69 Kv

[powerhotdog]

Heard some chatter around the yard today that in the south they glove 69 energized with class 4 gloves. Just wondered if this was true. Stay Safe

[lewy]

class 4 is 35 kv Y max.

[borgerslineman]

Heard some chatter around the yard today that in the south they glove 69 energized with class 4 gloves. Just wondered if this was true. Stay Safe
I HEARD ABOUT A CONTRACTOR ON XCEL PROPERTY DOING THIS.

[LINETRASH]

I have been there when it was done about 20 years ago.

I was working for a contractor in Tx.

We were ready to energize a section of 69 that had previosly been killed for maintanance. Another crew had done this utilising the substation breaker.

I was the foreman on the job and was waiting for another lineman to show up from another state with the proper sticks and a hot stick ampact tool.

Dude shows up with a holding stick and a regular ampact gun!

What to do? I called a safety man and asked a "thearetical" question. Can you glove 69? The answer was Yes, if you measure 34.5 phase to ground and have class 4 gloves and a specially prepared bucket truck.

I had a set of phasing sticks, several pair of 40 thousand gloves, and a bucket I considered pretty special, if not specially prepared......

We boomed up and measured the phase to ground voltage, yep, 34 and change.

I handled the load side and the other dude was set up to shoot the ampacts.

The first jumper was a trip! I laid it into the ampact and it came out before the other guy could shoot it, I was hanging onto it when it came out and felt the raw energy when the arc broke, actually felt in my arms and chest.

We finally got the job done, and I was very glad to get off that thing!

In hindsight it was a foolish thing to do, and risky. But back in the day, working for a contractor, I did what I was told, get it done.

Nowadays, They would have damn sure dropped the line and we would do it dead and grounded.

It can be done, but I strongly advise against it.

[BigClive]

The first jumper was a trip! I laid it into the ampact and it came out before the other guy could shoot it, I was hanging onto it when it came out and felt the raw energy when the arc broke, actually felt in my arms and chest.


I wonder if the sensation you felt was the flow of the high frequencies associated with the arc coupling through the gloves capacitively. Maybe it was a vibration in the wire caused by the current fluctuation. Maybe it was a reflex reaction on your part that caused the sensation of vibration.

Who knows.

Am I over analysing the situation again? ;)

[lewy]

anytime you are rubbergloving you always consider the phase to phase voltage, so on 35 kv that is the max for class 4 gloves . Even on a single phase line you wear the gloves based on phase to phase voltage. this applies to wye when you get around the higher voltages. anything above 35kv you either hot stick or barehand.

[dbrown20]

I have known of people gloving 69 KV illegally of course but I don't see how you got 34.5 phase to ground on 69 KV. Splain please. dbrown20

[LINETRASH]

I knew this would come back to bite me in the ass somehow.

It has something to do with Wye vs delta as far as the voltage setup.

I am not good at theory, just dumb and tough! (If you're gonna be dumb you gotta be tough!)

I will go out on a limb here and say the voltage was 34.5 phase to ground, as most wye schemes are set up, say, calling 23 kv 23 when in reality the phase to ground voltage is 13.200.

Lewy is right about the theory of phase to phase vtg dictating the glove rating. This is of course dependant upon the contact range and the ability of reaching 2 phases at once, very difficult on transmission framing.

All I am saying is that I was working on an identified 69 circuit, measured 34.5
phase to ground, and did something stupid.

It did hapen to me though, and I'm still here.

Perhaps a heavy hitter engineer type will steer us in the right direction.....

[HighPotter]

I have known of people gloving 69 KV illegally of course but I don't see how you got 34.5 phase to ground on 69 KV. Splain please. dbrown20

It's closer to 40kv. 39838 v nominal

HP

[LINETRASH]

You speak with iron in your words,

sound like a smart fella,

Do tell!

[LINETRASH]

I wonder if the sensation you felt was the flow of the high frequencies associated with the arc coupling through the gloves capacitively. Maybe it was a vibration in the wire caused by the current fluctuation. Maybe it was a reflex reaction on your part that caused the sensation of vibration.

Who knows.

Am I over analysing the situation again?


Clive, I would choose the former, I felt raw power handling the 69.

It was very similar to handling 13.2 in the rain, with everything tracking..

I hope that these are only rumers.

These guys take their life into thier hands....

[dbrown20]

69 KV divided by 1.73 = 39.884 KV. I used to work on some 57 KV. Now if you divide it by 1.73, it comes out to about 33 KV. About right to glove under your requirements. Wouldn't want to do it though.

Maybe a better way is to pick up the line with a shotgun and a couple of hotclamps. Then when you're gloving, if it comes loose it won't eat on you so bad. What size was the wire? Do you remember? dbrown20