A shocking experience

[Defib1961]

YouTube

[DAB]

i don't think i'd stand under those lines.

[VatorMan]

That car must have broken the earth ground to that pole. The current flow across the phases is insufficient to blow a fuse or trip the breaker.

[thecornerman]

Originally Posted by VatorMan

That car must have broken the earth ground to that pole. The current flow across the phases is insufficient to blow a fuse or trip the breaker.

That statement doesn't make sense to me

[Dan Dlabay]

We had something like that several weeks ago. During high winds two trees in a neighbors back yard fell and one hit a transformer, It started arching and caught the tree on fire. Lost power for two days.

[VatorMan]

Originally Posted by thecornerman

That statement doesn't make sense to me

You need a path to ground in order to operate the electrical safeties ( fuse or breaker). A breaker or fuse are rated in kA-kilo amps. That means you need a huge current draw to make it work. Those arcs were high amperage, but for short periods of time.

[thecornerman]

Poles don't have a ground path, if one was needed the poles would be made in steel

[Fasglas]

No birds sitting on THOSE wires!

[OddBall]

Like a roman candle

[Mike Mercury]

A shocking experience

of greater importance...













Popeyes is having a sale !

[OddBall]

Originally Posted by Mike Mercury

of greater importance...




Popeyes is having a sale !

They better have a barbecue pit, 'cause they ain't got no electricity.

[VatorMan]

Originally Posted by thecornerman

Poles don't have a ground path, if one was needed the poles would be made in steel

Wrong. Every pole has a ground path. They use the guy wires or run a separate wire to ground.

[thecornerman]

Originally Posted by VatorMan

Wrong. Every pole has a ground path. They use the guy wires or run a separate wire to ground.

REALLY!
Do you know what ground is used for?

In this discussion or any circuit for that matter

[Wathen1955]

When the subject of electricity comes up, you will often hear about electrical grounding, or just ground. For example, an electrical generator will say, "Be sure to attach to an earth ground before using," or an appliance might warn, "Do not use without an appropriate ground."

It turns out that the power company uses the Earth as one of the wires in the power system. The planet is a good conductor, and it's huge, so it makes a handy return path for electrons. "Ground" in the power-distribution grid is literally the ground that's all around you when you are walking outside. It is the dirt, rocks, groundwater and so on.

If you look at a utility pole, you'll probably be able to spot a bare wire coming down the side of the pole. This connects the aerial ground wire directly to ground. Every utility pole on the planet has a bare wire like this. If you ever watch the power company install a new pole, you will see that the end of that bare wire is stapled in a coil to the base of the pole. That coil is in direct contact with the earth once the pole is installed, and is buried 6 to 10 feet (2 to 3 meters) underground. If you examine a pole carefully, you will see that the ground wire running between poles are attached to this direct connection to ground.

Similarly, near the power meter in your house or apartment there is a 6-foot (2-meter) long copper rod driven into the ground. The ground plugs and all the neutral plugs of every outlet in your house connect to this rod.
Electrical Ground - How Electricity Works | HowStuffWorks

The pole may be grounded with a heavy bare copper or copper-clad steel wire running down the pole, attached to the metal pin supporting each insulator, and at the bottom connected to a metal rod driven into the ground. Some countries ground every pole while others only ground every fifth pole and any pole with a transformer on it. This provides a path for leakage currents across the surface of the insulators to get to ground, preventing the current from flowing through the wooden pole which could cause a fire or shock hazard.[2][3] It provides similar protection in case of flashovers and lightning strikes. A surge arrester (also called a lightning arrester) may also be installed between the line (ahead of the cutout) and the ground wire for lightning protection. The purpose of the device is to conduct extremely high voltages present on the line directly to ground.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utility_pole

[thecornerman]

A ground in any AC electrical circuit is ONLY for human safety, it doesn't have anything to do with it's function.

The neutral on the other hand in 110/220 single phase systems is delivered thru the earth as described

The "electrical ground-how it works" link you provided shows a 7200v line feeding a transformer dropping it down to 480 3-phase which does not use a neutral.

The wire in the pic is connected to the support cable for a single phase tap

I asked one of the journeyman electricians at work what he thought and he wasn't sure what started the arcing across phases

[Craig]

Arcing between phases. Each line is part of a three phase feed.

[VatorMan]

The ground also operates the electrical safeties. Fuses and breakers. Overloads are corrected by reclosers. When a phase goes to ground, a large current is generated- enough to blow either a fuse or trip a breaker. If the EE did his job right, the safety closest to the fault trips. Typical modern Air Circuit Breakers have 4 trips. Instantaneous, Long time, short time and ground fault. All are current time dependent and set based on the calculated trip curve. Typical overhead fuses are a current rated wire that melts and is opened by a spring. You want to find out where the fault is ? Walk your line and look for a "tail" on a high line fuse. Go to the pole and record the pole #. Call your utility and tell them there is a blown fuse on pole ###. They will appreciate your effort.

[VatorMan]

Typical arcing is set up by high humidity. The air ionizes and set us up the arc.

[JRD77VET]

Originally Posted by Wathen1955

..........snip..............

If you look at a utility pole, you'll probably be able to spot a bare wire coming down the side of the pole. This connects the aerial ground wire directly to ground. Every utility pole on the planet has a bare wire like this. If you ever watch the power company install a new pole, you will see that the end of that bare wire is stapled in a coil to the base of the pole. That coil is in direct contact with the earth once the pole is installed, and is buried 6 to 10 feet (2 to 3 meters) underground. If you examine a pole carefully, you will see that the ground wire running between poles are attached to this direct connection to ground.
..........snip...........
The pole may be grounded with a heavy bare copper or copper-clad steel wire running down the pole, attached to the metal pin supporting each insulator, and at the bottom connected to a metal rod driven into the ground. Some countries ground every pole while others only ground every fifth pole and any pole with a transformer on it. This provides a path for leakage currents across the surface of the insulators to get to ground, preventing the current from flowing through the wooden pole which could cause a fire or shock hazard........snip..........

I grabbed a pic while mowing today. The feed pole at my house has a transformer on it and it's grounded.