Service drops

[Treeaddict]

Anyone ever had a nasty encounter with these things. I used to not work on trees that had the service running through them. Now upon reaching an understanding of their dangers I will work around them if they are in decent shape but I still won’t directly grab one.

 

[gf beranek]

Treat all wires with respect.

Even some guy wires are hot. I've seen arcs spark off guy wires.

 

[Marc-Antoine]

Isolated wire doesn't give you a free pass. It may be damaged from a cut or worn out by friction.
Even classic phone lines have enough voltage to arm you. Optic fibers are obviously fine, but the difference in look from some other wires can be deceptive, So it's better to be always careful (beside the cost and trouble associated with an incident).

 

[lxskllr]

Is there free manual or guide anywhere that goes into a little more depth than 'Don't frig with the wires'? I've looked a few times including today, and haven't found anything good. In the last storm, a couple hemlock branches broke at work, and they're still attached and dangling against the house connection, which is also pressed against the tree stem. I was thinking about screwing with them today, but they were calling for rain, and I didn't want to be halfway into the process with a bunch of wet gear and electricity. I also would have preferred my regular gear, and not my ghetto truck stuff, so I left it for another day.

'Don't frig with the wires' doesn't cover this situation. What does?

 

[Cobleskill]

Treat all wires with respect.

Even some guy wires are hot. I've seen arcs spark off guy wires.

They just came down our road and took out the old porcelain blocks on the guy wires and put in an insulator.

 

[gf beranek]

Trees and wires. Oh my!

I did line clearance tree trimming for 18 years with lots of storm damage overtime.

Wires! When they're hot they'll kill you, when under tension they'll rip your head off.

The damnedest thing about both forces is you can not see either one. There is no way of telling, just by looking at a wire, if it is hot or under tension.

Another thing is wires can disappear in the back light / shadows of trees, limbs and foliage. Blend right in. Be extra observant here.

Either way, dealing with wires just takes some basic common sense, intuition, and a reasonable understanding of general physics. And that last part we go to school everyday to learn. You better believe it.

Supplemental reading, vids and mentors can sped ones' understanding, and significantly lessen the hard knocks of learning solely on your own.

 

[WoodCutr]

house drops will get you, id say they are worse because 1: higher amperage, 2: insulation makes you think its safe, and 3: they are twisted around a bare neutral so if you nick a wire with a saw the odds a a direct short are very high

also unless you are EHAP qualified you arent supposed to be within 10ft (yes, even house drops) BUT if everyone followed that rule then almost no trees would be touched
as someone that is EHAP qualified through TCIA I can indeed say after the training involved and pictures shown, even a service drop can be super friggen dangerous

main thing is, a house drop is still hundreds of amps at 240 volts which is way more than enough to kill you, so dont touch them (I dont even like my insulated tools touching them)

 

[Kabir424]

I haven't ever had an issue come up with house drops. All of the companies where I have worked we always treated them as no contact. One company I worked for in Vermont had someone accidentally contact a house drop with their foam core pole saw. There was a pop, a little flash, and the arc blasted off about 3 teeth on the pole saw blade. The tree worker didn't have any perceptible current pass to them. It was pretty interesting to see that saw blade. It got hung up back at the shop and it made for a great safety meeting the next day.

Any poles I buy are always foam core filled. I don't use them specifically on electrical lines because they are not a hot stick and I am not a lineman. But, I always use them when I am working around any electrical lines. I have 3 non foam core filled ones from many years ago and they don't get used anywhere near a hot line.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Lost some blade teeth that way.
Cutting over a house drop. Little limbs.
Fiberglass poles. Some how dropped the head down like I lost balance in stance and levered down. Those little sharp teef went through the insulation. POP. Now some teef missing. I thought for sure the power would have gone off. But no. Just everyone's lights flickered a moment in the cul-de-sac.
Like a silky bite where you tap ya finger. Same thing.
I did not get bit though.