On Sat, 2 Nov 2019 06:41:57 -0400 Dan Penoff via Mercedes <mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote:
> There’s nothing scarier (to me) than working on high voltage equipment > when it’s energized. It was rare, but on occasion I had to do it when I > was working in the business. Some places like hospitals or air traffic > control centers simply don’t have maintenance windows. > > I took all the same classes and training the linemen did except the > pole related stuff. Still scared the crap out of me. > > I had a journeyman lineman tell me one time that, “When you stop being > afraid of it is when it kills you.” Point well taken. While working at Los Alamos National Laboratory, I had to take many classes on electrical safety. The 800 MeV accelerator was a major safety hazard, not only from utility voltages but also energy stored in large capacitors charged up to high voltages. One of the things strongly emphasized was there is a night and day difference between 220 VAC and 480 VAC. At 480 VAC and up, there is enough energy in an arc to heat up and ionize the air into a self-sustaining arc. Since this is fed by the local utility, there is a semi-infinite amount of energy to drive and heat up the arc, incinerating anything close to it. The arc-resistant space suits and gloves people working on 480 VAC and up distribution panels are required to wear are amazing, as were the videos surveillance cameras took showing people causing an arc and the pictures of the results when they did not wear the proper personal protective gear. Craig _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
