Well I guess there is a slight upside...
A little OVERTIME!šš»
A landscaper working in someoneās front yard said he found one of our conduits was smashed. Big shards or grey conduit while he was following a water line.
Iām thinking
ya right you did it
Wait a minute...
No backhoe or mini excavator
No equipment what so ever.
Well, I guess a couple guys with shovels can be considered equipment, but now way would they be able to crush the conduit like this.
Ok so now I am beginning to believe this guy, maybe he is telling the truth. There is no way this happens with a shovel. So I get the other service on the phone and get him headed my direction with parts and pieces.
There is a total of 6 wires in this conduit. 4 of them carrying 120v each and 2 neutrals, and they are energized. Thank God for insulation and how tough it is.
At first I didnāt think it was too bad. I started digging to get myself some room to work and find out how far back it was broken.
I dug
And
Dug some more
Good God
The conduit was crushed for about 4 feet.
This is where the mystery of the crushed conduit gets a little weird.
When we do an install, the trench is dug, we glue up all our conduit, then backfill and compact. Last we pull in the cable.
That would have been the only time when this conduit would have been crushedā during the backfill.
But wait
If that were the case, there would be no way we could get our cable pulled through that section of crushed conduit.
This is indeed a True Mystery
Setting our investigative minds aside my partner shows up with the goods. This would be a simple fix if it werenāt for the cables being inside the conduit already. I canāt just stick a piece of conduit there and put a coupler on each end and call it good.
Oh no it canāt be that easy.
First, get the broken conduit out of the way very carefully without nicking the insulation or damaging it. I used a sawzall blade and cut about 3/4 of the way through the conduit.
After doin this to both ends of the damaged conduit, I give it a few whacks with the hammer and get a nice clean break. Ya I could have dug the hole bigger but I was tired of digging and using a battery operated sawzall increases the chances of damaging the cable.
Now what?!?
Time to adapt and overcome
Measured and cut a piece of conduit to length then split it in half with the sawzall.
Oh ya this is goin to work great!!
We have couplers called repair couples and they work in this same fashion. Only problem is they are too short, way too short. We did end up using them on both ends because they fit around the conduit.
Strap it together with a bunch of heavy duty zip ties and seal it up with 3 rolls of tape and...
POW DONE!!
Now lets get to the bottom of this mystery
Just as we were finishing up the homeowner came out and asked how things were goin, and if the power was goin to be shut off. (Every time they see our trucks they think we are goin to shut their power off šš)
Then he revealed the clue that would crack the mystery.
He proceeded to tell us that the gas company was out digging in his yard to lower the gas line a couple weeks ago. Hmmm the gas line is within close proximity to our electric line that runs in his front yard.
That dirty dog from the gas company had to hit the conduit and crushed it.
And he didnāt say anything?!?
I guess since he didnāt see any sparks or an explosion he thought it was OK. Or maybe he thought he could get away with it, or a worry of getting fired?
You busted hommie!!
Iām calling this one...
Case Closed
Thanks for stopping by and checking out another episode of...
A Day With A Lineman
Until next time
Steem on
And
Be willing to
Adapt
And
Overcome