Duke Energy has gone mad

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tortuga said:
The way I read item 6 is you can use a 4X4 post IF you set it close to the existing overhead pole so you can get the 12' connection point. And if you cant auger 4' deep with a bucket truck just do the bracing and be as close to the pole as you can.
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Note that the stakes for the bracing need to be 2' deep.
 
We used to have a pickup with a "headache bar", put the service on the bars at the shop back up to the hole push it off into the hole.
 
sameguy said:
We used to have a pickup with a "headache bar", put the service on the bars at the shop back up to the hole push it off into the hole.
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I wouldn't attempt that alone. As Dennis wrote, this is no longer a one-man job. That's the problem for solo businesses like his and mine. I sub out "real" pole setting, but can just about manage a 4x6 at the length and depth my utility allows. A 20' 6x6", and four foot depth? No freaking way. And note the wire height Duke requires for ANY driveway is 18'. So the pole would have to be located away from any vehicle areas....or be even longer.
 
Are you all doing permanent overhead services as well for new construction or just the temp?
 
Craigv said:
I wouldn't attempt that alone. As Dennis wrote, this is no longer a one-man job. That's the problem for solo businesses like his and mine. I sub out "real" pole setting, but can just about manage a 4x6 at the length and depth my utility allows. A 20' 6x6", and four foot depth? No freaking way. And note the wire height Duke requires for ANY driveway is 18'. So the pole would have to be located away from any vehicle areas....or be even longer.
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Well it was in the 1970s and I couldn't be killed or hurt. Or maybe I was just young, dumb, and full of ...
 
I'm not going to say that the utility requirement isn't crazy, but it seems to me that with a suitable jig this could be a 1 person operation.

We are talking about a pole weighing 160-200lb. Not at all trivial, especially if you loose control of the thing. The big risk is that you have the pole balanced in some nice fashion (resting on a headache bar) so that you are not actually manipulating most of the weight, and then something moves and you suddenly have to manage a bunch more force.

Start with the 'tilt the pole into the hole using the headache bar' concept. But instead of a pole resting on a bar, you have the pole locked into a jig with a hinge in place of the bar. Say the hinge is 7 feet off the ground and the pole is positioned 7 feet from the end. Now the effort is about half that of tilting up a 10 foot length of 4x4.

Then this jig would need to be able to release the pole in a reasonably controlled fashion, eg. using a winch or something similar. Ideally the winch could also be used for loading the pole onto the vehicle, but presumably you could get assistance with this at the lumber yard.

Just musing about solutions here, and the above is probably not a good approach, but hopefully it stimulates someone to come up with a good approach.

-Jon
 
Fmkehoe said:
So what is it??? I googled saw Pole and only got trimming saws back as a result.
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Dennis answered already, but it is just a regional term for "temporary service".

Cletus the carpenter says, "Hey, Bubba, where can I plug in my wormdrive?" Bubba says, "Cletus, you fool, you're leanin' on the saw pole right now!"
 
Dennis Alwon said:
Duke Energy now requires a 20' 6x6 pole 4' deep in the ground for any overhead saw pole service that is more than 10' from the pole. Not only are these pole incredibly heavy they cost over $100 and are not easy to find.


They must be one piece also so you can't scab on to a 4x6 or a 4x4 and beef it up.


4' deep-- small contractors like myself would have great difficulty with these rules. The cost of a saw pole has just skyrocketed.
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Yea, that #2 triplex is so heavy a 4x4 could never handle it. Also never know when one of our hurricanes or tornadoes may wreak havoc on it either. Another of the 1,000 cuts EC's must endure.

Duke Energy has gone insane in other ways too. There are 2 guys I used to be able to get help from planning projects. Both were good to work with. Neither is working with customers any more. 1 guy I worked with years ago was good the first few times I dealt with him. The last dozen times I called him for simple assistance he would say he couldn't help me. I would ask who could and his answer was "I don't know". I quit calling him. The last guy I dealt with, about a year ago, was one of the rudest people I ever met. I started talking with him a month ahead of a project at our office/warehouse. He would never commit to anything, gave me different answers different days, etc. He delayed us several days getting power back up.

I suspect a lot of this came about after the merger with CP&L. My one time trying to deal with them was an exercise in futility. I looked at a job for a prospective customer in Raleigh. He'd been told by a POCO rep that he needed a particular CT cabinet from their warehouse at a certain location. I needed dimensions of the equipment to draw up plans and give a quote. I called at least a dozen times and had to explain 2-3 times to each person I spoke with. I was told that no one knew the dimensions. I asked why no one could step out and measure it. Was told they were not in that facility. I asked to speak with someone in that facility. They would call back. Twice I got a return call from someone who knew nothing of my previous calls. I asked about going to that warehouse myself and measuring the cabinet. Got the runaround. I finally called the customer that he would have to get someone in Raleigh who could deal with CP&L, that I couldn't work with them.

Though Duke was supposedly the acquiring partner, CP&L's negative culture seemingly became the norm. Welcome to the future.
 
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