04 November, 2012

Power grid maintenance





         So under the category of "Things I Don't Do Everyday":  Last Saturday I got asked to help repair/upgrade the big power cables that carry electricity into Ukarumpa from Yonki Dam.  The old cables had some kind of an issue I don't fully understand, (although my electrician friend did try to explain it to me), but part of the way that it manifested itself was by making the power pole that I am leaning against in the photo electrically "hot".  That is to say, a barefoot guy who put a hand against that pole was at risk of getting a 240 volt shock (not to worry, all the power was off when this photo was taken).

         Anyway, it was a big job.  Took us all day, I was there almost exactly 10 hours, making sure that the generator was set up not to start automatically, helping to mount the conduit for the cables, running back and forth to get tools out of the shop, helping to move 500 lbs. cable/conduit assemblies, helping to bend heavy gauge copper cable in the generator shed, (the green building to the right of the photo has one of our big back-up generators in it), that kind of thing.

         This photo impresses me with the amount of green and yellow in it.  Oh yeah, my beard is really big and bushy again now; that's me on the ladder.