Can't Let Your Guard Down For a Second

[Tiny]

On a cell site job setting a precast equipment shelter . Typical no space job . With the weights put on the crane and the truck with the building waiting on me to get out of the way I attempted to get my truck stuffed between the house and garage on this property . Couple of subcontractors had their trucks on either side so I had my eyes on the mirrors .

No sparks or fires , So I backed up to get a few feet or clearance . Truck is less than 12 feet tall so the line was too low . Have to stay alert 100% of the time .

 

[mitch504]

Hey! I've done that before!

Around here the minimum height for wires over a residential property is only 10'. Good part is, on that side of transformer it's probably only 240 volts.

 

[Jumbo]

You bet it is too low, National Electrical Code requires 14 feet over any driveway, alley or other vehicle access. Over a street, you have to have 18-foot minimum. Drove my log truck down a street after a ice storm that pushed down all the limbs, I have a vertical clearance of 13'4" I cleaned out six CATV cables in one block.

The painful part is replacing the mast on the building, power company will have to eat this one…

 

[redneckchevy9]

You bet it is too low, National Electrical Code requires 14 feet over any driveway, alley or other vehicle access. Over a street, you have to have 18-foot minimum. Drove my log truck down a street after a ice storm that pushed down all the limbs, I have a vertical clearance of 13'4" I cleaned out six CATV cables in one block.

The painful part is replacing the mast on the building, power company will have to eat this one…

Just like everything else in life, those regs. are only as good as those who enforce them. I am running into low wires all the time on deliveries. A lot of them sound exactly as the mentioned jobsite. No room to start with. Contractors don't like it when you tell them the truck won't fit under those wires & they look up & say "oh, I didn't even see those" or "I didn't even think about that" Luckily, in 12yrs, I have not taken any wires down. I have heard scary stuff & seen a boom truck blow all 10tires when it tagged a wire.

 

[bill onthehill]

Cable tv are the worst offenders. Have ripped a few of those down plowing and salting before. They only raise them after they get ripped down. Half the guys installing them don't even know there are minimum heights for wires.

 

[redneckchevy9]

Cable tv are the worst offenders. Have ripped a few of those down plowing and salting before. They only raise them after they get ripped down. Half the guys installing them don't even know there are minimum heights for wires.

I am not afraid of those wires, its those thicker ones that will bite you! More than once I've had to have a contractor use a 2X4 or broom to push up the cable/phone wires. I guess it is all part of the fun that comes with driving a tall truck.

 

[Dualie]

i always ask them if the transit mixer makes it through there on the phone. If the answer is we haven't had one or sure i think they would i always scout first