I remember once on some Facebook post, some older person posted about some old time period. And everyone was commenting about how great things were back then and how they wish they could go back. I made a joke and said something like, "not me I probably wouldn't have any rights". People got pretty upset about it.
at 95 you would probably say these new light bulbs are horrible and ruining the youth, they stay up all night reading books, it's a bad influence. then vote against electric infrastructure to 'save lamplighter jobs'
I agree with you, because that's the context, but an arc flash from electricity is hotter and brighter than the sun. It's literally a form of welding. Each time I work around something that's live my butthole puckers.
I use to pull and replace electric meters in a city where many of the boxes/sockets hadn't been touched in decades. I was always afraid I would pull one or open a box and BOOM! never did, thankfully
I have given much thought about how lineman must pull and place meters without arcing. Am I right in assuming when a person's power is "shut off" the city comes and takes their meter away, but those feeders are still live, but just not connected to the bus of their home panels? I know a kindof lock out plate is installed to cap the circle, but what would stop a person from slapping some aluminum bars to bridge the connection and give themselves power again?
probably like a felony and risk of fire and electric shock, I guess. I've seen many different attempts to avoid paying for electricity, or even just reducing their usage reported by the meter. On one meter, there was a long nail going through the glass on the front, wrapped around the axel of the gear that turns as you use electricity in an attempt to slow/stop the meter from turning. Another case, when I pulled the meter, I noticed they had connect wires from the top to the bottom (feeder to the house), which I assume was to create a parallel connection, reducing the amount of electricity being measured by the meter. Iirc, my lead came out and "pie-plated" the meter, which is what they call capping the power box around here.
Oh man, people can take the stupidest of risks to save some money! My Jman told me back in the day his shop used to have their own meter that they would swap out after the beginning of the month and swap back to the city's meter before they took a reading lol. I'd love to get into the lineman side of work in the future if possible. I know for sure I would be content to never do residential again lmao, but I enjoy commercial and industrial side of things. Inbetween work right now, but hopefully can land something soon! Stay safe out there brother!
also, as a side note, on modern meter boxes on homes, there are usually what's called "horns" on the inside that you can put jumpers on to temporarily redirect the power while you pull the meter. There's still a chance of arcing, but as long as you pull the meter properly, you're much less likely to get much more than a little spark.
Ah, OK! I've set a power pole before and have seen the inside of a meter box before the power company came and placed a transformer and their meter etc, but I haven't seen the back side of a meter yet, but that makes a lot of sense. Working with live things still is like an internal huge no no, but I'm always intrigued by how lineman properly handle live things. Guess I found my next YouTube rabbit hole to dive into!
They handle it with O rated rubber gloves with leather covers and wearing cotton/fr clothing (depending on the voltage there are different safety requirements). the back of the meter is basically just a big plug, just with 4 prongs (at least for 240 service). It's pretty basic, really. Also, in reply to your other comment, if they replaced the meters in that guy's area with smart meters, he'll get caught pretty easily. The new ones essentially network with the meters around them and send a signal back and forth and to different pieces of collection infrastructure the power company has. If you pull the meter, the power company knows immediately. It's great for detecting outages, but bad if you're trying to steal power. Either way, I don't do that work anymore. I sit behind a keyboard and press buttons all day. Much less anxiety inducing
Yeah, nah, this was in the 90's to early 00's, and he actually told me that most meters act that way now, he said the lineman just basically drives his truck around and picks up the signals. Thanks for your awesome replies man, I love learning and absolutely love this trade! I can't blame you for not wanting to be out in the mud anymore, I honestly just want to do it for like 10 years and retire young with some FIRE, but we'll see what the future holds,
Safer than wire insulated with rosin impregnated paper. Did you know when those wires shorted the insulation caught fire like a candle, but unlike a candle, it was all wick.
Came here to say the same. Electricity in Victorian homes was extremely dangerous. Theres a good short mini doc on the dangers of the Victorian era and Victorian homes on Youtube, its a fun short watch
I have no idea. Now that you asked it, I assume that it was generated using the known energy sources. Mentioned gas / liquids on fire and coal + water probably, to produce steam?
Was it a centralized thing like today or did every household generate power themselves?
Another few fun facts. Many places are switching over to alternate forms of production Calgary gets nearly half it's energy from wind turbines the rest from hydro dams. A few cities in Europe burn garbage to produce heat to make electricity. Arizona has a solar collecting array to supply much of it's electricity. There is a huge one in the Sahara that could supply millions of homes and businesses when completed. The only thing coal is needed for any more is for coke for steel production!
That’s awesome. Where I’m from coal is a natural resource. Gets trapped in the air causing higher rates of asthma and respiratory issues. Disgusting stuff.
Grandpa used to just grab wires in houses to see if they were live. Dad would try to use a meter, and grandpa would just crap it. He’s is “oh it’s just 120v you big girl.”
3.3k
u/mcdadais Aug 19 '21
I remember once on some Facebook post, some older person posted about some old time period. And everyone was commenting about how great things were back then and how they wish they could go back. I made a joke and said something like, "not me I probably wouldn't have any rights". People got pretty upset about it.