Revisiting "Pisa" to see the Leaning Poles!

Hello everyone!

I have Revisited Pisa, and while I was there, got some shots of Utility Poles with "SLP" (Severe Lean Problem)

*** FYI: These images are from So. California - not really from Pisa Italy. Also, the Street names are just jokes, not actual Streets in So. Ca. ***



Shot down Pisa Ave. showing at least ½ Mile stretch of Poles that lean



Check out the 3rd Pole down (next to the Traffic Signal) - it's A' Leanin' quite a bit!



A few more with somewhat higher SLP than others



Some straight, some tilted.



Shot of Poles on Mt. Etna Dr. Can see why they lean, as the Circuit they carry uses really Large Conductors (like 500 MCM maybe), plus they span diagonally for about 300 feet carrying a 3Ø 4 wire feeder.
These Poles are severly Guyed too. They have 3 Independent guys landed on the poles, however they anchor to the Ground in a common point via a "Standoff" item, which is attached to the pole in a Cantelever format. This allows the Guys to span over the Sidewalk.

BTW, what is the term / name for the Guying method explained above?
Also, what term(s) best describe an auxillary Pole used specifically for attaching Guys to it? Would this be a "Pal Pole"?
(the Pole normally is across a Street from the "Target Pole", has Guys Terminated to it from the "Target Pole" and a few supplimental Ground Anchored Guys on opposing side of the ones from the "Target Pole", Pole is typically half the length of the Pole it assists with and the Pole carries no Power Circuits - sometimes Telco / CATV Trunk Cables, but not always)

Tomorrow, I'll try to get a shot of a 230 KV Pole with Transpositions. It's really apparent!

Scott35

Are some of those from shots on Katella in Orange? I have noticed those poles also.

A couple years ago a stretch of poles along the Mall of Orange here all fell after a strong wind. Made quite a mess.

I've got to agree. There's one really named Mt Etna, but it's in Fountain Valley amongst the "Mount" streets. There's probably not a + or - 10 foot change of elevation in the whole City

[This message has been edited by electure (edited 11-15-2004).]

Scott 35
The guy that spans a sidewalk is called just that - a sidewalk guy. That's what the old lineman call them. I don't know if there is a term for the stub pole for the guy.
Also, third picture, the traffic signal is out of plumb also or is it your camera

Sidewalk guys or guy struts are fairly common for most electric utilities but we don't use them much. The short poles are normally referred to as guy stubs. The guy wires that go to the guy stubs are span guys or head guys and the ones that go the earth are down guys.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Charlie Eldridge, Indianapolis, Utility Power Guy

sandsnow, Welcome!!

It's great to have a local inspector here.

(Are you by chance Larry?)


Dmattox, I drive down Katella every morning.
I've never noticed anything.

Thanks for the welcome
Yes, I am Larry
Evidently you've at least heard of me

[This message has been edited by sandsnow (edited 11-15-2004).]

Good Eyes, Guys!

Yes, one of the Streets is indeed Katella in Orange.
Ironically, Electure's early Morning shot is in the same location as mine, just the pictures are "180º Out-Of-Phase" with each other!


Man, those are some leanin' Poles!


I took a few shots of the HV Transmission Circuit Tower with the Transpositions. Wanted to post tonight, but too tired!

Also have a few misc. shots of Equipment at the current project, and a much more recent personal photo taken inside a GP 38-2 Locomotive to add in the "Whadda Ya Look Like?" thread.
Believe it or not, it looks much better than the one taken in Barstow!

Wanted to thank Sandsnow and CharlieE for the info regarding the Guying questions.
Also to address Sandsnow's question:


My camera had a few degrees of tilt towards the Left when this shot was taken.
I'll see what I can do to the image with the editing application to straighten things out.

Again, thanks to everyone for the replies!

Scott35

sandsnow,
Although I don't know you personally, (we've met a few times) your reputation precedes you.
It's one of a knowledgeable, fair inspector that enforces the Code and not an agenda of his own.
Actually, your whole Dept is thought of as one of the best, and your City is always a good one to work in.
We can always know what to expect, and that, in itself, says a lot.

Thanks for joining us

Scott,

I'd be quite happy to put up with all those leaning poles so long as I could have some of that lovely blue southern CA sky to go with them!

electure
Thanks, your embarrassing me. I'm glad our inspection division is so highly thought of.
What job did we meet on? You got my curiosity up!!

Those polls are especially scary considering they are leaning in the direction that the Santa Ana winds blow. Next time they do blow, I'll think twice about driving down Katella

Got a few pics of a great leaner near my apt.

Closer view, doesn't look too bad, eh?





This one shows the phase transposition heading west. Believe these are 60Kv class.




edited to add images

[This message has been edited by electure (edited 12-05-2004).]

