ECN Electrical Forum
Discussion Forums for Electricians, Inspectors and Related Professionals

Exposed live wires! YouTube

Over the years we have seen countless instances of light poles that have either been damaged or tampered with.

My take? WHat did you expect? This happens EVERY time something of value belongs to 'everyone'. Public property / governemnt property / whatever. What belongs to everyone belongs with no one.

IMO, this is the wrong forum for this issue. It's not a code matter - it's a theft or vandalism matter. Someone deliberately tampered with that pole and created a hazard.

Simply fixing it - and I'm not about to advocate governments making catering to crooks their primary occupation - won't accomplish anything. It will just get tampered with again.

Think of stuff like this as a symptom, rather than the problem itself.

up here they just rot & fall over ....

~S~

The whole video is based on a series of assumptions.....

"Probably energized" No way of knowing whether it was or not ... if you didn't test it.

"Probably the work of vandals" Not a maintenance man?

Being close to the street, I'd guess that a truck may have backed into the cover of that outlet, breaking it off, and making the outlet break off the box as well. The screws may have been of poor quality. And city halls are not known for rapid response to maintenance issues...

No trucks here this was in a park. I will go back soon to check this which is also a light pole.

OK, I'm confused. The YouTube link I saw had nothing to do with light poles. It was a scene from This Old House, where their house electrician showed how he steals power for temporaries.

I'm not going to lie and say that I've never done this, but certainly not in such a brazen manner. Fiberglass ladder or whatever, that fool did everything against common sense.

First, I'd have made the neutral the last conductor that I cut.

Second, I certainly would not have stripped the end of a hot leg until I was ready to terminate it.

Third, I wouldn't let some onlooker on an aluminum ladder be anywhere close to what I was doing.

Fourth, I'd have had safety glasses and gloves on at a minimum.

Lastly, I sure wouldn't be advertise that I'm stealing power on national TV, even if only for a few hours. I know that POCOs around the country have differing policies about this, but if we do that here, we can get charged with utility theft. If we need temporary power, then we have to set a temporary service and have them feed it for us, period.

so if it's vandalism, call the cops...

~S~

Joe:
With due respect, IMHO this is a property maintenance issue. Yes, it poses a safety issue and should be brought to the attention of whomever is responsible for the site. I have come upon similar situations in the Twp I work in, and contact the property owner, or the Twp DPW. As to citing this as an NEC issue, I have to disagree with you.

Yes, if it is not addressed ASAP, I will 'make more noise'!