A Day With A Lineman #34
These farmers think they have to get every single inch of the field. Getting as close to the poles as possible with their tractors and equipment. I honestly think it is some sort of farmer competition they have going on...
Who can steer their tractors and equipment closest to the Power Poles
Then at the end of the day, all the farmers meet at the local Watering Hole and share photos and videos. Speed has to some into play somewhere in this whole game. I know if I were in the game it would. Maybe they have some sort of Fancy Farmer Farming Formula that calculates their efficiency and gives them an overall Farming Score at the end of the year. Winner gets free beer the following year at their favorite Watering Hole is the prize.
I mean, are you really making that much more money from that little, roughly 3sqft piece of land around the Power Poles? When your Farming 100’s of... if not 1,000’s of acres, these small slivers around the few poles can’t add up to much of a percentage of your overall harvest. Especially when something like this happens...
Oops... there goes the last 10 years profit from this little sliver of property
I receive a call from the Boss Man around 10am. He said there is a guy stuck in his tractor with wire laying on top of it and I need to go see what is going on and take care of this situation. I am just happy to hear that he didn’t get out and just stayed inside his tractor and waited for me to arrive to make scene of the accident safe. It’s times like this I wish I had the ol’ blue and red flashing lights and people would get out of my way so I can get there... FAST
I am an emergency response vehicle here.... MOVE! MOVE!!
Arriving at the Recloser (a fault sensing device that opens the line when a fault occurs) I see that it in indeed open, de-energizing the line. I fly up remove 1 jumper and test the line dead and install a ground using a shotgun. No not that kind of shotgun, it’s a hot stick tested at 100,000 bolts per foot. I will have to show you guys some tools of the trade some day. Anyway, this ensures that the line is truly De-Energized
As I made my way down the gravel road following the pole line that splits the two fields, I finally see off in the distance, a tractor pulling a disc stationed next to a pole.
Living and working in a pretty heavy farming community, things like this are bound to happen. Another a good ol’ fashioned Tractor Hit Pole. Normally, they totally destroy the pole and make a huge mess. If you have seen any of my other A Day With A Lineman posts you will know what I am talking about. I along with the operator are both glad that didn’t happen.
At this point I am pretty hesitant about trying to drive my 16,000 pound truck through this field. These fields have been known to swallow a vehicle whole. One moment your cruising along just fine, then.... your truck sinks instantly and you ain’t goin’ no where!!! “HELP...HELP!!” I figure what the heck, the guy has a tractor and I might as well give it a go. If I get stuck he can pull me out no problemo. So, I access the field and start making my way up to the scene of the accident.
“I’m going to make it, I am really going to make it!!”
Yep, the trucky no wanna go any further. The soft field brought this 16,000 pound truck to a halt. I guess I will just have to walk the rest of the way up the hill. Wait, hold up, the farmer has a little diesel Mercedes car that he is driving around. That car is light enough where I’d doesn't sink in the soft soil at all. He came down to where I was stuck and gave me a lift the rest of the way to the top.
Well look at that, something seems to be a little wrong here. The wire is no longer up on the pole, which is still standing by the way. And the wire is still tied into the insulator and the whole thing is laying on the farmer Disc. Yep, that is a problem.
I call in reinforcements and give them a list of material to bring. I also mention that this is going to have to be done out of the hooks. There is no way to get any trucks up here, so bring the side-by-side. The pole isn’t broke, just the cross arm, but we are going to have to straighten it up.
Let’s Have a Closer Look at the Damage
This disc must be dang near brand new. Look at that bright red paint. OOOOOHH WWEEEE. Well, now it has its first battle scars thanks to the 7,200 volts that landed on it and bounced a couple times.
The driver told me that the wire was bouncing on his disc and shooting sparks like crazy. Hahaha Yeah, I bet. Lol. I don’t mean to laugh but when people tell me about it I just giggle. Yes, there is something wrong with me. Hey, no one got hurt so I can laugh about it. When you have been engulfed in a ball of fire down to your axles, it makes you a little crazy I think.
Look at the weld marks on the disc. Hang on, let me get you zoomed in on this....
There isn’t much load on this section on line so the fault current isn’t too bad. It just left a few spot welds on it is all. I have seen wire hit the concrete and literally blow holes the size of a dime through the concrete. Yes through it!! Electricity is a powerful thing, and demands respect.
