How do power poles catch fire?

Hey all! just thought it was pretty neat how this cutout split perfectly down the middle... great opportunity to show the cross section!
I should have added that the voltage will attempt to pass through the insulator as well as around it.
Cheers all! 🍻
Have a great week!

[@inothome]

Great explanation and why some utilities will bond / ground all the pole hardware and give it a good path to ground. Can help prevent fires, but can make finding faulted equipment harder. But, doing thermal inspections also help locate failing components, since normally they will heat up for a while before actually making a good enough connection to fault. The technical term for the path the current would have to take down the body of the insulator and over the sheds is called creep. Then straight line distance from conductor to ground is called strike. In high contaminant ares, like you mentioned along coats, they may use extended creep insulators (larger sheds, more sheds) or as I have seen more often is using the next voltage class up for a given voltage level to increase the creep and prevent flashovers from the salty air. Cool video to show laypeople what is going on when things fail.

[@leungjeffrey94]

Even though you don't have time to edit, appreciate you still continuing to share educational information with us!

[@Bobsdecline]

Appreciate that! 🫵🤝

[@rustyshakleford5230]

​@@BobsdeclineYou should do a video on the girl that jumped the barbed wire fence and twerked climbing on the electrical equipment. I heard she survived.

[@johnm.smyrski3392]

Every time I watch a Bobsdecline video, I learn more about the common electrical distribution system: I become less ignorant. And slightly less fearful of the technology and in general, electricity. I think that these are excellent videos (edited or not). Thanks for sharing them.

[@unwired1281]

Who else hits like before Aaron says a word❓

[@Bobsdecline]

🍻

[@jumper123910]

Please don't. Wait until near the end as the KZbin algorithms pick that up and make assumptions of bots etc. I agree hit the like, but wait until the end, it then really improves the rating of the video.

[@unwired1281]

@@jumper123910 did not know that. Will wait👍thanks‼️

[@PRR1954]

"wait until the end" OK, thanks for tip. On Aaron, and even moreso on the Corgi channel, I do tend to hit the LIKE like a robot. I'll try to act more human. (Same thing for "I am not a robot": click too fast and They figure you are one.)

[@zrtdave]

Me lol

[@bkuker]

Whatever stuff is happening, wishing you the best!

[@Bobsdecline]

Thank you 🤝

[@jovetj]

That cutout crack is one of the most miraculous things I've ever seen.

[@alishamarshall8411]

Thanks for explaining this. Looking up at the cut out on poles, it looks small. In your hand, it’s a good sized piece of equipment.

[@Bobsdecline]

Just like traffic lights!

[@sorphin]

@@Bobsdecline Indeed. I collect traffic lights, so something i'm very familiar with. lol (yes, they're all legal :P )

[@akshonclip]

Those insulators crack because of corrosion and expansion of the metal components that are encased in the porcelain. It is similar to “rust jacking”.

[@dang48]

9:15 the insulator split nicely down the middle to sacrifice itself for our education. 😁 As always, very informative video. Thank you.

[@dfirth224]

At first I thought it looked like a manufacturing seam, until he turned it over.

[@dang48]

@@dfirth224 Likewise. That or a breakpoint (they're used in the rods in some manual stations).

[@obertwood]

Hang in there. I hope you overcome whatever is going wrong.

[@jeffroepke4052]

You are such a good teacher! I’ve learned so much about the electrical distribution system watching your videos. Great stuff!

[@rickn501s]

No worries about not editing. Your videos are great live action. Thanks for making them.

[@lloydprunier4415]

We just got our power back on here in Dickinson, Tx. after hurricane Beryl! Just want to thank linemen for their work and really appreciate you guys!

[@jumper123910]

Great Video. It's awesome to see someone at the top of their game sharing and educating. It's rare to find someone that is such a perfect fit for a job. I'm surprised your company isn't insisting you show their logo as you are a great ambassador. The general public don't realise how dangerous electricity is and how it's trying to escape all the time and the higher the voltage the more dangerous and better an escape artist it is. Thanks.

