Handling Neutrals without Rubber Gloves

[230kv_barehand]

I'd NEVER do it, I've had my tail popped way too many times and learned my lesson. Your company is asking for trouble IMHO. Like rcdallas said, wayyyyyyyyyy too many iffs.

[rob8210]

Well lets consider this for a minute . Neutrals are grounded every say 7 spans. The general public can make contact with a ground or a grounded item ( example: air brake switch handle). So is the public at risk of injury by touching the air brake handle? Or should we warn our wives and children to stay away? Seems to me the purpose of grounding a piece of equipment is to make that equipment safe. Now with neutrals the system neutral grounds are installed say every 7 spans, but the integrity of the ground rods can be an issue, but some of them must be good. Now a quick check with a voltmeter would tell you if there was something on that neutral to be concerned about. Now are you breaking a neutral connection?Or just relocating the neutral to a new pole . Obviously in utilities with the ground to ground rubber glove rule then that applies, but what about utilities that do not follow the ground to ground rubber glove rule. Do you think it is safe to handle a neutral without rubber gloves? Do you jumper neutrals when cutting them? I have worked in utilities that did not follow the ground to ground rubber glove rule and I have never heard of anyone getting hurt just by touching a neutral, if that were the case then the whole concept of equipotential grounding needs to be re- evaluted. For that matter any type of grounding. If grounding is not safe what is?????

[rcdallas]

Your doing a line extension...2 spans. You caught everything off at the deadend. You now cut straight through the primary and made it hot.

You pull up the neutral and cut it straight through, you know as well as I there is no current coming back from the newly built deadend. Got your primary's on?

Here's a fun one I learned from a well respected member on here, you have a wye-delta bank on a dead end un balanced load. The bank is hot. You can pick up that neutral in your leather gloves...no return current. Haven't tried it myself; don't think I will but it'd be fun to amp one out.

[rob8210]

It seems to me if I remember theory correctly then that should be the case , 0 amps current on the neutral

[Lineman North Florida]

I have worked the neutral in leather gloves for years, ie making service connections bonding neutral to the pole ground etc, etc. If I needed to move the neutral or any other conductor I put on my primary gloves, if I needed to cut the neutral I used my gloves and macked it out. I was told by a foreman at a big NE IOU this past year when he saw me have one of my guys take a shotgun and a ground and pick it up that way prior to sleeving the wire back together on a downed main line neutral that he didn't understand why we would do that, that that was the reason they wore gloves and sleeves all the time, point is some people believe gloves and sleeves is the answer to it all and it isn't.

[rcdallas]

Neutrals are to be treated as energized conductors. Meaning the public is at risk. A transmission line could fall across my distribution line and some relay control guy screwed up and the 345kv line is not locking out.

That has happened before. I'm sure a lot of you have seen the video where something similar happened that started from a tree trimmer.

[rcdallas]

that that was the reason they wore gloves and sleeves all the time, point is some people believe gloves and sleeves is the answer to it all and it isn't.

Thank you. That's exactly where I stand.

[TRAMPLINEMAN]

If grounding is not safe what is?????

The "BUBBLE", coming soon to a jobsite near you!

[hotwiretamer]

just because something is connected to a system neutral wire doesnt mean that it acts like a neutral, the path of least resistance, under normal conditions is still going to be on the neutral wire back to the source, not the down ground or the cable messenger. put your amp meter on the neutral and then put it on the down ground and see what it reads.

It's seeks ALL paths, not just the path of least resistance.

Dallas says it best: "where do you draw the line??"

[lewy]

We are a ground to ground utility so we have to wear our gloves when there is live conductor on the pole, but that does not mean when you are climbing past it you don not touch it with some other part of your body. I agree that you should never break a system neutral with out jumpering it first. As far as disconnecting down grounds in a city environment there will be plenty of paths to ground, but in the rural you might want to be more careful. I agree with what Lineman North Florida says, some think that nothing bad can happen when your gloves are on & that is simply not true.