ELECTROCUTION: how to avoid

[pdqdl]

Recently, while following the "tipping crane" thread, Hoister brought up the probability of electrocution by simply walking through the high voltage field. I had heard about shuffling or hopping away to escape electrocution, but it all seemed a bit far-fetched, so I decided to do a little research. Apparently not "far fetched" at all!

IF YOU EVER COME CLOSE TO A HIGH VOLTAGE WIRE WITH A TREE OR A VEHICLE, YOU SHOULD READ THIS PDF file!!!
Especially pages 3-7, complete with really good diagrams and pictures!


http://www.arboristsite.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=116583&stc=1&d=1259619316

(Our thanks to British Columbia for this document)

 

[Industry]

Yeah, step potential is a #####.

 

[dingeryote]

I spent many years around a 800mw generating operation, and saw some interesting stuff. With enough juice flowing, even air wont stop the flow if conditions are right.

Good link and PDF!

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

 

[Hoister]

Awesome information ... felt like I was in a Hydro-refresher..

I found it humbling to notice all the little thing's I had forgotten ..

I needed that alot ...

Thank You

 

[deevo]

Recently, while following the "tipping crane" thread, Hoister brought up the probability of electrocution by simply walking through the high voltage field. I had heard about shuffling or hopping away to escape electrocution, but it all seemed a bit far-fetched, so I decided to do a little research. Apparently not "far fetched" at all!

IF YOU EVER COME CLOSE TO A HIGH VOLTAGE WIRE WITH A TREE OR A VEHICLE, YOU SHOULD READ THIS PDF file!!!
Especially pages 3-7, complete with really good diagrams and pictures!


http://www.arboristsite.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=116583&stc=1&d=1259619316

(Our thanks to British Columbia for this document)

Thanks for that as well, a little bit better then the stuff we're trained on at the fire hall! Always a good refresher to read through that!

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Recently, while following the "tipping crane" thread, Hoister brought up the probability of electrocution by simply walking through the high voltage field. I had heard about shuffling or hopping away to escape electrocution, but it all seemed a bit far-fetched, so I decided to do a little research. Apparently not "far fetched" at all!

Nope. It's very real. Put enough jolts behind it, and electricity will do things that seem strange.

 

[lego1970]

We were never taught that but then again we often were working with less then 69kv lines. I can see how that would work so I will keep that stored in the memory bank for future reference, hoping that I never will have to use it.

 

[TreeW?rx]

Excelent Post PDQ. Anything that can make us safer is worth it.

+1

 

[pdqdl]

Just a reminder

Nothing new to old hands here, I just thought I would bump this back into everybody's minds.

Perhaps some of you never took the time to read the original post?

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Good reminder.

 

[Rftreeman]

The power company I worked for gave us all copy's of this same thing a few times over the years, that has great info in it...

 

[dukntz]

Guys, also remember in a storm with down trees and wires, anything conductive can become energized, fence, aluminum siding, gutters etc. Working for an electric utility for the last 16 years, I've seen lots of strange stuff happen. Once I responded to a wire down, police and fire standing by. When I arrived the cop came up and said,"it must be a phone line, it isn't sparking". As I approached the wire I could see it was #6 weatherproof cu primary wire. I also noticed where it had burnt into the ground. I set the truck up and with my remote cutter, I cut the down wire at the insulator. I then proceeded to hand the cop a piece of glassified earth from where the wire layed on the ground, pumping 4800 volts into the earth til the feeder locked out. I said,"I've never seen a phone line turn dirt into glass!"

 

[randyg]

Nope. It's very real. Put enough jolts behind it, and electricity will do things that seem strange.

Joule: A unit of electrical energy equal to the work done when a current of one ampere is passed through a resistance of one ohm for one second.

Volt: The value of the voltage across a conductor when a current of one ampere dissipates one watt of power in the conductor.

Jolt: An energy drink?


Really is no laughing matter, and thanks to pdqdl for the link and reminder of the potential danger we can so easily get complacent about without constant attention.

