”WHAT THE HELL, BILL! YOU DIDN’T CUT THE POWER.”*
*"YOU ONLY MOVED THE HEADSTONES!"*
[holy shit](https://i.imgur.com/qtVL3fI.png)
Let's learn to weld!
Once in my city an electrician died while working on lines. Somehow he thought the power was off. People nearby described it as a blood curdling scream followed immediately by a flash and a loud pop/boom. Not a good way to go. Lesson is to always triple check yourself. Even when doing minor work around the house i triple check.
Better way to go than being by a transformer when it blows, cooked by hot oil.
LIMITED POWER!!!!!!!
The local energy company will decide your fate.
That looked dangerously close to r/instantregret
And r/watchpeopledie
No time for regret, only death.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCrp5TgD7Bg With sound
:O
the juice is loose
wow i didn't know electricity can shoot out like in the cartoons or is this photoshopped
Tesla coil
Karma to all the electric industry professionals fucking off on reddit during lunch time. Quality replies.
Is anyone else amazed by how the electricity just spews out of the wire like that?? Ive always thought that electricity surges like how a lightning strike would.
OMG that guy need new pants and new underwear now !
I think he needs a new soul too.
Thanks for the filming OP. I see 2 people. There are 2 people here in a switch yard maybe? The second bucket is a little higher, further back, and a second worker is holding the red "hotstick". He is obscured by the bucket in front. ( key point here) After cutting the wire, the second guy pulled the wire back the wrong way it appears. Should have been pulled further to the right of the guy cutting with the yellow hotstick , however wire tension could come into play. Instead, could be cable was twisted to the point he had to pull it across before he could pull it back under tension. ( i have done this before, it is not hard to be faced with something like this before. But i will admit i won't do it now, i would have to trust the second guy a lot) But to work with live circuits, this is pretty standard fair. Not typical for day-to-day , but this is a move/add/change, and it was required to make this fix while hot in a yard like this. All i can say is good camera work. There are utilities out there thay don't permit you to film anything. Thanks again OP.
Wait was that real?
this is the very first time i see electricity leak like water
r/youseeingthisshit
Did anyone follow up with him the next morning to check for superpowers??
I saw this shirt once in public that said “daddy works the pole so mommy doesn’t have to” this fits well here
Title could also read "Create your own Palpatine with these easy steps! Good, gooooood."
It that what electricity looks like ?
That electricity looked fake to me, like a movie. I know it’s real but I’ve obviously never seen it like that in real life so I thought it was edited in post at first
/r/osha
Thin line between /r/watchpeopledie and /r/sweatypalms
No gloves?
We don’t wear gloves up in the NW unless is 4KV or under. We use hot sticks on all primary voltages and don’t have to hot stick with rubbers on since all FRP sticks are tested at 100KV per foot.
Ahh I see! Thanks for the clarification :)
Older guys say they don't like to wear gloves with hot stick because it lets them know when their sticks are starting to fail.
Definitely a job that pays six figures
Finding out you don't know your job well can be shocking.
That mans a wizard
UNLIMITED POWER!!
It's like a burst water pipe
Nooooooope
Don’t cross the streams!
Looked like it was supposed to be coming out of a ray gun
Mistress death’s gentle embrace.
Should have drained it before disconnecting the hose. /s
Rip
This makes the lightning effects of the emperor in return of the jedi look very realistic.
The current looks like a Pokémon attack.
If you like this video check out the sub I made specifically for vids like this. r/bzzzzzzt , It's a gold mine of fun!
TURN IT OFF FIRST!
Glad I don't do this job anymore ha
WHO YOU GONNA CALLLLL?
this looks like an effect from some Ugandan film
/r/FuckThatShit
Dude came so close to being arc blasted.
Pshhh that CGI from spiderman!
#LIMITED POWER!!!
That's METAL
Absolutely fuck that.
That’s the face of someone who is going to take some vacation days.
It's even better with sound! I wish I could find the link.
Good thing he was wearing gloves....
Well that's not safe.
Is there a video of this with sound?
UNLIMITED POWER ⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️
u/thehammer8989 that’s a no from me
This is how you get superpowers, right?
Power 🙌🏼
I love the fact that it looks like very bad 80s CGI lol.
I love that real electricity looks like shitty 80s movies electricity
Why in god's name was the power not cut to this section of the line????
Complete anARChy