Rubber goods vs. Hard cover up

[birdog37]

I would like to know if anyone out there uses hard cover up (synthetic type plastic).The guys I use to work with that's what they preferred to use.The line guard was never tested and as per safety rules all you had to do was visibly inspect it.I preferred to use line hose (guts) that were tested annually.Also they were 4 ft. long not 6 ft. long.They had some 6 ft. long ones but Trying to put 6 ft ers on the line was like trying to shove a wet noodle up a wildcats a.. .That was a saying by a another former foreman I had.Another thing about 6ft hose ya find yourself standing on the darn things in the bucket because they don't stand straight up.Any thoughts out there? To me it was a no brainer 4 ft.Even the place I work now that's all they use and hard cover up as per this company's rules are plastic is for visual only or if its going to be hanging for a while.In other words temporary work.Never could convince these knuckle heads of it thou.

[duckhunter]

Rubber has alot more applications in my opinion. But there are times that we use hard plastic for specific applications. If we need to cover a line for afew days we generally use the plastic because we think it's less affected by the sun. We get our plastic tested every couple years, depending on the condition.

[T-Man]

The outfit I worked for had a real good test shop for rubber gloves and sleeves, they even tested blankets, but the best they could do is wash and inspect the line hose(gut) I never thought there was a way to test the hose. This is why you avoided making contact with the hose on an energized line. We were always responsible to keep em clean and check their insides on the job and every 180 days send them in to get washed. Hose is easier to store on a truck compared to the hard cover, I guess it comes down to choice.

We had hose bags to carry a few hose in as they strat to get heavy in a buket, I come from a time when there were only one or two buckets in a shop so most of the time we were in hooks and they sent them up on the line.

[Lineman North Florida]

Rubber goods out of the bucket, hard plastic off of the pole because they can easily be put on with a stick.

[birdog37]

Our hose are tested every year,blankets every 6 months.Its your choice of course but I was just wondering how many other people use untested plastic cover up out of the bucket.To me its some kinda of an ancient art or a lack of knowledge in the trade.I agree Florida,hard cover up on a pole, tested rubber goods when your up in the zone.The foreman I had would not allow me to have them on the bucket truck.Had to keep the 4ft.rubber hose on the digger.When I went up I had to go take them off the digger to use and put them back.He definitely wasn't going to change my way of thinking.He once said to me why do you have to be different?I told him it's safer and I don't think he ever understood it.T-man tying the plastic on a rope probably would be easier but that's off a pole right application and the voltage we have 13.8 would still require you to use a shotgun to install them.Visual aspect of the job A?

[lewy]

All of our cover up be it hard plastic or rubber has to be tested yearly. All cover up is for brush contact only, not to rested on a screw driver or the lip of a bucket. Like was said earlier when in the bucket we use rubber & when on the pole we use hard plastic, with the exception of our class 5 which is hard plastic & has to be installed with a stick when working on our 44kv.