Power lines

[cory]

Elsewhere (somewhere) at the House, there was a brief discussion about replacement of old lattice work electrical transmission towers with new monopole, rust-colored towers. It is being done in my hood among other places. I was curious about the new towers with their rusty surface. I think it is an attractive look and after the initial rust coating occurs, it is apparently weather proof. Apparently known as "corten" steel.

So one of the areas the work was done is in our town open space woods. They did a pretty good job of not messing up the woods excessively, probably cuz they could afford to take the extra care, it being a job paid for by the utility company.

Due to work and life flow, I wasn't able to see much of the work being done. Mostly just glimpses of the start, the middle, and now the finish. It looks like a well done job finished fairly quickly. The new towers are maybe 10% taller than the old ones.

So one thing I was curious about was how TF they were gonna transfer the high tension wires from old towers to new, apparently without shutting off the power. And I figured there were gonna be some ballsy high climbers up there getting it done but duh, they used huge bucket trucks, probably few to no climbers ( a custy who lives close to the action showed me pics she took of the ops).

So yeah, anyone know how they switch the live lines over from one tower to another.

 

[Nutball]

Maybe they put up new lines, connect them in parallel to the old, then disconnect and remove the old lines.

 

[cory]

Could well be, but that sounds dicey handling new lines near the old fully powered up lines.

 

[Nutball]

It is, but surely they have procedures for that such as insulated suits and grounding wires on the new lines, so they don't get energized by static or induction. They might have a switching mechanism or remote controlled tool for the final hookup. Maybe your friend can keep an eye out and take pics or a video.

 

[cory]

The work is already done but Imma ask her!

 

[cory]

She texted me a vid of 2 buckets and a crane working on it. Vid is 23s long but it won't load here.

 

[cory]

I asked a crane guy who knows a crane guy who has done that work, he'll ask him how they do it and lmk.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

I have never seen them move old power lines over to a new set of poles/towers in a run out here. Only if a (as in one at a time) pole replacement.

 

[Nutball]

They'd have to crane each line up and over the towers, sounds difficult. They'd need to put the lines on pulleys hanging off each insulator and fine some way of controlling the slack between towers as they lift the line over.