Power lines

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Equi

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Had a bit of an eek moment today. I had walked down a road that i know is not a circular route, so i only have the option to turn around which is fine - on my way out a power line was a bit low but no danger of touching me and i had a "hmm wonder what you happen if it did touch you"

Anyway, on the way back on the other side of the road was probably the reason why it was low..another power line snapped in half with the wires sticking out! It had a cone at it, which i didn't take much notice of the first time, but i did kind of freeze and wonder what the hell do i do? There was no other safe way back to the yard, it was getting dark (and snow forecast hence going out early)

Eventually i decided to cross the road as far as i could possibly get away from it, and as it was higher than my horse i knew if it did swing it would only hit me not him. Rang to report it but it was already known about and the line was actually dead, but it still could have gave me a fair whip i expect.
 
If a bird or anything lands on a power line and is fried, the control room gets some sort of automated warning signal. The protocol is for a huge surge to be sent down the same line to clear any residue!

The yard I've just moved to has a lovely couple of hacks which require going under some lines near very big pylons. It's my lads first experience and he must feel the static in the air because he shakes his head as we go under them.

Glad you're safe and sound equi.
 
OrangeAndLemon said:
If a bird or anything lands on a power line and is fried, the control room gets some sort of automated warning signal. The protocol is for a huge surge to be sent down the same line to clear any residue!

The yard I've just moved to has a lovely couple of hacks which require going under some lines near very big pylons. It's my lads first experience and he must feel the static in the air because he shakes his head as we go under them.

Glad you're safe and sound equi.
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Really!!! I never knew that. Powerlines scare me at the best of times lol
 
equi said:
Really!!! I never knew that. Powerlines scare me at the best of times lol
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That's because it's not true I'm afraid. Actually it's perfectly safe for a bird to land on a power line as long as it doesn't flap its wings and earth on something. You could, if you could jump high enough, safely jump up and swing from a high voltage cable. . And my OH, a power engineer by training, says it isn't possible to send a big surge down the line and in any case there would be nothing left of the bird!
 
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ycbm said:
That's because it's not true I'm afraid. Actually it's perfectly safe for a bird to land on a power line as long as it doesn't flap is wings send earth on something. You could, if you could jump high enough, safely jump up and swing from a high voltage cable. . And my OH, a power engineer by training, says it isn't possible to send a big surge down the line and in any case there would be nothing left of the bird!
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This. I was under the impression that birds can land on them because nothing is earthing them.

Like you only get zapped by electric fencing because you're standing in the ground. If you jump and touch the fence while you are in the air, you won't get a zap.
 
For info, OH' s advice is that although it is extremely difficult and rare for a broken cable to be live, it is not absolutely impossible and should be treated with caution.
 
Well, it's what we were told in our training for advising customers if they called their energy supplier to report power cable faults (not the bird thing, only that if there is something disrupting the supply on a power line, we should be aware that it was likely a much stronger voltage would be sent through to clear any blockage)
 
OrangeAndLemon said:
Well, it's what we were told in our training for advising customers if they called their energy supplier to report power cable faults (not the bird thing, only that if there is something disrupting the supply on a power line, we should be aware that it was likely a much stronger voltage would be sent through to clear any blockage)
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You were told what?????

You cannot 'clear a blockage' on a power line by sending a power surge down, it would fry people's fridges and freezers.

Power lines are either broken, letting nothing through, or complete. They aren't pipes, you can't get 'a blockage'.

All info supplied by a man trained to work on lines up to 400,000 volts.
 
During the 1987 storm a number of horses were electrocuted near us when a power line snapped and came down in their, very wet, paddock... So yes, they can be live.
 
ycbm said:
You were told what?????

You cannot 'clear a blockage' on a power line by sending a power surge down, it would fry people's fridges and freezers.

Power lines are either broken, letting nothing through, or complete. They aren't pipes, you can't get 'a blockage'.

All info supplied by a man trained to work on lines up to 400,000 volts.
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The power lines on pylons don't go into people's houses. They go through sub stations and the voltage is varied depending on demand and managed into the three part cables, by the substation. It's these triple cables which go down streets with each house getting one of the cables of the three.

I think we're talking about different parts of the supply infrastructure (pre and post substation)
 
Ahh the internet, a wonderful place of knowledge. Fake and not fake haha

No idea if i was in any danger or not now, but thankfully we are both still alive. Although just about, as a trailer with a load of plastic bubble wrap and bale wrap went past and lost about 2% of its load every ft which then blocked and chased us up the road....but thankfully i flap plastic around my horse frequently and its not a bother to him!
 
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