# Power Lines

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/power-lines/680854>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 8, 2014, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/power-lines/680854 "2014-02-08T20:39:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\
**Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/power-lines/680854/21 "2014-02-11T13:03:48Z")

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> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#):
>
> They work on these lines bare-handed, by the way. In MASSIVELY insulated boom lifts.

Not always. [Sometimes they use helicopters.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkFH8lLvKZ0)

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**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\
**Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/power-lines/680854/22 "2014-02-11T13:21:47Z")

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> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#):
>
> (most rubber tires have metal belts inside them nowadays).

Before this thread, I thought of tires as insulating since they are a rubber insulator that keeps the metal 6+ inches away from the ground.

Now, I appreciate that you’re not looking at a 6 inch gap with rubber insulation. You’re looking at a 1/4 inch gap, insulated with carbon infused rubber, to a steel wire, then to the metal bead, then through another 1/8 inch of carbon infused rubber to the metal wheel, and everything else in the car.

Tires must suck as insulators. I think I’m going to check a set of tires with a multimeter today, see just how good an insulator they are.

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**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\
**Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/power-lines/680854/23 "2014-02-11T16:57:04Z")

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> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#):
>
> Transformers convert the distribution voltage down to household voltage (240 volts) which typically feeds three or four houses. The service drop line from the transformer to the house is usually insulated.

Even the insulated ones are not to be trifled with as the insulation can become brittle and worn due to exposure to the elements.

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**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\
**Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/power-lines/680854/24 "2014-02-11T19:23:47Z")

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[Outright Electrical Nerd Brag]  
At an AB Chance test facility I got to put on a Faraday mesh suite, climb a 12 foot fiberglass ladder, and attach the “Faraday Tail” of the suit to a 200kV conductor (345 KV phase to phase). The suit did not cover my feet so the corona discharge from my ankles made it feel like there was a 70mph wind even though I was in an enclosed test shed.

This was a power engineering class that that AB Chance gave quite often. The AB engineer said I was the first student ever to kiss the conductor. ( I wanted to use the line “These lips have been charged to 354kV” later that evening at the college bars)😃

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