power line demonstration

[Mappel2006]

Giant 13,8 Kv power line muhahahahahahahahahahahahahaha­h

[usernameABCDXYZ]

5:50 HAHAHAHA!!! lol

[cjdistheman1]

LMAO 2:40  "You better recognize"

[njsnz21]

im a lineman is this is a good "show" for the public on the dangers of our job. we exchange out gloves and sleeves every 4 months for new ones, suppose to air test and visually inspect before each use. where i work we go hands on 4,800 volts from our hooks or bucket and 14,400 from the bucket only, so if you wanna man up glove 14,400 volts in the rain and see how much it lights you up.

[soundseeker63]

Wow I never realised that wood was so conductive!!!

How do you like you're hotdogs done? That made me lol!!!

[silentknight2112]

@soundseeker63 well it isnt..... its not that the wood is conductive its just there is more power coming from the lines than there is resistance from the wood

[EnavSounds]

is that Epic beard man??????

[muscle423]

if you touch the wire will you die. and how much does an elcttrical ceramic 10kv insulator cost to buy. again is this demonstration mobile or not.

[cruo]

@muscle423 Yes, it's highly likely that you would die. I don't know about the cost of the equipment. This demonstration is not mobile; it's located at a training facility.

[justinfrnfr]

@cruo volts dont kill amps do u get struck with 1,000000 volts and still live if there are no amps

[cruo]

@justinfrnfr Where did I say volts kill?

[segarza]

@justinfrnfr and when is there voltage and no amps on power lines?  never!

[subans]

@segarza When it`s connected to ideal MOSFET like apparatus it could have voltage yet no current. In other words when power line feeds into high resistance.

[jooceanport]

@justinfrnfr true but also not necisarily its a combo of both you can get hit with 120v and get killed if conditions are right.

[muscle423]

whero iso theo electrikcity coming fromo

[cruo]

@muscle423 It's being provided from a generator and back-fed through the transformer.

[sonicxlc123]

lol hot dog trick :P

[Skipy01]

Awesome video mate. Good for the public to see what happens

[miked9372]

how do they "test" the gloves?

[osospark]

@miked9372 they test the golve by connecting them to a "megger", a high voltage ohm meter that is used to test motors, wire insulation and gloves for problems with the plastic that would allow an arc to form

[BostonUrbEx]

Lineman Rick is my hero! <3

[bjtaudio]

In the demo they used a back fed 120 to 7200V transformer, as the source. I love to know, when Lineman Rick short circuited the 7200Volt line, exactly how much current was flowing as the arcs are impressive. It appears there is a few say 3 amps of fault current flowing, gee thats a ratio 60:1....180Amps @ 120Vac being fed in..that's a lot.. Also the end of the hot-dog appeared to be not blown off, just burnt, as there is not enough grunt in there back fed transformer setup.

[noaa555]

Great demonstration !!

[sim2lew]

Wood is very conductive??? Only the water in the wood is. The wood itself is NOT conductive. Thats why utility poles are usually made from wood...

[hellsmaw84]

@sim2lew to correct you, there are either glass or ceramic insulators at the junctions. yes, wood is conductive. now i dare you tell and electrician that wood is not conductive :|

[bossoholic]

At extreme voltages, even dry wood passes some electricity (enough to kill)

[elgavilan2000]

sim2lew if that were true they would just bolt the lines directly to the wooden poles instead of using ceramic insulators. It has a higher resistance but it is conductive nonetheless.

[muscle423]

@elgavilan2000 i told my electrician that wood isnt conductive

[shakenama]

Sim2lew - I am not a lineman by no means, but it comes to reason that wood is a very good conductor of electricity - Just ask anyone who has been hit by lightning near a tree.

[sim2lew]

Hello, what is a tree full of? Water... Water with impurities is a good conductor of electricity. Also, the lightning has jumped from the sky, so it can easily get from the height of the tree to the ground...

[mrxglenn]

Not true. There are insulators on the wooden cross arms that keep the wires from touching the poles.

[soylentgreenb]

Utility poles are made from wood because it's cheap.

The conductor is nowhere close to touching the wood; it is held by an insulator surrounded by a bunch of ceramic discs.

Those ceramic discs are there to extinguish an electrical arc if it where to form between the wooden utility pole and the powerline.