Now we have another little issue beside the fact that the farmer pushed the butt of the pole over about a foot. The soil being so saturated is what prevented the pole from completely breaking off. So not only is the pole crooked, the cross arm broke, a big gap around the butt of the pole, but the farmers disc in imbedded in the pole.
These tractors are some powerful machines. The farmer just started backing the tractor up and it started moving the pole straight.
Now that the disc has been removed from the pole the farmer can get back to what he is good at...
Farming
Linework Time
After about 15 minutes the guys show up with the side-by-side and the materials. Oh ya, my truck that was stuck, I forgot about that. It wasn’t stuck too bad, it just wasn’t going up the hill any further. I backed it right out of the hole, whipped it around and hauled a$$ out of there, hoping I don’t get stuck on the way out.
Ok back to what I was talking about.... I’m where was I??? Ok I am back on track. So with the rest of the guys there I just couldn’t resist the opportunity. Time to load up the hooks and belt for my favorite part of the job. Like they say, “Hookin’ ain’t easy!”
First thing we need to do is straighten up this pole. There is no way any of us are going to be able to climb this thing. Using extendo hotsticks we guide a rope to the top portion of the pole. Attached to the rope is the winch line from the front of the side-by-side. Once we are happy with the position of the rope we back the side-by-side up until the winch comes tight. It might be hard to see in the picture so I will drW it in with a red line.
Then we finalize it with the winch controller to get the pole nice and straight again. It’s a lot easier to use the controller than trying to reverse the side-by-side. Then once we are satisfied, we fill in the gaps around the pole and tamp it in with shovel handles and the broken piece of the cross arm. Since the apprentice forgot to bring the hand tamp.
Here is a couple photos of the damage to the copper wire. The arcing just cleaned up the copper a little bit and added some texture.
Time to head up and get this broken cross arm removed and ready for a new one. It came close to splitting the whole top of this pole off. Check that split!!
This really isn’t too big of a deal. Once I remove the old cross arm, I just drill a hole perpendicular to the bolt that holds the cross arm. Put a Split Bolt in there and tighten it up. It’s just a bolt yep a normal everyday 5/8 in bolt. But when it is used to prevent the pole from splitting or fix a split, it’s called a Split Bolt. What a concept right?
It have been a long time since I was on the wood with an apprentice. Here I was just doing my thing and totally forgot I should be letting him handle this and give him advise and pointers. Plus let him make a mistake or two so he will surely not do them the next time. Lol. So I went ahead and hit the dirt (climbed down) and let him finish things up. We are so proud of the little guy, look how good he is doing. Almost brings a tear to a Lineman’s eye.....
“Do you need a mailbox!!! Dang you have been up there forever!! I will have the post office start forwarding your mail!!”Well that was an easy fix and I am sure the apprentice loved all the comments coming from the peanut gallery down below. Changing the whole pole out in the middle of this soggy field wouldn’t have been very fun at all!! In a way it would be because it is a challenge but a big PITA also. Time to remove the protective ground and re-energize the line.
Well nothing blew up so I guess that is a good thing. Perfect timing also!! We finished up just in time for lunch. Being that it is 1 pm the lunch time rush is over and I am craving some tacos and a quick lunch date with Mama-Splatts. I will take a Hawaiian Torta and 2 Asada taco.
Mama-Splatts ordered Asada Fajitas
I am not sure why I insisted on eating all of that food. Every last bite!!! It was so good I just couldn’t stop!!
“Hi, I am Splatts and I am addicted to Mexican Food”
Food Coma Alert!!! I am going down fast!! How in the heck am I going to get the rest of my stuff done when I am fighting this food coma with everything I got!!
MAN DOWN...MAN DOWN!!!
All it takes is one outage or problem and my whole plan for the day get screwed up!! I have a ton of stuff I need to get finished before the end of the day and doing it on the brink of a food coma isn’t for the weak minded... or stomached. I don’t know either way I was feeling it for the next hour or so but managed to accomplish what I needed to do.
I hope you enjoyed spending another day with a Lineman and hope to see you next time. My goal is to give a little insight into what it takes to build and maintain the small portion of the electrical grid that I work on. If you have any questions feel free to ask in the comments. I will do my best to answer them and if I don’t know the answer... Ask someone else. Kidding kidding!!!
Steem On
and
Do Work!!
