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Submitted By -Neutral or Phase?
In our distribution system we used to have a lot of 6.9kv delta. Which on a single phase line you had 2 phases on crossarm. These some lines have been cutover to 7.2kv wye, which one of the old phases was made the neutral. When this was done the insulater on the phase was changed out to a bigger insulator , and the neutral kept the old brown insulater to be easly identified. Everyone is taught not to trust this,but sometimes this is taken for granted. My crew had a job to change out a rotten pole outside city limits. It was in the mountains with no transformers close by. The terrain was rocky so my Forman decided to pull the old pole and set the new one in the some hole. My job was to float the neutral and hold the phase in the bucket truck. I looked up and saw a new insulator on phase, and old on the neutral. But I have taught apps not to trust this, so I decided to practice what I preach. I took a tester with me in the air, and it turned out that the neutral was the phase. That could have been ugly the pole had a slight breakover and the phase would have been 5 foot from ground where the rest of the crew was setting the pole. Always take the time to check things out don't take anything for granted. be safe always