 

[046]

thanks !!!!

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Joule: A unit of electrical energy equal to the work done when a current of one ampere is passed through a resistance of one ohm for one second.

Volt: The value of the voltage across a conductor when a current of one ampere dissipates one watt of power in the conductor.

Jolt: An energy drink?

Context, Randy! Context!

In this context, a jolt is what you get when you don't take this stuff seriously!

Really is no laughing matter, and thanks to pdqdl for the link and reminder of the potential danger we can so easily get complacent about without constant attention.

:agree2:

 

[Torin]

Knowing this is a serious topic and valuable to many, I hope no one would be offended by a loosely relevant but bizarre story;http://http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9E62II80&show_article=1

MONTESANO, Wash. (AP) - Authorities believe a Washington man was killed by accidentally urinating on a downed power line after a car crash.
Grays Harbor County sheriff's Deputy Dave Pimentel (PIM'-en-tel) said Monday 50-year-old Roy Messenger was not seriously hurt after he collided with a power pole Friday and called a relative to pull his car from a ditch.

However, family members found Messenger electrocuted when they arrived.

Pimentel says Messenger apparently urinated into a roadside ditch but didn't see the live wire. The urine stream likely served as a conductor, allowing the electricity to reach his body.

Pimentel says there will be an autopsy but burn marks indicated the way the electricity traveled through Messenger's body.

 

[pdqdl]

That's kind of like a ramped up version of the "peeing on the electric fence" story.

If the guy had external burns, I'll bet that was more than a 4kv line. Mythbusters de-bunked the "peeing on the electric fence" story, and most fence chargers come in around 10-12Kv. They also have a single pulse current too, so it just isn't the same.

Nonetheless, I wouldn't pee on a 4kv line, even if you paid me to do it in rubber boots.

 

[clearance]

That's kind of like a ramped up version of the "peeing on the electric fence" story.

If the guy had external burns, I'll bet that was more than a 4kv line. Mythbusters de-bunked the "peeing on the electric fence" story, and most fence chargers come in around 10-12Kv. They also have a single pulse current too, so it just isn't the same.

Nonetheless, I wouldn't pee on a 4kv line, even if you paid me to do it in rubber boots.

What? 10-12 kv you are talking about must be jumped up with no amps. I have touched electric cattle fences, don't want to again, but. Real 10kv will kill you stone cold right now. Most single phase primaries are 12kv, three phase is usually 25kv. People have been killed, time and again with 120v. 10kv is 10 000 volts, 120v is 120 volts

 

[pdqdl]

What? 10-12 kv you are talking about must be jumped up with no amps. I have touched electric cattle fences, don't want to again, but. Real 10kv will kill you stone cold right now. Most single phase primaries are 12kv, three phase is usually 25kv. People have been killed, time and again with 120v. 10kv is 10 000 volts, 120v is 120 volts

All true. But 120 volts won't crawl up your urine stream from a grounded wire many feet away and give you external burns. I don't think a 4Kv (if you could find such a thing) would either.


And YES, your average fence charger produces up to 12,000 volts in an intermittant capacitive discharge. So does your lawn mower spark plug wire, as well as the chainsaw you are carrying. More voltage than that will leak out over the insulators and ground out. How do you think they keep critters off the fence, claiming up to 100 miles of fence energized?

http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2001/NicoleCastellano.shtml

According to the article above, chargers are limited to 10Kv. My old charger had 12,000 volts printed across the front in great big red print. So maybe you need to find an older "hotter" charger to throw 12Kv. I have seen my old fence charger throwing sparks 1 1/2" down the electrode and over to the post carrying it during rainstorms. You won't get that to happen without some very serious voltage.

 

[clearance]

4kv is quite common, in old line I believe. Fence charger voltage is not the same as primary voltage, can't be, well, maybe the voltage, but primary has amps. 4kv will kill you, 10kv from a fence will not, see what I am getting at?