ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Sad story raises a question

I don't think I have ever seen an overhead feeder in a dwelling, just the service drop ... unless you include that orange cord people string through the trees to their shed

For the purposes of electrocution, Christmas lights are as dangerous as a service drop. Probably more so since nobody considers them all that dangerous. The only difference is a fault on a service drop won't trip the O/C device but neither will a person "hung" (as in freezing current) on a lamp cord.

It might just be a local thing in Chicago, but I see quite a few areas where the power from the house to the garage is strung overhead. I guess some folks see it as being easier than digging a trench when building the garage, but I always thought it looked just a wee bit ugly.

"Would it help things any if we were required to use armored cable for overhead services?"

It might but think of the size pole and attachments needed to support all that weight

We use a variation of armoured cable here in New Zealand, for overhead service cables to peoples houses.
It's called Neutral Screened cable.

Essentially what this is, is one or two insulated copper conductors, with a screening (multiple copper wires) surrounding the conductors, over this is laid a thick PVC sheathing.

We even bury it underground here without conduit.

The best thing about the screening (which is always at ground potential), is that if the cable is struck by anything, the first conductor to be hit will be the Neutral, if the inner cores are also damaged, the neutral will cause fault current to flow and the circuit protection to operate.

That sounds like SE cable we use from the service point to the service disconnect. Overhead service is generally run with that triplex in the picture.

Agreed but SE has to be at least 3x the weight of triplex - not to mention 5x the price?