[@thomaswilks9256]

I was involved with a project sponsored by the rural cooperatives in USA. Georgia Tech using x-ray equipment was able to find voids in the cement of the porcelain cutouts that would fill with water. Freeze and thaw cycles would put pressure on the porcelain eventuality, causing the porcelain to crack.

[@charliesullivan4304]

Based on some of the weather in these videos, I bet there are a lot of freeze-thaw cycles in his region.

[@dfirth224]

@@charliesullivan4304 I think it's New Brunswick, so yes lots of freeze thaw.

[@charliesullivan4304]

@@dfirth224 he clearly doesn't want to reveal his location, so while it's fun to guess, I don't think we should say anything about our guesses.

[@squiddy7863]

Not in the industry but love this channel. Didn't know what a cutout was before watching this channel but now whenever I see one, I pronounce it with a Canadian accent.

[@bellowphone]

Cutoot. Yes, I love his accent.

[@Sw3d15h_F1s4]

just graduated as an electrical engineer, really cool to learn more about how it gets done in the real world! these videos are super educational

[@alan.macrae]

Just spent a great week in your area, NB & NS. Looked for you but, alas, no luck! Thanks for another great video, Aaron.

[@anonamouse5917]

I don't know why I'm fascinated by the electrical grid. But whenever a vid like this is in my feed, I have to watch it.

[@heatherkohlwey8379]

Another cool trophy for your collection. You should show the photo I sent you of the antique cutout. I pray that whatever is happening will be resolved for you. Thanks for taking the time to make these videos. They're always interesting. Stay safe, and God bless.

[@Poorschedriver]

Wow! It's great seeing a more in-depth view of the failures on the road.

[@matttravers5764]

You're a good man dude! Love watching your content! Keep it coming!

[@Bobsdecline]

Much appreciated 🤝

[@isaaccarmignani]

This video is phenomenal and very clear. I have a background in electrical but not in power grid work. I find your explanations very concise and easy to understand and even though this was extemporaneous, it was professional and much appreciated. You did a fantastic job.

[@BudTheDrummer]

I love these informative and educational romps, AAron! I don't mind the raw footage. Keep doing you!

[@michaelgagne1911]

Great job again really like the details no editing want too see raw facts your linemen videos are the best

[@jayrowberry1530]

Loved watching this. Great explanations and seeing the cross section of the porcelain helped me understand what is actually happening.

[@kevinwalker4623]

Wishing you and yours the very best. I can't thank you enough for the education and the effort to film all of this!

[@MrJujubean]

That was very interesting and informative. Thanks for sharing

[@raymondseeger4832]

I appreciate the short and simple videos! This one and many of your others are super informative. Keep it up, thanks!

[@matambale]

That's why if you hear even faint arcing, call the power company so they can get ahead of the problem. Likely they''ll thank you for letting them know.

[@chadmcgeisey7546]

Thank you for all your videos and we all have your back

[@NSaw1]

Wow that cutout is so perfectly broken! I've been seeing a lot of old porcelain cutouts in the scrap bins of the contractor's working on changing out old equipment. Found a few that had hairline cracks in them also that had been carrying some current, they where a little chared around the cracks. But never seen something broken like that one lol Love the videos as always, have a good one! Fist bump from Idaho!!

[@weichen6282]

The distribution lines are quite clean and refreshing, which is very suitable for distribution line maintenance.

[@ShaunPuzon]

Wow, another excellent video, Aaron! I've always wondered about the purpose of the fins on an insulator. I hope all turns out alright for you. 👊

[@TJK50014]

A day ago I was wondering what that big wing thing was, and when this video popped up, I was like, this is convenient. :)

[@Bobsdecline]

Haha sweet!

[@EmmanuelRodriguez-hd1gy]

As someone who is aspiring to be a lineman and in the process of joining the business just want to say I appreciate and love all your content!!

[@byAnArgentinian]

Dude I was not expecting to hear those plastic insulators were good for 35 YEARS. Hoooly. I thought you'd say at most 10 years with the direct sunlight and that stuff.

