Downed power lines

Yep, you are missing your mind if you want to mess with downed power lines without the proper training and equipment. Leave them alone, period.

BTW, downed power lines can provide some really nice aluminium wire, hang around until the power guys have fixed it and then offer to take the "scrap" away for them.

Dave :)

--
Like at gunpoint?

Not around here. The crew has to turn in every foot they take down, or risk losing their jobs.

--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I\'ve got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

It was a hypothetical... surely you could easily have picked up this if you read the very first line?

Yes, lets suppose.

Whatever... I guess they don't teach hypothetics when you went to school? I never said this was something that would really happen.

What gets me is that some of you guys are somewhat intelligent but can't understand that I was asking a hypothetical. Its not like I'm going to go try test out any responses.

"Abstract Dysentery"

** Bollocks !!

....... Phil

"Abstract Dysentery "

** Shame other reader of this OPEN PUBLIC FORUM are at risk from YOUR asinine crapology. ** Irrelevant what you did NOT say. ** The extraordinary DANGER makes it " X rated " - ab initio. ** What a damn shame that is.

Love to see a criminal scumbag fry.

...... Phil

--
Geez, really???

Silly me, here I thought maybe a power line had fallen across your
car and you had to get your pregnant wife to the hospital or
something...

Hum, what makes them dangerous ? Danger comes from current going through your body, so presumably from one foot to the other one, due to the strong voltage gradient on the ground near the cable, right ? So if you jump on one foot, would you be safe ? :)

vic

Nope, What I was after if the general principle was right. Now, any electrical engineer who actually learned something in school could easily answer the question. He would also not hesitate go through powerlines if he knew how to ground them. Just like a chemist is not afraid to mix two chemicals because he knows what he is doing even if those chemicals are very dangerous(probably more then downed powerlines). If there is a simple physical law that exist here such as "electricity takes the path of least resistance" then there should be no reason to have any problem with downed powerlines if you can make sure you are not the path of least resistance(ofcourse theres never a way to be completely sure but an electrical engineer would be more confident then a philosophy major).

The real problem is that you get so easily confused if the context of the problem is not to your liking. What you need to do is abstract it and realize that it has nothing to do with power lines but its just a general electricity question. If I would have said it in a more appropriate context for you then the answer would be obvious.

power

A 11 foot pole (non conductive)

I was thinking that one could

theres

You ARE missing something. How do you attach your ground wire without contacting a "hot" wire?

If I felt I absolutely had to deal with a downed power line, I might try a

*DRY* wooden handled garden tool (rake, hoe) to move the line.

You are a very dangerous idiot. You have no idea of the voltage on the line, or if it is live. To "ground" it would require a very low impedance grounding system, and the metal vaporizing from making the connection could cause serious injury, or even kill you.

--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I\'ve got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

Jesus christ.. did you not read? IT WAS A FUCKING HYPOTHETICAL!!!

If you don't know what that word means then look it up in the dictionary.

The only idiots in here I see are the ones who can't understand what a hypothetic is.

I guess you never watched MacGyver?

I have actually read in a safty book to do this if you get in that situation.

The downed line is already somewhat grounded just by being down on the ground. Don't pick it up and break ground and force a path through your body to ground. Just shove it sideways. I think I would rather have you (instead of these other weenies) with me if I got in trouble. You might try to help instead of running away.

and

body?

wire

It shouldn't matter. Just like a bird can stand on a wire because its more resistive then the wire itself.

If, say, you are holding a wire you found on the ground or got out of the garage or whatever(its a hypothetical so you can just assume you have it) then you just have to walk up to the power lines and toss the wire on the power lines and make sure the other end was grounded first.

You just have to make sure the wire is closer to the power lines than your body so it doesn't arc to you to get to the wire. I suppose there might be a conductive path through the ground too so maybe you gotta hop on one foot.

Yeah, but maybe it could arc and get you? If you had some bold cutters then maybe you could use them if you grounded it first?(cause surely the electricity would go through the cutters then the wire attached to them then to the ground?)

"Abstract Dissonance" schreef in bericht news: snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com...

Your question is too general, theoretical and incomplete to provide an answer. From a practical point of view you may survive... or not.

petrus bitbyter

I've watched the power company guys and they use multiple levels of protection. The cherry pickers are insulated, they put rubber mats over adjacent hot wires, use thick rubber gloves and jackets and shoes, use poles to handle wires and get well paid and have a GOOD insurance plan. Any time you make or break a connection there will be some arcing, I've had some sparks fly, but they fly between voltage source and ground and past me. Don't let sparks startle you into jumping into more danger than you are jumping away from. Panic kills, but you won't panic if you are prepared for some fireworks. Even if you could throw a knife switch and shut off the power you might see some arcing (sparking) and hear some noise. The grounded bolt cutters would work IF THEY WERE GROUNDED WITH A LARGER GAUGE WIRE THAN THE POWER WIRE AND SECURELY ATTACHED TO A METAL STAKE DRIVEN 10 FEET INTO THE GROUND. Personally, I would prefer to rely on insulation and even more importantly DISTANCE!

and

wire

be

foot.

a

then

then

--
OK, but especially if it\'s HIGH VOLTAGE, because even if you wear
rubber shoes and gloves it can be very dangerous if you go to pick
it up.

What many folks don\'t know is that its possible to have a tiny prick
in your gloves and HIGH VOLTAGE ELECTRICITY will jump right through
it into your body and fillibrate your heart.

A good example is we had three blind guys working at the power
company here, and one of them got killed because he came in contact
with HIGH VOLTAGE, so in order to make sure the other guys wouldn\'t
get hurt the power company put up a whole bunch of signs everywhere
there was HIGH VOLTAGE that said: "DO NOT TOUCH" in Braille.

So, the bottom line, basically, is: "What if there were no
hypothetical questions?"