[sim2lew]

@soylentgreenb The ceramic discs insulate the sections of steel between them. They are large and protrude far to prevent an arc. Once the arc forms, it's incredibly hard to extinguish without switching off the supply. The discs do NOT extinguish the arcs themselves.

[xempatiax]

3:08

[toddmaples]

dude, 3rd generation,father, grandfather, father in law is a retired master electric., bro in law is an elec. engineer w/BE&K. I don't I got to thew the uncles and cousins. I hope you never operate a bucket or climb that close to operate a closer. If you do I hope you have lots of flash protection! Bottom line: IF OSHA SEEN THEM THEY WOULD WRITE THEM UP. THEY ARE DOING THAT UNSAFE FOR HIGH VOLTAGE!!

[cobra305hp97]

LOL wrong. Notice you mentioned everything under the sun about electrical work, but no one you mentioned is a LINEMAN. How do you close a switch in a bucket boom down and grab your arc suit and wobble stick!!!

[toddmaples]

dude!!! that guy working that hot stick should have on a shield and sleeves for arc protection so close to that cutout. whats this, an instructional video of how not to go home at night?

[mmmoses86]

todd. how much experience in the field do you have? sleeves are for contact protection not flash protection. shields are more cumbersome than protective in some cases. great video, at least it's not an accident victim telling me how to be safe. these are professional lineman doing a very safe and practical safety demo. good work

[rhblakeman]

Exactly, so the worker up in the bucket or on the pole doesnt ground. The session is good and more power companies should either put out 30 min public service videos for local TV or hold open sessions like this one for the public. I have transmission lines on double poles with a 7200 local service line below it and this January we had ice with lots of equipment damaged. Some meters were off the buildings but still live and they had to work quick to disconnect those, even just being 120/240

[cobra305hp97]

Mostly contractors wear sleeves. Sleeves are for accidental contact protection.

[StanleyKu]

Great video!

[mackjsm]

Fantastic Vid!!

[jlineman2008]

they must have had a large fuse to keep from blowing with the fault that close to the fuse nice video fellow brother lineman.. travis 175 ibew chatt tn

[DtCKclan]

i dont think their are any fuses with high voltage transformers

[pmgodfrey]

- @ DtCKclan -

Yes, there are high voltage fuses - you probably won't find any like these sitting around a hardware store as they are special purpose but they are out there.

Aside from the cutoffs, fuses protect their equipment much like circuit breakers and fuses protect our equipment.

[cobra305hp97]

The TX doesn't have a fuse in it unless it is a underground TX. The stinger it self is the fuse or the stinger has a fuse before it.

[akcelticwiccan]

I wanted to see the hotdog!!!!

[rgenius2]

i thought wood was a good conductor, until now.

you just saved my life... :D

[postchevelle]

You mean insulator, right?

[rgenius2]

yup i meant insulator. thanks.

now you both saved my life... LOL

[adreamtosome]

GREAT VIDEO!!!!  VERY INFORMATIVE!!!

[Jourei91]

Kewl video. :D

[ozzirt]

A great video.

Everyone should see this, especially the part on back feeding which endangers tose who work on our power supply after an outage.

Do not connect your home genset to your home power system unless you open the main breaker first. Preferably get an isolation/changeover breaker installed you may save someone's life and you will certainly save your genset should the power be restored while you are connected.

[theMrScienceShow]

Those poles are too short, if they keep sinking in that sand then the electricity may hit ground!!! Never put power poles in quicksand.

[bassboylowg]

wow these guys deserve alot more credit for doing this kind of work

props electricman :D lol

[mrsugiyama]

dang that hotdog made me hungry

[crywolfe210]

Very cool demonstration

[278371]

Looks like an excellent demonstration to me.

[lozzyloveyou]

Agreed, i learnt a few new things. Ty

[james871]

thanks lineman rick

[n310ea]

For some reason the arcing is nowhere near as loud as the arcing on an actual grid carrying about the same voltage.

[cruo]

I'm no electrician or line worker, but I think it may be because they are back-feeding through a transformer. There may not be as much amperage.

[bigdnelyria]

@n310ea your not getting the raw current that you would get if it was connected to the power grid. the grid has 5-10 times more amperage.