[@fmashockie]

love your videos! I have always been fascinated with HV powerlines since I was kid. I used to draw them. Sketch books just filled with powerlines (my parents must of thought I was weird lol). Not sure why I didn't considered it as a career path, but I'm an engineer repairing circuit boards now. Anyway, I find this stuff fascinating and thank you for taking the time to share it. I wish you the best in whatever challenges your facing right now!

[@craignehring]

Good stuff, thanks for taking us on this tour of insulators

[@Ry____]

Always love those after rain pole fires, keeps us busy on the grid operations desk.

[@TheKdizzle1971]

Cracked cutooooooot

[@Bobsdecline]

Haha these comments are the best!! 🤣🤣🤝

[@chris76-01]

Canadian dialect 😂

[@TheChipmunk2008]

youtube is really fighting adblockers, vodafone, take note, i hate yolu. Aaron, this is beautiful as an explanation

[@haywoodyoudome]

Brave browser - build in ad blocker and never an issue with KZbin in the past five years.

[@c0rr4nh0rn]

Wood as a "Semi-conductor" seems more like shitty conductor. As always, I really appreciate your highlighting how the power grid works from the nuts and bolts of how you (and all your fellow line workers) keep our society functioning.

[@thesilentonevictor]

HVAC-R tech chill water system as well watching from the Caribbean interesting video thanks for the consistency

[@cpufrost]

Yeah those cutout fuses are loud AF when hard shorted! Our neighbor struck a pad mounted transformer with his skid steer and caused a primary fault. Sounded like my Remington .300 Ultra Mag! Boom like a damn cannon I tell you!

[@wattheheck6010]

You are an amazing and important teacher. Thank you.

[@chrislapointe-ds7de]

Great tee shirt. Our telco CO supervisor put a little not on the cross connect frame "If you don't have time to do it right now, when will you"

[@jeffreykornspan9053]

Thanks for your video Aaron. great info.

[@combatrock3069]

Thanks for the video. I hope any issues resolve soon and everything is ok. My son looked at the video thought it was “that wrestling guy John Cena.” Ha ha ha

[@glennhunter7018]

I just run across your channel I am glad I did the job Y’all do is dangerous and I appreciate y’all a 100 percent What you do to keep the lights on for us and I thank you for that I will go back now and SUB to your channel my friend be careful on the job and again I really appreciate what y’all y’all do

[@Bobsdecline]

Appreciate the comments and the sub very much Glenn! Cheers! 🤝

[@Rickles]

This is very helpful material and i didnt have any complaints about editing. Wouldn't have thought about it if you didnt mention.

[@ritaloy8338]

Since you live in an area with sub-Zero weather, once an insulator begins to crack and water gets into that crack and freezes, the ice will expand. This will make the crack even crack in the insulator larger causing the insulator to fail

[@sharkey086]

Great vid and hope things get better for you bro!

[@robert2840]

Good stuff Aaron, appreciate you sharing.

[@johncornell3665]

Great explanation. Thanks for presenting

[@danielcarter305]

I thought cut-outs were few and far between, but I counted 6 yesterday coming home from the store.🤯🤯🤯

[@unwired1281]

@@danielcarter305 be sure to check the road occasionally 😂

[@Bobsdecline]

Lol

[@danielcarter305]

@unwired1281 😆😆😆yeah. That pesky road and other drivers makes it difficult to admire the electrical system... LOL It's okay. The supermarket is just 3 blocks down the street and just has to take the neighborhood streets at 10 M.P.H.😄😄

[@jovetj]

Yeah, cut-outs are all over. Not just ahead of individual transformer, either. Cutouts protect whole circuits. Don't want 10 miles of aerial wire to melt on you!

[@dfirth224]

Years ago I noticed few, if any cut outs. Is this something they have been doing over the last 20 or 30 years to add protection to equipment?

[@cybhunter007]

7:37, (I do design work for a mid-Atlantic power company), seeing and hearing that explains why within the companies overhead standards why there's a separate entity for "contaminated" with extra spacing

[@brocwilliams7186]

Hey, great videos. Please make more. Just general day to day stuff is fine. We don't care if they are repetitive or you think they will be boring!!! Just post them

[@AlanTheBeast100]

I think your t-shirt should be: "BECAUSE GOOD ENOUGH ISN'T GOOD AND ISN'T ENOUGH."

