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Old 06-03-2015, 02:10 PM   #1
Wheelhouse
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Low hanging powerlines

While traveling through Louisiana, I was in New Orleans. While trying to get back on the freeway, I missed my turn , so I made a left turn and went around the block. Now as I made the second left turn I hear the whipping sound and loud snap. As I looked back, I saw a set of power lines laying on the ground. Apparently the power lines were sagging to low for the A/C unit to clear. Fortunately I stopped in time so as not to rip the A/C unit off the roof. The lady of the house was on a electric breathing machine, she was ok. Now here is the clincher. I contacted the power company and explained my issue. They said they haven't had any issues since last checked, that was 10-1/2 months ago I said. They said they were not taking any responsibility for any damage, ugh. Lucky only $125 to reposition and seal the A/C. I informed them of the federal clearance required for overhead power lines, and they said tough bananas.
 
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Old 06-03-2015, 02:50 PM   #2
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Guess that says it all.
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Old 06-03-2015, 03:08 PM   #3
jcurtis934
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Lucky they didn't charge you for the power line work you set up for them. John
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Old 06-03-2015, 03:27 PM   #4
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Sorry to hear about your issues. One of our delivery trucks hit a cable line that sagged down once and yanked the lawyer next doors tv off the desk and into the corner of the ceiling. Cable company paid for the reefer repair and the building and tv damage. You don't suppose it was because it was a lawyers office do you.
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Old 06-04-2015, 02:52 PM   #5
1retired06
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Electrical line, could have been injuries or worse.
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Old 06-05-2015, 12:06 PM   #6
WaltBennett
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May not have been an actual power line. Usually the lower ones are telephone or cable tv.

My problem came up just after we bought our Monty and brought it home. Got a straight 180' driveway and parked it at the end in clear view. We've power poles going up the street, but underground to homes from them. Under the power lines are the phone lines, under them are the cable provider's lines - each 3' lower than the one above. Verizon came in and strung fiber on the poles WITH THE MONTANA IN CLEAR VIEW leaving less than 10' clearance at the end of my driveway. After much back and forth (and some heavy words like "if I rip that thing out when leaving, it's on you!"), a guy with a bucket truck showed up and pulled the fiber cables up far enough for us. They claimed that it was the power companies fault for not having taller poles, since the spacing was required by whatever code they have to follow. Ours was far from the worst though - a neighbor up the street a bit doesn't even have 9'. don't ask me what will happen if there's a fire there (it's a 30 year old development, but we're all on 1+ acre lots).
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Old 06-06-2015, 10:54 AM   #7
Wheelhouse
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Oh yes, it was the power lines to the house on the corner. The lady inside was on a breathing machine and was deaf and mute. She came out because the power to the machines went off. Her daughter came from work, the neighbors came from their houses. The power company and police came and wouldn't even get out of the car. Power company took care of the power to the house and lifted the telephone line high enough for me to continue my exit from the neighborhood. I had to go to them at each end of the block to talk to the police. Then they ripped apiece (not the whole sheet) of paper from a spiral note pad with only the date and time of the incident. No badge numbers, names, car numbers, case numbers, zero. Talk about lazy. Yes, it could have been worst then what it was.
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Old 06-11-2015, 07:55 PM   #8
Artemus Gordon
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We were in upstate New York. We came upon low handing lines, slowed down and wife got out. Our AC units touched them as I passed. I call highway patrol. When we cam back through, repairs units were lifting the lines. If they are under 14 ft, it's public safety matter. I constantly scan heights of trees etc. It's scary out in the real world.
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Old 06-12-2015, 06:12 AM   #9
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Many years ago I drove truck for a trus company. They built long span trusses for industrial buildings and schools. I had a load for a new school on an Indain Resavation in AZ. I arrived in town arround 3 AM and was driving to the building site. As I was proceding down what could be called Main Street I kept hearing a pinging sound. Come to find out that pinging sound was telaphone lines crossing Main Street or now WAS crossing Main Street. Phone lines set at 10 feet truck exhaust set at 12 feet. Police thought it was funny as they said they keep telling the line installers the lines were two low. Needless to say police said not your fault just forget about. Gave me a copy of their report saying the same thing.
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Old 06-12-2015, 08:21 PM   #10
Mark N.
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On the subject of snagging a power line, I have a story: I retired from the Dept. of Defense as a mobile crane operator. I drove a Fantuzzi top loader for the last 10 years of my career (Google Fantuzzi). One day, I was tasked with driving to the other side of the military base I was working on, and I passed under some BIG lines, using a spotter to observe. These were 50,000 V lines. Using a standard 10 ft. clearance distance, I was cleared to go under them, with room to spare. Later, after completing the job, I returned under the same lines. Having cleared them a few hours earlier, my spotter truck moved ahead of me to do some traffic control. I now wish he had stayed!
Problem was on the return trip, the wind was blowing pretty hard. I didn't pay attention, but now those lines were bouncing up and down in the wind. I was looking at my obstacles left and right, having cleared the lines earlier with absolutely no problem. Suddenly, lightning struck! Not real lightning, but the man-made kind. A sudden brilliant, blinding flash of light, and what sounded like a hand-grenade going off to the side of my head! Boy was it loud!
I knew instantly that my boom had snagged one of those bad boys above me. I slammed on the brake, stopped, and saw a cable that had dropped outside the cab, draped across my machine.
I didn't know if it was hot or not, but I knew enough to stay put in the cab. I radioed the spotter truck who returned and told me "Don't get out!" Yeah....No kidding. sitting 10 ft. in the air, looking at something lying on my machine that could most certainly ruin my day.
Well, the base fire dept. got called, and 5 minutes later, they were all parked about 100 yds. from me and would come no closer. Can't say I blamed them. They said they were calling a base electrician to kill everything. Good idea! Guess what? It was Sunday. No base electrician on duty. They had to call him in from wherever he was that Sunday.
Guess who had to sit in the cab for about 3 hours and wait!?!? With a full bladder no less. I didn't even have a container to pee in, and I sure didn't dare open the door to go overboard.
Once the electrician arrived and looked things over, he simply walked up to me and said "You can just go ahead drive out from under that wire...It's not hot any more. It was dead as soon as you broke it." Turns out the sub-station blew all sorts of circuit breakers. I killed power to a big chunk of the base that day.
Oh brother....I did NOT get paid enough that day, even with the overtime!
I was doing paperwork and incident reports for a week.
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Old 06-13-2015, 08:12 AM   #11
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Good story Mark. You did not mention how fast you went to pee.
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Old 06-13-2015, 10:00 AM   #12
DQDick
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Definitely a good move not to pee out the cab door. When I was three my older cousins got me to pee on a weed burner hog fence. It's the earliest memory I have and I can still remember how that felt and it wasn't enough to kill me.
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