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Joined: Jul 2002
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Trumpy Offline OP
Member
From Stuff:
Quote
A holidaymaker driving through Kaiteriteri Beach Motor Camp with a yacht's mast up hit 11,000 volt power lines, cutting power to some people in Kaiteriteri and Marahau for four hours yesterday.

The falling lines narrowly missed a camper, who was shaken by the close call.

A Network Tasman spokesman said the power cut happened at 10.22am and affected 655 customers. Many of them had power back on by midday and it was restored to the rest by 2.20pm.

However, one Kaiteriteri bach owner, who did not want to be named, told The Nelson Mail her family was still without power at 3pm.

The woman said it was the second time in about 15 years that a boat mast had hit overhead lines at the camp. Worried at the potential for injury or death, she said the lines should be underground.

A camper from Ashburton said his wife was sitting outside their campervan when the live wires fell between her and a car. The lines fell about one metre from her and she was "pretty shaken", said the man, who did not want to be named either.

The couple had been holidaying annually at the camp for 10 years and "we've never had anything like this happen before".

Camp office manager Jenny Guild said the cut had not been too disruptive and people had just adapted.

No-one was injured and yesterday afternoon camp staff had not managed to catch up with the man who was towing the yacht, Mrs Guild said. Bringing a yacht into the camp with its mast up was a big "no-no", she said.

Motueka Volunteer Fire Brigade chief fire officer Mike Riddell said the brigade attended the incident and kept people away from the lines. A car roof was "scorched" and the brigade had to check a house that was smoking, he said. The house was not damaged.

The Network Tasman spokesman said the company had a policy to put power lines underground and was initially working through urban areas. He said more rural areas such as Kaiteriteri were not top of the list for the work.


LINK

I don't know how many times it's been said in the lead up to summer here in the various media outlets, for boat owners to watch out for overhead power lines with boat masts (which are inherently made of aluminium).

And then something like this happens, it's just a good thing that no innocent by-standers were injured/killed by this clowns actions.

11kV has no friends at all.

Under-grounding power lines is one thing, but why must everything be wrapped in cotton wool these days? mad

Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 853
L
Member
We Never put the mast up until we are ready to put it in the water.

Just silly!

Last edited by leland; 01/01/10 09:06 PM.
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 251
W
Member
Kind of reminds me of this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dmy9CHCewtg

Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 9,923
Likes: 32
G
Member
Every couple years we have a sailboat getting stuck under a bridge and occasionally they get tangled up with an electrical cable. It is usually more of a fire incident than electrocution.

I have seen a story about a trailer boat hitting a power line now and then.


Greg Fretwell
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 223
A
Member
Reminds me of a TV aerial installation I go past sometimes. Mounted on a garage roof inches under the 16mm supply to the house...really dumb. Eventually, the wire will sag, the insulation will rub off, and the aerial will become live, providing 240V superimposed on the UHF signal.

Joined: Jul 2002
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Trumpy Offline OP
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Originally Posted by aussie240
Reminds me of a TV aerial installation I go past sometimes. Mounted on a garage roof inches under the 16mm supply to the house...really dumb. Eventually, the wire will sag, the insulation will rub off, and the aerial will become live, providing 240V superimposed on the UHF signal.

Yeah mate,
What's worse is, these days all TV aerial inputs (those that use them) have a capacitor in there to help block the half-mains voltage getting out, so a fault like this could go un-noticed for quite a while, as the iron roof is un-earthed. eek

I feel sorry for anyone that disconnects that TV set.

Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 794
Likes: 3
W
Member
TV station news vans also have to be careful of overhead powerlines. They usually have tall extendable masts with microwave antennas atop them. And occasionally the operators will forget to look out for the power wires and extend the mast and antenna and touch 7.2kv and not notice a problem until someone steps out of the van... Rubber tires are a pretty good insulator. College interns (essentially free labor) often are not aware or ignore such things in the rush to get a news event on the air.

Joined: Jul 2002
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Trumpy Offline OP
Member
Originally Posted by wa2ise
And occasionally the operators will forget to look out for the power wires and extend the mast and antenna and touch 7.2kv and not notice a problem until someone steps out of the van...


Woah!!
Not my idea of a good day at work. eek

Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 404
Member
They make a device to prevent this sort of thing... Works a lot like a tick tracer.

http://www.hilomast.com/wireless_sigalarm.html

Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 8,443
Likes: 3
Trumpy Offline OP
Member
At the end of the day, I guess it comes down to people being aware of thier surroundings.
It's not like over-head power lines are a new invention.

Everyone that uses equipment like bucket trucks, cranes, Hiab arms, indeed anything that can come close to over-head lines needs to be aware (and MOST are) of the damage that can be caused by contact with HV lines.

I think we've all seen that video where there is a crane, that contacted power lines, in the States, it's been on the Net for years.
If you have a bit of gear contact HV wires, all I can say is RUN!! (or more to the point, hop with your feet together), the voltage gradients across the ground around these things when the equipment is still live, can kill, it's called Step Potential. frown


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