[osospark]

@bigdnelyria remember that the amount of current that passes into a circuit is dependent on the resistance of the circuit. Ohms law for series would be 7200V/ 100000 ohms. I = .072A or 72mA-plenty to shock you bad. Parallel connection with a human and something else would be even more current since the total resistance is smaller than the smallest resistor.

[ratbag359]

@n310ea they are limiting the current so they don't end up with a bang

[type900]

There is too much dangerous ignorance about the subject.

I am an electrician myself (low voltage and high voltage) and I've gathered a huge respect for electricity after all the training and experience.

A months ago, a guy died when trying to pull his childs kite down from a 22kV line.

People think the same conductivity principles counts between high voltage and low voltage. I like this sort of education. And I think it should be more educational focus about the dangers of power lines.

[palpatine55]

Your very right, power lines are to be left alone. You are better off getting struck by lightning than coming into contact with a 7,200 volt line. If you get within 3 feet or so of a 7.2 kv line, it will arc out and fry you.

[cobra305hp97]

Not true. OSHA lets you be at 2 ft 2 inches without protection.

[w4rr0ckm4st3r]

"what we want is a volunteer"

HELL NO!

[zaces083]

This is baby distrib equip. Who cares about what happens under 69KV. I would like to see what some real trans equipment would do.

[cruo]

I care and many others as well. If you want to see what some "real trans equipment" would do, then go get the footage. We all will be happy to see it.

[zaces083]

feel free to get some education about T and D. come back after you have a couple of years.

[cruo]

Is that all you have? I'm not impressed with your superiority complex. Again, come back when you have footage or "real trans equipment." We will be happy to see it.

[bwimp18]

I think i saw lineman rick eating that dogg

[cullen3402412]

is it a common practice for you to hot stick with rubber gloves? it is against our company policy here in the north west. just curious but very informative demo for the public.

[MBIvey007]

LOL, not for me it's not. I'm not an actual lineman, my dad has been for many years and I am trying to get into the industry. He's supposed to wear gloves when using a hot stick, yes. Most of the linework I do and where he's taught me alot of what I know is at the county fair grounds and we don't wear gloves there.

[ratheads]

Thank you, Lineman Rick, you're a swell fellow !

[astranine]

I need a volunteer...

[n310ea]

On some distribution grids, there's a jump wire connected directly from the high voltage line (on top) to the grounded/neutral line (underneath), why is that?

[JsCrag88]

thats a line that has an overload fuse on it somewhere i think

[MBIvey007]

It should be all dist. grids, in the U.S. at least. You're either talking about the jumper for the neutral wire to ground it, because the neutral is always solidly grounded in OH construction. Or you're talking about where a jumper comes off a phase and goes to a porcelin or now rubber device called a lightning arrestor and at the other end is connected to ground. The purpose of that is to protect the circuit or equipment such as a transformer from the high voltage of lightning.

[MBIvey007]

Hence the name. An LA works much like the spark plugs in your car. Inside, there is a gap, sometimes filled with gas or semi-conducting material that prevents the correct voltage from jumping that gap, but if an over-voltage, such as lighting occurs it will jump the gap causeing a ground fault and will usually blow a fuse, generally a primary cutout. Sometimes the LA will explode, but replaceing one of them is much better than a transformer or even allowing into the cutomer's building.

[n310ea]

Yeah, the wire connected from a phase to ground with a lighning arrestor in between, that what I was talking about. I didn't know about the lighting arrestor, I thought it was just a wire causing a continuous short circuit. :/ Thanks :)

[bigjohn68040]

If the wire is going from the phases directly to the neutral it may be to ground out a section between 2 poles when there are two different voltages such as going from 13kv to 4800 or 4160. It could also be just to ground out maybe an old line that goes down an old abandon farm driveway or abandon factory or something.

[tonk184]

shouldnt a linesman always test & prove dead or "de-energzied" the line first ,than to assume and take the risk

[MBIvey007]

No, lineman have been handling live lines for many years, with proper personal protective equipment, the necessary training, and a strong saftey culture the risks are minimal. It's important to keep power flowing to businesses and residences as much as possible so that customers can continue their lives. When it does become necessary to work on a line "dead" then it should be grounded and checked for voltage prior to barehanding. If the line is simply "de-energized" the lineman should not be

[MBIvey007]

barehanding, but instead be rubber gloving (or in some places hot-sticking.) The reason behind this: "dead" means it's grounded (jumpers between all phases and ground) - if somehow the line should get power it will immeadiately blow a line fuse and possibely circuit breaker in the sub. This protects someone working "barehanded." "If it's not grounded; it's not dead." - a bumper sticker I have. If it's de-energized and someone is working maybe 1 mile or two away on the circuit gets done

[MBIvey007]

and they plug it in, not knowing that someone else is still working. A lineman working barehanded would get burned, but one working with rubber or fiberglass should not because even though the line SHOULD be safe they are treating it as though it's live.

