ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Mylar balloons in power lines

Is this the bane of a poco worker's existence? Or is it staples in the poles from yard sale signs?

We just had a brownout then a full-on blackout across 3 cities. Did you guess mylar balloons?
Wrong. It was wild monkeys.
No really it was the balloons. What a nuisance.

I recall a case where some young people took 2 or more helium balloons with a fine wire between them and tripped a 250kv cicuit.

Mylar baloons and power lines are great fun!

Just don't get caught. I think disrupting infrastructure will get you brought in for terrorism these days.

When I was a kid we used to throw the baling wire they bound up newspapers with up into the transformer hubs. Lots of fun until we took the block out.

Took a deep sea fishing rod and 8' of chain and cast it over hi voltage lines then reeled it in until you know what happened. The arc knocked me down and I've felt lucky to be alive ever since.

While it is a favorite passtime for the youth in one area of the City I live in to throw chain and pipes across lines from nearby roofs. (I used to live on a hill over-looking that area, and it would set off re-closers and switches in all areas of the city sometimes, as well as turn on the generator at the hospital below me.)

SHOULD WE BE DISCUSSING THIS IN THE OPEN? Just loads of bad ideas out there for the taking...

I agree Mark,
Best we leave this sort of thing alone.