Testing aluminium deadend bells

[Craiger1324]

Wondering if anyone out there has a way to test aluminium bells to tell if they are breaking down? My company is currently on a maintenance kick where we have 3-4 crews every day going around changing out all of the aluminium bells in the system. We are allowed to rubber glove the bells on 4800 but all bells on 13.2 need to be hot sticked. Just wondering if maybe there was a way to test them first which would possibly then allow us to glove them if they test ok? Any info is appreciated.

[Bull Dog]

The only thing to do with the AL bells and potted cutouts is change them every chance you get. No need to waist your time testing them. Take my word they are ALL junk. Into the dumpster they go.

[Lineman North Florida]

Wondering if anyone out there has a way to test aluminium bells to tell if they are breaking down? My company is currently on a maintenance kick where we have 3-4 crews every day going around changing out all of the aluminium bells in the system. We are allowed to rubber glove the bells on 4800 but all bells on 13.2 need to be hot sticked. Just wondering if maybe there was a way to test them first which would possibly then allow us to glove them if they test ok? Any info is appreciated.

There are several companies that make bell testers, the one we have used is made by Chance, never used it on distribution bells though, only strings of glass bells on transmission.

[Bull Dog]

I never seen AL bells on transmission. Distribution AL bells and potted cutouts are like a bomb with the fuse lit. Kill it or stick it is my advise. I know its easier to glove off pole but even after testing this junk I still would stick or kill. My face and hands are too important to me. If you must glove be in full fr, heavy Carharts, with face shield at least.

[Lineman North Florida]

I haven't seen any aluminum bells on transmission either, the original poster asked if there was a way to test them, I stated there were several companies that made bell testers, chance being the one we use, it test's the insulation value of each individual bell be it aluminum or galvanized metal or pot metal I do not believe it makes a difference. We have only used it on transmission bells when we are doing maintenance because they are so expensive.

[Figurehead]

If the arm/pole is burning or the phase and bells are hanging by the jumper- the bells are bad. When they are removed from a structure (always replace them) and thrown in the dumpster and break-again they're bad. If they didn't break on the first throw, throw em harder. They're junk, get rid of them. We stick them all or kill it.

[lewy]

On your lower voltages how many bells would you have connected? Up here on 8 kv they would have only used 2 bells & sometimes 1. As far a testing them on an energized line you can take a voltage test across each individual bell & if it reads 0 you know that 1 is bad, there should be difference of potential across each bell & as you get closer to the pole it should be lower obviously. We only install polymer dead ends now & I agree with Bull Dog just replace the whole thing.

[Edge]

If the arm/pole is burning or the phase and bells are hanging by the jumper- the bells are bad. When they are removed from a structure (always replace them) and thrown in the dumpster and break-again they're bad. If they didn't break on the first throw, throw em harder. They're junk, get rid of them. We stick them all or kill it.

this man said it all...

Edge

[Boomer gone soft]

If the arm/pole is burning or the phase and bells are hanging by the jumper- the bells are bad. When they are removed from a structure (always replace them) and thrown in the dumpster and break-again they're bad. If they didn't break on the first throw, throw em harder. They're junk, get rid of them. We stick them all or kill it.

Figurehead said it well.

Maybe it's just that we both live in the north-- AL bells do not stand up to frost/thaw cycles.

Up here the only test required is identifying the bell as aluminum--if that test is positve, the bell is BAD!!!:eek:

[loodvig]

N.Grid still has some aluminum bells left on their 23kv lines. On a humid day you can hear them buzzing/tracking.

[cantwait]

On our 34.5 the strings of AL bells buzz worse than a hive of white ass hornets!

[topgroove]

I've sticked out a $hitload of them. once we had the strain in a hoist with a link stick and pulled the cheese bolt we could rubber glove it, as long as we used proper coverup and maintained our clearence from the other phases. It will be intresting to see how the polymers hold up over time