Is the neutral wire safe? - Powerlines

hey guys it's Aaron here I've been aligned on the east coast of Canada for the last 16 years now you're watching my channel Bob's decline if I could get everyone to like and subscribe down below that would be awesome today I wanted to talk about another one of the many hidden dangers in mine word and that's the difference in potential between neutral wires and the importance of bonding as a journeyman lineman you'll find yourself usually working on power lines while they are still energized regardless of the voltage sometimes however we're lucky enough to open the line or even the transformer problem is this can easily lead to a false sense of security very important that you follow your company's work methods and procedures especially when working on lines that have been isolated as there are many ways in which lines may still carry a lethal amount of voltage even though such danger may not be apparent my intentions today are not to give a lecture on the importance of equipotential grounding and bonding but rather to show you a real-life example of danger situation that you will eventually encounter as alignment so the other day I was working along cleaning up some down triplex after a house fire when some mutt got behind the wheel that probably should have taken a cab I'm sure you can guess what happened next and it wasn't pretty luckily nobody was hurt in this busy intersection including the driver being first on scene I perform my usual routine of keeping everyone clear of the accident including emergency personnel as I assess the scene for any hazards electrically or physically there are a few low voltage lines laying across the main road while the impact of the crash had actually ripped the primary wires right off the pole and they remained intact high enough not to pose any immediate threat to myself or the public after calling for backup and traffic control I was able to confirm that power was completely out in the area even though the primary lines were intact the impacted violently shook the lines and blew the fuses in all three phases in order to prevent any further damage first thing we did was secure a low-hanging neutral wire now here's where I want you to pay attention like I said power is completely out all three phases are now grounded we have a permit to work leather gloves with inner detection points here's the problem there are some nearby three-phase lines in this area which are fed from a separate substation a long ways way even though this particular line is out the adjacent feeds nearby are likely using the neutral wire from this feed that we are working on as it cuts right through the middle of this particular grid and allows for the shortest path of any unbalanced current to return the source so first thing we did was actually jumper out the neutral wire thus eliminating any voltage difference between the two sides the broken wire I wanted to capture this example on video as a reminder to all linemen out there of the electrical hazards not only on high-voltage wires button any and all components of the power grid in fact I was lucky enough to capture a perfect example of fault current through a neutral wire only a few days after this accident while working on the customer service we found there to be an unusual amount of current flow through a key energize a triplex loop what had just been cut from pesters vast it was later discovered that the unbalanced from the remaining services on that particular transformer we're using this particular path to ground it someone had stolen all the copper wire and kind of gone through our circuit through the underground dip and back the source I do have another video all about the dangers of copper theft to not only the public but also ice linemen if you want to check that out on my channel well that's it for today guys remember work safe don't be scared to ask questions and don't be taking any shortcuts thanks again guys for watching one of my videos again if I could get you to subscribe to my channel it's great motivation to keep on making these videos I got a review coming up on these awesome drill bits by wood owl I think you're gonna log also if I can get you to check out a channel a new guy in YouTube Jeremy Johnson's got a channel Lyman universe he's got a great personality I think you're gonna love that and also I got to give a shout out to Highline utility supplies they I've ordered a few items from them and I got to tell you that their customer service is great if you have any issues at all all you can do is contact them you want any Lyman products tools contact Highline utility surprise again subscribe to our channel and we'll see you next time you

Channel: Bobsdecline - Lineman blogger

Views: 108,550

Rating: 4.9204512 out of 5

Keywords: lineman, journeyman lineman, powerlines, neutral wire, is neutral wire alive, is neutral wire enrgized, is the neutral wire dangerous, can the neutral wire kill you, can the neutral wire hurt you, is the voltage on a neutral wire, is there current on a neutral wire, lineman job, what do lineman do, powerline workers, how does neutral work

Id: wbGlz3z_odo

Length: 4min 45sec (285 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 04 2019