the way we LIVE line pole

[bren guzzi]

Today we are live line poleing.....
We earth the digger. Get the auto reclose switched off.
The top of the pole is "SHROUDED" with four layers of plastic. But we leave it that its not touching the wires.......
OH yeah. Its 33 kva line.....
We have to be specifically athorised as a team to live line pole. Including the diggerman.
Also the digger is fitted with a special chain so it won't reach too high. And before we do anything we test the cross arm to make sure there is no cracked porcelen insulators. We test the arm isn't live...

[BigClive]

The limiting chain on the digger's a good idea. Is the pole plastic just a sheet that's wrapped round it? Do the guys wear high voltage rated gloves on the ground?

(Bet you don't have a defibrillator if something DOES go wrong.)

[bren guzzi]

The plastic are actually live line bags..... We cut the ends off so they slide ovee the top of the pole. Just the top four are left as bags... And we don't use any gloves... WE ONLY live line pole when dry..... ( No de fibs either).

[lewy]

Bren I thought you guys killed everything first? It is standard procedure to set poles live line, for us up to 44 kv. When we are setting poles live we can only use an RBD Properly grounded, we cannot use a backhoe. We also have to have pole guards as well as cover up on the conductors also with a hold off. All of our RBDs have a 3rd fiberglass stage & a rope winch. As well the guys on the ground have to wear there rubber gloves.

[Pootnaigle]

Ummmmmmmm the only differences I see is that we would use a much larger size ground wire to earth the equipment, we would use store bought pole guards, Prolly also would first place some cover on the hot phases before trying to set the pole and there is no way we would use a backhoe to set that pole.Men handling the pole would have on rubber gloves and some places make em wear sleeves also.

[kooman]

whats the deal with the tangled up mess of a ground?

[bren guzzi]

whats the deal with the tangled up mess of a ground?

That is a field equipment earth ( drain). So if anything happens and a wire fell on the digger. The line would trip... " because we've shut the D.A.R off....... Direct auto re close..... So the line if triped stays out......

[kooman]

That is a field equipment earth ( drain). So if anything happens and a wire fell on the digger. The line would trip... " because we've shut the D.A.R off....... Direct auto re close..... So the line if triped stays out......

i was talking about the fact that its all coiled and tangled up, we are taught to keep all coils out of our grounds, just curious about your methods.

[bren guzzi]

i was talking about the fact that its all coiled and tangled up, we are taught to keep all coils out of our grounds, just curious about your methods.

We keep ours straight too. This is attached prior to him tracking into position under the line. When he's under the line it will have straightend out. We pre mesure the drain to where he will be when raising the pole.....

[kooman]

ok gotcha ;)

[lewy]

That is a field equipment earth ( drain). So if anything happens and a wire fell on the digger. The line would trip... " because we've shut the D.A.R off....... Direct auto re close..... So the line if triped stays out......
You do know that the shutting the D.A.R off is for equipment protection not personnel protection, if someone is touching your digger with no gloves & the wire were to fall on it, they are in a pile of hurt.

[paul maxwell]

Hi Bren,just a wee quick question about how many bags you use on 33kv coz i thought it was 8 for 33kv & 4 for 11 kv up in hydro?or are the bags thicker now? I know they used to be 250 microns thick or are your poles thinner so the 1 bag wrapps round it's self twice?it's been a while since I put up a live line pole in sse country eh.

[bren guzzi]

Hi Bren,just a wee quick question about how many bags you use on 33kv coz i thought it was 8 for 33kv & 4 for 11 kv up in hydro?or are the bags thicker now? I know they used to be 250 microns thick or are your poles thinner so the 1 bag wrapps round it's self twice?it's been a while since I put up a live line pole in sse country eh.

4 live line bags on 33 kv. That's the S.S.E. spec. We don't touch the pole and keep well clear of the digger also . We stand it up clear of the wires. Back fill by hand ( shovel) when it's all set , then the digger releases the chain.. Also only allowed live line pole when bone dry. Really the digger does it all. We are there to plumb the pole and act as observers....