[@44R0Ndin]

Reminds me a lot of the "towers" on car parts like the ignition distributor cap or ignition coil secondary lead connection. Same principle (make the path from the connection point to the nearest point on the engine block hard for electricity to cross, and give it an easier path thru the spark plug lead and spark plug and THEN to the engine block). That's why sometimes gasoline-powered cars stall out or misfire "but only when it's raining hard", they have a crack or carbon track to ground in the ignition circuits, but it only acts up when water gets on the ignition system. Cracking like in this video is one surefire way to get that kind of a problem sooner rather than later, but we have another failure mode in the automotive world: Carbon tracking! The plastics and rubbers we use aren't completely free of carbon, and usually everything's got some level of oil film on it just from normal operation, combine that with the high temperature of an electric arc and you get the oil or plastic or rubber decomposing into carbon and hydrogen (even if no oxygen is present this happens), the hydrogen goes away (or combines with oxygen to form water vapor) and what is left behind is a nice thin but conductive film of carbon soot. The electric arc gets quenched out in this carbon track, but the power is still there in the current flow and that carbon isn't exactly low resistance (carbon being the key element of note in most resistor compositions), so the heat builds up and even more oil film or polymer or rubber gets turned into conductive carbon tracking. Once it starts there's nothing you can do to fix it other than replace the entire part that has the carbon tracking. No chemical treatments, no cutting it back to good plastic or rubber or cleaning off the carbon soot film, once it carbon tracks once, it's a misfire waiting for a rainy day or sooner. And the closer it is to the ignition coil, the more frequently it's going to cause problems GM V6 engines of the 3200 3400 3600 series were famous for having issues with their ignition coils because of this, that is when they weren't hydro-locking because of a bad interaction between Dex-Cool and the intake manifold gasket materials. I've even seen this carbon tracking thing fry a computer before, what happened that time was that the carbon track landed the secondary voltage on to the same wires that the computer uses to tell the electronic ignition when to fire, was a pretty spectacular failure to be honest, took out the computer and it STANK like burning electronics, plus it had a nice melted hole blown thru the side of the plastic case right next to where the (metal) mounting bracket for it was. Guess I found out where the voltage found a path to ground!

[@jamesashley3827]

Great information 👊

[@stephencraven3748]

As a firefighter this is useful information.

[@GoldSeals]

Very Informative.Thanks for sharing.

[@greggorr314]

A little dirt plus a little water plus the drop of the primary line makes a nice "little" steam bomb. Voila: two pieces to the insulator that let it a-allll hang out. Cool exhibit.

[@robertcookjr6100]

Great stuff thank you for sharing

[@samjones1954]

thats funny. at your level wood is a semi-conductor. I work in computers and audio and in my world wood is an insulator. Then again, I am not screwing with 7k volts.

[@chris76-01]

With enough voltage, anything can become a conductor temporarily. ⚡️

[@InsideOfMyOwnMind]

A 2n2222 wouldn't stand a chance up in there.🤣

[@charliesullivan4304]

I wonder if you can make a PMP transistor from layers of pine, maple and pine.

[@InsideOfMyOwnMind]

@@charliesullivan4304 I don't think it's a matter of whether you can or not. I do think it's a matter of degrees of efficacy.

[@Hyratel]

If it changes its conduxtivity based on the presence of a control current, Yes

[@brendakoldyk1647]

The part of that fuse holder that supports it ,water gets in and into the porcelain and starts to arc and steam builds up splitting it in half. I have seen it happen when one exploded it was still steaming.

[@fritzsue]

That was really interesting to a non electrical person

[@DP-hy4vh]

We had that happen in my neighborhood a few years ago. It threw a ton of sparks and caught a swamp on fire. Several different fire departments had to show up to put out the fire. Every once in a while I can still get a faint whiff of smoke years later. Probably set the muck on fire underground.

[@rock7282]

Love what you do, but I got a comment. You’re the only electrician that I’ve ever seen wearing jewelry.

