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The damage from pole fire.

One of the few downsides to WA is the lack of rain and excess of dust. when we get very light showers (scotch mist) this only causes more problems of the water drops shorting out cause of the dust on the insulators. You only have to look at the roof of my garaged car to see the problem.

First up was earth all the wires to the bottom of the Pole

Earthing all the wires.

The next was remove the wires and cross piece

Removing the wires and the cross piece.

Checking to see if the pole is sound inside In the shot you can see the burnt out hole in the pole

Checking to see if the core of the pole is still sound.

Cut the damaged part off and recap the new top.

Cutting the damaged part off.


Rebuild the whole thing and attach the wires.

Rebuilding the pole.

Remove all the earth wires and return on the wires

Then work backwards to make it all safe

In all it took about 2 hours from start till I had power in the house. One of the problems we face some of these fires have been much worse out on country farms All the more reason to think non wooden poles. We lost power for over 24 hours.
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5 comments

tiabunna said:

An interesting series, Steve. At least your power is restored.
13 months ago ( translate )

Steve Paxton replied to tiabunna:

It certainly is we tend not to know just how much we miss it.
13 months ago

Gillian Everett said:

Interesting to see the process. It's an ongoing problem...
13 months ago

Steve Paxton replied to Gillian Everett:

In WA yes it is unless they change to a no wooden pole.
13 months ago

Amelia said:

You have the perfect excuse to seemingly neglect the CWP, Steve. What an annoying problem this must be. I'm glad that you still appreciate WA though. :-)
12 months ago