[This message has been edited by mxslick (edited 12-05-2004).]

Aw, Paul, I hate to admit it, but the skies are much bluer when they're shot through the tinted glass of Scott 35 and mxslick's windshields.



[This message has been edited by electure (edited 12-05-2004).]

Thanks, electure for adding the images!

Not too much blue sky today, very cold and windy with rain!!

 
Poleline guying seems to consist of piles of engineering calculations, a lot of regional experience and a degree of black art. Particularly with poles for subtransmission and a lot of underbuild, it’s kind of a balancing act guying miles of line while not having poles becoming accordions and collapse like folding rulers. Pitting aboveground stresses (weather) aginst subsurface forces (soil conditions) is another battle.

Sorry to throw this one back up again,
but here is a small substation I found on the Net:

Looks EXACTLY like Katella in Anaheim (east of The Pond). Not one of the poles along that road is at less than a 5 degree pitch. I feel like I'm in a Batman TV villan hide out everytime I drive down that street.

Per Mike's (Trumpy) posted Image of the remote distribution Transformer yard:

Looks like someone was definitely watching "Batman" when that place was put together!
(referring to message by Zapped, and the tilted Camera views taken at a given Villan's "Headquarters").

It may be safe to say that the "Penguin", "Joker" or the "Riddler" (possibly all 3 of them), was/were contracted to build the site above, and set the Poles on Katella Ave.

Imagine seeing these guys working on Utility Poles and gear!!!
2 of them wearing colorful Ballet Tights.
The 3rd guy wearing a Tophat and Tuxedo, smoking a Cigar (constantly), carrying an Umbrella at all times, waddling around mumbling ... something ... (Duck calls???).

All three being highly disgruntled 24/7/365!

Scott35

I've got to get a picture of some 75-100 foot poles around here that have VSLP (VERY Servere Lean Problem). The poles carry trans. lines over a railroad (non-electric) bridge, and the poles are rotten, ready to fall. The bad thing is, the leaning pole looks like it might take the two on the other side of the bridge with it! I'd hate to see the poles carrying trans. lines over the electrified railroad line fall...

Ian A.

[This message has been edited by Theelectrikid (edited 08-18-2005).]

Electrickid,
Please do!!
Trumpy, are all those poles just growing North towards the Sun?

[This message has been edited by Webmaster (edited 08-22-2005).]

This thread reminds me of some poles I used to see when riding the train into NYC. A lot of marshes on the edge of NJ, and there were a bunch of poles set out in them. As we traveled you could watch as each pole progressively dipped lower and lower until the tops of the poles disappeared under the marsh waters, primary feeders and all! Then about 500 yards later, they'd suddenly reappear and gradually they'd straighten back up.

It was like a gull-durn flip book!

-John

<FONT face=Arial size=2>I was driving along and saw this one, it is more poll bend then poll lean though:</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><IMG alt="" hspace=0 src="http://www.glorb.com/pics/P1001677.jpg" align=baseline border=0></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>This one bothers me the most, in this pic it does not look like it is leaning that much, but it is leaning forward as well as to the left, and has actually got worse since I took this pic, as someone backed there truck into the guy wire, but before that, if it is windy, that poll really starts to sway, and the poll easily moves just by touching the guy wire, there is also alot of slack between the phases, as well a mess of other cables:</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><IMG alt="" hspace=0 src="http://www.glorb.com/pics/P1001615.jpg"

[This message has been edited by gbrozny (edited 08-28-2005).]

At least when the pole in gbrozny's second pic goes down with the pole pigs, the building on the left has a hefty emergency generator!

well, that is one of my concerns, if the poll falls the way it is leaning it will fall on the generator, and will the generator work with all that stuff falling on it is the big question. the city says they can only take care of the lean issue if they cut off everyones power for two days, take that poll and the transformers down, put in a new poll and put everything back up.

Here's a couple more Scott:

Great photo's! Amazing that some POCO's don't action these matters.

If some of these poles break or fall over, main feeders will be out of service for a while and the public may be at risk if nearby.

I see what I can find in our local network.

Regards Ray

rodalco,

the sad part is, in most cases is simply about budget. If they fix them before they fall it comes out of one budget. If they fix them after they fall, it's a different budget. Plus I believe they can get funding for the emergency repair budget (easier for them to pass a rate increase along)

just my $0.02

For anyone that's wondering, the poles I sent in are still standing. I need to get the digi cam down to the industrial park, there's a pole with a (at least) 30º kink right under the second crossbeam! Someone took out a pole yesterday, car destroyed, pole snapped in half, 11KV (+ or -) wires still attached to crossbeam, three feet from ground. Replaced today.

Ian A.