[carlocardillo]

is it bad for your health to work around magnetic fields caused by electric furnaces..

[MBIvey007]

WTF does that have to do with tea in China?

[carlocardillo]

and who asked you.and were not talking about tea

[ccoraxfan]

Neither were we talking about magnetic fields or electric furnaces.

[carlocardillo]

so you havent really worked with high currents nor voltages..thats fine so no point talking to you so...

[ccoraxfan]

Are you replying to me?

What we were referring to is your off-the-wall comment about magnetic fields and electric furnaces, which has nothing to do with this demonstration. Don't discount my comments just because I'm not a lineman, I have a lot of knowledge and experience with electricity.

[MBIvey007]

Exceeded the comment limit or I would have responded long ago to this. lol

Yes, I was refering to your off the wall comment, carlo. So enlighten us on what you meant. What relation has magnetic fields and electric furnaces to do with anything?

I'm not officially a lineman either (yet), but like I've said before on here, I've done alot of work and been around it. My teacher has 35 years of experience on the job. I'm no expert, but I know a thing or two.

[bossoholic]

I love peanut butter sandwhiches

[hellsmaw84]

@bossoholic peanut butter jelly time?? :D

[kennymc23]

i'm a transmission linesman in ireland and i love it, worked on the poles for 3yrs and then progressed upto bigger things lol

[projektpat514]

is this in lakeland fl. ?

[cruo]

Yes.

[BenHutchinson1]

What kind of voltage is being used here? And how much current was in that arc?

[cruo]

The instructor mentions that they are back feeding the transformer with 120 volts which energizes the primary with 7,200 volts. This can be dangerous to linemen/line clearance tree trimmers on storm duty who think they are working around line that are deenergized. When homeowners run generators that are wired into their fusebox, the electricity created can run back through their service wire, up to the transformer and back into the main power lines. I'm not sure of the current in the arc.

[BenHutchinson1]

But don't the linemen ALWAYS wear protective gloves, even if the power is out, just as a safety precaution?

And another question, how many amps is the being drawn on the 120V side when it is being fed into the transformer? I have a feeling it is a HUGE current, because the internal resistance of the transformer is very low (these things can normally provide current to run every appliance in a whole house).

[cruo]

Yes, they are required to wear protective gloves at all times. I'm a line clearance tree trimmer and worked many hours on storm duty. My work entails removing limbs or whole trees off of lines. I always fear working on downed lines that are said to be deenergized and always listen for running generators. I'm not sure of the amperage, hopefully somebody who knows more about this subject will chime in.

[twiggyzippo]

i am a lineman apprentice for Los Angeles and formerly an electrician. current in arc all depends on various circumstances. depends on the resistance through the rope that hes using to short out lines depends on the amount of power being generated through the line. and yes. lineman do wear rubber gloves to protect themselves from energized lines but anything you can do to make our work safer please do. when using a generator please turn off your main breakers.

[cobra305hp97]

You work between grounds bare handed in storms buddy.

[bossoholic]

If 10 240v 30A generators are back-feeding, then the line (on a 240v-14,400v pole-pig with 80% efficiency) should energize the line to 14,400v @ 4 Amperes (4,000 Ma)

Theoretically Speaking.....

[jaa93997]

lineman Rick onws

[Ham549]

I don't see the light going on what is the point of this video

[cruo]

The light does come on, it is very difficult to see since I didn't zoom in. The point of this video is obvious, don't touch power lines.

[burningdust]

Lineman rick is much cooler than that computer nerd guy who connected microwave parts to make sparks in his parents basement.

[SSparks555]

I remember, wnich was around 25 years ago, this same demonstration by our local power company. One thing I do remember was that the lineman did a rain dance (Put a cup of water on the transformer in the middle) the next thing they simulated a direct short, if a tree fell across the lines while the trans. was wet. Wow, the fire ball the trans. shot out the top of it.