[@veil67]

i wonder if with a thermal camera it would detect the heat when the porcelain switch starts to fail slowly before leaking the 7.2 KV into the pole

[@Bobsdecline]

Absolutely! Not always on dry days though... Our thermal camera vehicle does regular patrols throughout the province on humid/rainy days and catches a lot of these before they become a problem!

[@capicolaspicy]

Nice video - TY!

[@dendkmac]

Great video Aaron in Las Vegas they spontaneously combust kidding...was 120 deg yesterday, oh and the power went out in the early morning

[@MrJujubean]

I lived in Vegas for 16 years, there were some nights at 11 pm it was still 100 degrees. We lived in our pool.

[@dendkmac]

@@MrJujubean yea it was 103 at 12:00am yesterday

[@rupe53]

@@MrJujubean Talked with a buddy in Arizona yesterday and comparing notes on the weather. You obviously know about the "dry heat" which is common out there. I was chatting about the situation here in the northeast where in July it becomes tropical. This week it will be around 75F at night, with 90%+ humidity. As I type here at roughly 8 am, the humidity is hanging at 95%... and they started paving the street early (5 am) in the hope of getting done sooner this afternoon.

[@TheChipmunk2008]

whatever is not good, may it be short lived sir

[@Bobsdecline]

I hope so my friend! 😔🤝

[@3beltwesty]

Entergy a power company let a thin hardwood touch my 7200 volt line on a rural driveway..from last August 2023 to March 2024.. it was about 45 ft tall and just super thin 4 inch at DBH. Bent over like a fishing rod and hung up on the hot 7200 volt line. Tip almost horizontal and between the hot top wire and lower neutral wire The tree was 25 ft away from the line. And in tornado like weather got hung up on the live wire. It blew the fuse on the main road 3 times over like 7 months or more. They are lucky they closed their service centers to the public. Because I would have dumped all the rotten frozen food on their desks. Lol. So during the hard rains there was enough conductive current with leaves blowing and pine straw to blow the fuse. Then the tree top would smolder all last fall when dry. Burnt ties on the dry ground. I reported it many dozens of times..all service call center folks are different..they rarely record the problem. Spent like 3 man days in slack break times on hold or explaining a tree is on a live wire. They have no online reporting that one can send a picture to. So it is just dialog with someone taking care of kids . Playing a video games. Or taking to 3 people at once. The only reason they fixed it was in March a giant pine snapped in a windstorm and took the 7200 volt line out. Broke the hot and neutral wires and broke the fuse. The lineman said to me that a tree on a 7200 volt line is not a risk.. also said that 14.4kv tends to blow fuses more with tree limbs.. I really did not want to cut a live green wet hardwood touching 7200 volts..lol Unless measured the voltage to ground say at 4 ft and grounded the tree above the saw cut. The bottleneck is at least then there was no way to send a picture of the problem. Also their call have an issue log must be lost. The odd thing is after each call they always wanted to know how Johnny or Sally or Bertha did. Impossible since would need a week to see if the problem was fixed. I had to chain saw out a section of the tree to get thru my driveway

[@lornebelongia4780]

Would like to see examples of failed lightning arrestors. They cause us CATV techs and shortwave radio operators major headaches too

[@shabo857]

Holy crap the amount of bugs up by you is INSANE!!!

[@Bobsdecline]

They've been brutal this year!

[@andrewrussack8647]

Recommend researching the steel and concrete ‘stobie’ pole. Used in South Australia. Can’t catch fire! 👍

[@SuperDd40]

No edit is the best edit.

[@billynomates920]

5:40 those things look so simple inside and maybe they are but no, no, no! i enjoy learning a little on youtube but in real life if i see sparks (or even if not) i stay the hell away!

[@46fd04]

Another issue in the Toronto (Canada) area is lack of cleaning maintenance regarding salt residue getting on the insulators.

[@mikeadler434]

👍👍

[@edorofish]

Very informative! What's the bugs buzzing around your head? Deer flies?

[@Bobsdecline]

Yea, they were brutal!!!

