I absolutely love reading about a topic from a super enthusiastic non-expert. I want to subscribe to a weekly series called "Reasonably Intelligent Person Obsesses Over Something"
A friend and I have a podcast at https://www.youtube.com/fungineering
Utility poles
151–160 of 213 posts
Re: Utility poles
#152Work with a number of utilities in distribution. Happy to answer any questions.
Re: Utility poles
#153It’s interesting how such super common things can be completely different in sifferen countries.
Over here (Austria) utility poles effectively don’t exist. Everything is below ground and all households get three phases.
Re: Utility poles
#154Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is common at every utility. Part of the issue is based on the fact that the GIS systems do not align with the paper systems 100% and the paper systems are typically regarded as the standard. Another problem that must be considered is that utility workers, while highly competent at their profession, are not always great with working on computers. They generally write everything down on paper and then have one of…
> "Another problem that must be considered is that utility workers, while highly competent at their profession, are not always great with working on computers." You're absolutely correct on this point. When I was working as a transmission system operator the older guys (all in the 50s and 60s) would complain all day and night about the new "computer apps" that were introduced in our day to day workflow. They all pref…
This is still a major problem in distribution. Some of the best workers are in their late 50s and they are familiar with older equipment in the field that the younger guys may have never seen.
They would much rather use pen and paper to report what they did or didn’t do, with little appreciation for the reporting that could be done with a bit of input on the computer.
Re: Utility poles
#155https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformer_oil
c'mon really? you didn't even look?
What is this? You're "interested in utility infrastructure" !?
7000 Volt lightning?
most household uses ... they want single-phase power!? In 1910, maybe.
Re: Utility poles
#156Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are two phase wires and one neutral. Diff between phases is 240V, the diff between any phase and neutral is 120V. In Europe, you have three phases (R,S,T) and neutral. Here the diff between any phase and neutral is 250V, and the diff between any two phases is 380V.
In Europe, you have three phases (R,S,T) and neutral. Is that everywhere, to every building? In the USA, of necessity, power generation is three phase, large scale power distribution is three phase. What's confusing is that the previous discussion didn't differentiate between residential and commercial . In USA residential areas nobody gets all three phases to their house or apartment. As discussed in previous commen…
Unless you are in a really remote place you have three phases. Yes. Our stoves are typically connected to it (obviously not to all phases at once).
Re: Utility poles
#157A good book on this and related subjects is Infrastructure: The Book of Everything for the Industrial Landscape by Brian Hayes. Published in 2006 so almost certainly out of print, but probably easy enough to get on Amazon or similar.
Thanks for the recommendation; that book looks amazing! And there's a revised 2014 edition in print: http://industrial-landscape.com/#/buy
Thanks to both of you. It does seem to be a great book! I've requested it (well, the older version) from my library. Apropos this article: http://industrial-landscape.com/#/18
Re: Utility poles
#158As a German I'm always amazed by the ugliness of those power and telephone poles in other countries.
There is talk here to also build phone lines with poles in the future as it is cheaper, hope this never happens.
Re: Utility poles
#159Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would absolutely love a big writeup on how they're set up and what the components are, as well as all the real-estate stuff that certainly surrounds them. I'm also noticing a lot of new towers that look like big cylinders on a pole, sort of like a TACAN so I often wonder what's up with that. I do know that the traditional ones are triangle shaped such that they each form the intersection of a hexagon tessellation (…
The cell companies are actually moving away from the large towers as 5g service is deployed in favor of microcells. http://www.steelintheair.com/Blog/2017/04/top-10-things-the-... They can be built into decorative lighting poles such that you would really have to pay attention to notice them.
How does that work in rural areas? Microcells all the way down the highway at regular intervals?
Re: Utility poles
#160That was the most interesting thing I've read in a while. The things you take for granted are designed well enough that you forget they are there.