[MBIvey007]

That would be awesome to see! lol Someone should get one of those vids on here.

[SSparks555]

Single phase is good enough. You would only live long enough to touch only one of them, anyway.

[Ascholten]

Great training video.

[everyonehasaidsok]

cause then you get to see phase to phase shorts =D

[cruo]

This demonstration is not about phase to phase shorts. This demonstration was for the public to understand what can happen if one phase is contacted. With this basic knowledge, any intelligent person can imagine what would happen with a 3 phase.

[ccoraxfan]

Phase to phase is the same as phase to neutral, just at a higher voltage. No matter what, if you touch the wires, you get it!

[everyonehasaidsok]

FFS, not even 3 phase - lol!

[cruo]

Explain why they should demonstrate with a 3 phase when a single phase is sufficient.

[ccoraxfan]

Good information, except for one part. The guy says that the guys working on the hotline are protected by their gloves. Not so! They are protected mainly by the hotsticks they use to work on the line, and the gloves are an extra safety measure.

[MBIvey007]

Don't know if you're from a state where you are required to hotstick, but here in Michigan it's perfectly legal and common practice to rubber glove primary. In that case, yes, the gloves would be the main protection. The only hot sticking I do is for switching and I do that without gloves, never had a problem even in the rain; haven't felt a thing.

[ccoraxfan]

I'm from Michigan too, and while I do have a pretty good general knowledge of electricity, I've never worked on this kind of job, so your experience is worth more. However, I do know that hotsticks offer a lot more insulation than gloves. But I suppose if you only have 7200V to contain, gloves could do it. But they must be pretty special gloves! Anyway, thanks for the additional insight.

[avenged06x]

Detroit Edison! Consumers Energy! LOL!

[MBIvey007]

What's so funny about that avenged? lol

ccoraxfan: Salisbury makes gloves rated for up to 36kV... quite a bit more than 7.2kV lol They're just rubber gloves, tested on a schedule and inspected prior to each use. When gloving primary you wear sleeves too, so you're protected to your shoulders.

I'm not officially a lineman yet, but am working on getting into an apprenticeship program. I'm kind of an apprecntice under my father at the county fairgrounds, so I've learned a lot there.

[mexicanerd]

7.2Kv my ass. That arc is huge. Probably around 50Kv. and electricity doesn't "burn from the inside out"

[ccoraxfan]

7.2kv is standard for lines like this, especially transformers like this. The arc is huge because it's following the smoke from the burning branch. The smoke helps create a conductive path through the air, and that draws an arc. And electricity burns the inside because it's being conducted through the middle of the body, which conducts better than the skin.

[cruo]

ccoraxfan, thanks for the additional info.

[Andyman3k]

It can be drawn so big because of the current. The current makes the arc hotter, and the air more conductive as it's pulled away. If you had 200v and 3000 amps, you could probably draw an arc about as long as 12,000v and .3 amp.

[VADF1985]

Wrong. You need a high voltage to make the air conductive.

[map250r]

To start with, yes - you would need to have a much smaller arc gap to initiate an arc at 200v. Once the arc is started, it can be stretched. Think Jacob's Ladder, or an arc welder (which you obviously have never used or you would know this).

[voltairesfire]

Seen somethig very similar to this when I was in Fire School. Awesome video thanks for posting

[treeswinger19]

I'm glad I saw that because sometimes i have to remove limbs and such out of power and now i know my hunchs about limbs touching wires and being hot were spot on.

[LineManMN]

Only a qualified and authorized line clearance tree trimmer should ever attempt to clear any vegetation from an energized conductor. Based on your posting, you obviously do not have the necessary training.

[treeswinger19]

Not yet I'm working on it and btw you sound like a book.

[wezer1]

exellent, a few people at the power company i work for could do with watching this!! :)

[01ltlb7]

i wish the company i worked for did this type of demo. Ill have to say that this one is very well put together. people can learn alot from demos like this!

[petejt]

very informative- thank you

[RayAir1]

Thats a cool video!

[thewelderdude]

about 7 years ago, in grade school, this same demo was done in the gym. very neet

[WIWinterman]

wicked... but pretty handy to have around.

[muhalifsirin]

nice

[simonhorwell]

Very interesting

[elpmurc]

Interesting video, electricity is some wicked stuff.