Primary riser question

[Mike-E]

If there is a primary riser feeding to overhead, is it appropriate to hook up the switch with the feed in the bottom of the cut-out. I THOUGHT THIS WAS A NO-NO? The poles in question are all marked with "Normal Feed Undrground" signs. But if the door in the cut-out is opened for maintinance on that pole, then you have a hot door dangling around. Has anyone else seen it done like this or am I just learning something new? Thanks.

[graybeard]

We do it like that too, a lot less cluttered. Always remove the cut-out though, you can drive in a j-hook and hang it on the pole so its out of the way and doesn't fill with water or ice.

[hotwiretamer]

Reverse risers are pretty common, I would like to see the creative framing and terminating to wire your pothead to the top and your OH coming from the bottom and heading out!:D

[hotwiretamer]

So, if you have a URD feeder out of a sub, your riser wire is connected to the top of the switch?

[CHICAGO HAND.]

Normally Here If You See Fuses Open Its A Down Feed But Solid Blades Can Be And "usually" Are Up Feeds Unless Maybe A Dip Under A Highway Or Something.
I Have Seen Fuses Hung Open And Still Hot Because Of The Engineers Who Drew The Job Up Dont Know What They Are Doing.
That Is Why We Test Dead And Ground.

But If I Am Reading You Right Mike Then Yes Our Up Feeds Out Of Stations Are Fed To The Bottom Of The Cut Out.and It Is Connected To A Solid Blade On 4 And 12 Kv. 34kv Is Sometimes A Little Different Depending On When It Was Built.

[Bull Dog]

Yes we have a few like that but are getting rid of them. I had to work on one the forman didnt know it and I didnt either. I was wary of it so got out my tester and shure was hot 3pase riser with switches open. Cant assume anything. Pole was not marked but i think that one has been removed and feeds from overhead down now. We have one co around here that puts the phase wire below the neutral on vertical construction single and three phase. Guess its what you get used to working on.

[OLE' SORE KNEES]

Scary thought HUH? It is out there, had wire down in the easement,single phase J.D.'s hanging (porclein deadend) with a 8" piece of primary wire hanging in the clear with a stirrup and hot-line clamp going to switch (Barrell still in )connected to a ripple,One would automatically think overhead to URD..........I climbed up within stick distance, called for a Tag-200 (Voltage testing device) on the end of a shotgun and bingo she's hotter than a 2 for nickle cherrybomb, I eased down the pole and re-grouped , called a trouble-man familar with the area and he went across a slew where the other end of the dip was and killed it, tested from the ground with an extendo(some call it a pogo stick), went up and grounded with equio-potential bracket finished job, safety committte went out a few weeks later and put up an URD FEED sign up..............................SAD BUT TRUE, setups are everywhere, but it always pays to say "What If ?".
Take Care......Work Safe.............OLE' SORE KNEES ( Still Climbing, just not as fast as I used to be)

[Mike-E]

Thanks for getting back to me guys. The engineer came out to the job today and the construction has been changed so the riser feeding the overhead IS now in the top of the cut-out and out the bottom. We are going to start changing all of the 20 or so risers we built next week so I'm interested in how cluttered it will be and where we will run the jumpers. Plus, we are going to need to keep it hot so macking it out is going to be a chore. Oh well, job security.

[playtime]

You guys are scarin me to death!

I guess it's just "where ya work", but DAMN Man...
Primary feed, is ALWAYS on the TOP of the Switch!!!

Sorry, but THAT's MESSED up!!
There ARE "Norms" in Linework, or at least there USE to Be.... and "Primary on the TOP of a Switch" is considered one of them.

Hope you don't ever have to have Contractors come and work on your system....

I have the same feeling on this one. Top is ALWAYS the souce of feed is how I was brought up.

[Swollen Tongue]

The ideal thing is to have the top hot but if you have a alternate feed in the loop, then both top and botton are hot anyway. Something to watch out for if you ever have wire down at that pole

[Hemingray Insulators]

around here that is the only way its done, with the feed on bottom foe underground feed. around here they just always had signs with big letters that said something along the lines of "underground fed, bottom of switch may be live"

[CenterPointEX]

We had a contractor killed here in Houston many moons ago from this set up. On our Urd loops the feed would be hot all the way to the bottem of the cutout on the other end of the loop. The open terminal pole would be marked with a sign that read "open tie". A contractor installing squirrel guard went up, saw the switch was open, took off the high side, did not ground the bottem and well you can imagine what happened next. Back in the day the lightning arresters they used in the URD pots did not hold up very well in this climate. On occasion they went off like a bomb. So the open tie was used to avoid using the arrestors.

[scammy]

the feed should always be into the top of the cutout,,if not ,your leaving a booby trap for someone,it may look ugly ,but that is the way it should be,,,scammy

[CHICAGO HAND.]

our urd loops are open in the middle somewhere at the elbow not at the end doesnt make sense to loose everyone when you have a fault.
as old as some of our urd is we are on faults every day.
again our switches can be hot in any position there are no signs no notes no lights and buzzers nothing but the teaching that you test dead and ground before you touch.