[BigClive]

But.... A lot of the deaths in America are when the pole is when something goes wrong and someone intuitively grabs it to guide it or stop it swinging out.

[bren guzzi]

But.... A lot of the deaths in America are when the pole is when something goes wrong and someone intuitively grabs it to guide it or stop it swinging out.

That's a different ball game...
I've grabbed the pole... If its dry and with four layers of insulation on 33kv it's no problem..
We ain't gonna get a tickle."... The chain is above us holding the pole and the digger is grounded.. :cool:

[lewy]

That's a different ball game...
I've grabbed the pole... If its dry and with four layers of insulation on 33kv it's no problem..
We ain't gonna get a tickle."... The chain is above us holding the pole and the digger is grounded.. :cool:

We like to use a multiple barrier system & grabbing the pole without rubber gloves has nothing to do with wether or not your digger is grounded. Again I thought you guys didn't do anything live.

[bren guzzi]

We like to use a multiple barrier system & grabbing the pole without rubber gloves has nothing to do with wether or not your digger is grounded. Again I thought you guys didn't do anything live.

We only liveline pole erect .. We won't change it out live. It will be done durring a shut down,
The reason we get the pole up prior to the shut down is to save time on the shut down.and to make sure it will dig... Lotta rock up on the hills !

[lewy]

We will also have our holes prepared ahead of time, I don't see the advantage of setting a pole live if you are going to kill the line to transfer everything as it does not take very long to set a pole dead. Another question does that digger you are using to set the pole have holding valves, as I know backhoes here do not.

[bren guzzi]

We will also have our holes prepared ahead of time, I don't see the advantage of setting a pole live if you are going to kill the line to transfer everything as it does not take very long to set a pole dead. Another question does that digger you are using to set the pole have holding valves, as I know backhoes here do not.

Why we pre erect poles live ???? It is very. Rough terrain. The ground is often rock. And the access to the line is from several different places. The digger has. To be moved by truck (low loader)..
If we hit rock it can take 2 days to dig the hole.... SO we get the new ones up prior to the ottage starting. To minimise the shut down time.....
The digger has two height restrictions . ONE . An electrical height limiter that you can set to a required height setting. And TWO we fit a chain to the boom ( between the bottom arm and the top arm .. We can ajust the chain length to a required lentgh. So we can set the Alarm at say 22 ft and the chain at 21 ft. So you should never hear the alarm..... If you do, there's somthing wrong with the chain

We are not allowed even hire a digger unless it is fitted with height restricters..

[rob8210]

Pretty cool , Bren. You guys seem to have a good system to deal with the rough country. I can understand the desire to install the poles live . We tend do the entire job live unless there is a pole that presents an extreme hazard. Same reasons, to minimize outage times. Some utilities are worse than others about it. I did work for one utility that had a no power off policy. Asa contractor you learn to adapt. I say good work to you and do your best to stay safe>

[TRAMPLINEMAN]

What Lewy is saying, is if your digger does not have holding valves and for some unknown reason developes a hydraulic leak, the boom is coming to the ground along with the pole and probably a conductor or two.

[bren guzzi]

What Lewy is saying, is if your digger does not have holding valves and for some unknown reason developes a hydraulic leak, the boom is coming to the ground along with the pole and probably a conductor or two.

Sorry .... Yeah all our diggers have what we call " check valves" ...... Two reasons for this. one as you mentioned to stop the hydraulics from realeasing and the boom falling.. Also if a hose bursts.. It stops the oil from escaping into the environment .... As I said earlier..if these ain't fitted they are not allowed on site... But we hire them in from a company that knows this... So can't remember them sending a " not up to spec" machine ...... But we do check all hired in vehicles before they are allowed on site...

[Volcom]

We will also have our holes prepared ahead of time, I don't see the advantage of setting a pole live if you are going to kill the line to transfer everything as it does not take very long to set a pole dead. Another question does that digger you are using to set the pole have holding valves, as I know backhoes here do not.
We set most of our 33 kv poles hot, especially double circuit, one side is usually on , rarely get both off, we don't use bags at all