[@spvillano]

Likely, over time the porcelain fails due to gradual degradation of the grout, allowing water into the termination section and freezing and thawing does the heavy lifting on cracking the rest. But, nothing lasts forever. Did see one other type of pole fire. Failed transformer, dripping burning oil and all. No drama, that circuit got deenergized, they cut loose with their hose and eventually got it out and cooled off enough for a lineman crew to replace it. Hot, damp environment, things fail. Used to see similar failures on transformers on the ground (utilities in that country were below ground, save for the transformers), it got hot, perpetually dusty with a saline/carbonate atmosphere and humid (there, we're talking 110 - 120 degrees in the shade, which hadn't been imported into the country yet) and well, we'd fail sitting in the hot and nasty far sooner.

[@bblod4896]

Cool.

[@dalelongson4561]

was on a road building job wiring in site cabins when a ground worked had gone for a pee up a pole that had a leaking insulator and got a bit of a shock mid stream

[@tjairicciardi9747]

great video with no editing

[@jfbeam]

Anything is conductive with a high enough voltage. (water most definitely is conductive. it's just not a very good conductor.)

[@jovetj]

Water is WEIRD in many, many, ways. We just often don't think about how weird it is because it's so common around us. An example of water's weirdness: most substances contract when they freeze, but water expands when it freezes.

[@BVN-TEXAS]

Hey hope a plane down here and help me out. In the storm my transformer fuse popped and I need a new one. Will pay cash no questions asked. 😂😂

[@robertpeters9438]

That cutout broke so smoothly that i wonder if it is manufactured in two halves and scintered together as the metal is added.

[@MitzvosGolem1]

Excellent channel 👍 Thank you Ceramic may have cracked from rain water getting inside grout cavities and freezing expanding ?

[@Bobsdecline]

Thanks! 🤝 It certainly could have... The expansion and contraction of the metal components within the porcelain play a large role in causing cracks.

[@MitzvosGolem1]

@@Bobsdecline indeed. My son is a Lineman for Duke power in Florida. I was IBEW in NY. Enjoy your show. Thanks 👍

[@gwharton68]

Considering the size of that 7200v insulator, can you imagine the size of a 1.5M volt insulator.

[@imeprezime1285]

For 1100 kV AC service, post insulators are approximately 30' long. For 1500 kV they would be like 40'

[@rickchapman9232]

Can you do a segment on the high tension lines coming out from the power plant?

[@AdamJhonshon]

Do y'all ever have transformers that catch on fire ? And what does a capacitor bank do on a utility pole?

[@glenncharnogursk6647]

Very informative video. I am a former IBEW Inside Lineman living in northeast Pennsylvania and have a question. What would cause the insulators on the cross arms of a power pole flash like a light bulb? Almost looking like runway lights at a airport. On my morning commute to work.

[@rupe53]

You sure they are not those warning lights that are induction powered and hang on the higher voltage lines?

[@frogz]

how many volts are common on the supply side in cities like chicago of the overhead wires? i read 7200v is common in single phase of 3?

[@thaiexodus2916]

Or simplified, technical, free ions, conductive atoms or molecules with a net electrical charge, happen anywhere and everywhere with the exception of materials that molecularly oppose and preclude ion presence.

[@byAnArgentinian]

So dry wood is considered a semi conductor above what voltage?? I always thought only wet/humid wood would not be non-conductive! Interesting

[@Hyratel]

Semantic question: are you using semiconductor in the sense of 'just barely conductive', or in the sense of 'changes its conductivity in the prensence of a biasing/control current' because it would be Really Interesting if it's the second (which is how semiconductor is used in most electronics environments)

[@MartyMacgyver]

Dry wood is an good insulator that can become mildly conductive when moist. The big difference between this and a semiconductor like silicon is that when silicon is properly doped, its resistance can change dramatically by application of a relatively tiny control voltage. Wet wood doesn't do that. You could call both materials resistors in bulk, but they are not both "semiconductors".

[@jeramiecooper1913]

Out of curiosity, is the cutout recycled after it's pulled down? I've heard the porcelain could be run through glass recycling. It's interesting to see how the cement holding the metal brackets is burned up. Thanks for the great video.