Overhead wires

[tootall]

Can anyone tell me what the height requirement is for wires over a roadway. I was hauling a mobile home down a residential street and nailed a power line that dropped across the roadway to a residential power pole (big mess). Anyway the home was 15' 2" tall and it destroyed the power pole and the service panel on the business across the street , and when it snapped it took the phone and cable lines too. APS is trying to make me pay but the police dept said I was not at fault. Help

Too Tall
Show Low, Arizona

 

[hurk27]

Re: Overhead wires

Most states require 18' but it depends upon what your state requires for the utility as they are not under the NEC codes and are under the NESC codes. Go to your state's web site and see if they have this info on there.


I found some info that says they have to follow the NESC rules of safety:

R14-2-208. Provision of Service

A. Utility responsibility

1. Each utility shall be responsible for the safe transmission and distribution of electricity until it passes the point of delivery to the customer.

2. The entity having control of the meter shall be responsible for maintaining in safe operating condition all meters, equipment, and fixtures installed on the customer's premises by the entity for the purposes of delivering electric service to the customer.

3. The Utility Distribution Company may, at its option, refuse service until the customer has obtained all required permits and inspections indicating that the customer's facilities comply with local construction and safety standards.

F. Construction standard and safety

1. Each utility shall construct all facilities in accordance with the provisions of the 1997 edition (and no future editions) of ANSI C2 (National Electrical Safety Code, incorporated by reference and on file with the Office of the Secretary of State, and the 1995 edition (and no future editions) of ANSI B31.1 (ASME Code for Pressure Piping), incorporated by reference and on file with the Office of the Secretary of State. Copies of the National Electrical Safety Code are available from the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Inc., 345 East 47th Street, New York, New York 10017. Copies of the ASME Code for Pressure Piping are available from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 345 East 47th Street, New York, New York 10017.

2. Each utility shall adopt a standard alternating nominal voltage or standard alternating nominal voltages (as may be required by its distribution system) for its entire service area or for each of the several districts into which the system may be divided, which standard voltage or voltages shall be stated in the rules and regulations of each utility and shall be measured at the customer's service entrance. Each utility shall, under normal operating conditions, maintain its standard voltage within the limits of the 1989 edition (and no future editions) of ANSI C84.1 (American National Standard for Electric Power Systems and Equipment-Voltage Ratings [60Hz]), incorporated by reference and on file with the Office of the Secretary of State. Copies are available from the American National Standards Institute, 1430 Broadway, New York, New York 10018.

This can be found here on the state of Arizona's web site:
Arizona's Rules for electric utility's

[ September 18, 2004, 01:09 AM: Message edited by: hurk27 ]

 

[charlie]

Re: Overhead wires

Sorry but the police are partially wrong, you were too tall! Even on the major streets, you would have been hitting the bottoms of traffic signals.

 

[petersonra]

Re: Overhead wires

Originally posted by tootall:
Can anyone tell me what the height requirement is for wires over a roadway. I was hauling a mobile home down a residential street and nailed a power line that dropped across the roadway to a residential power pole (big mess). Anyway the home was 15' 2" tall and it destroyed the power pole and the service panel on the business across the street , and when it snapped it took the phone and cable lines too. APS is trying to make me pay but the police dept said I was not at fault. Help

Too Tall
Show Low, Arizona

I doubt the police are all that conversant with the various codes and laws involved. Let your insurance company deal with it. Thats why you pay them all that money.

I think you will find that there are rules about the height of things you can transport in an area. You may have been over that height. Even if you had a valid permit to move the oversize item, its still your problem to do it safely.

 

[tootall]

Re: Overhead wires

Ok, can anyone give me an idea where to find the code for this. By the way APS admitted to the police that it should have been 18'. But where do I find the info so I have something to back me up.

Thanks for the help. I'm not educated on electric codes. Too Tall

 

[charlie]

Re: Overhead wires

The public library may have a copy, I guarantee the serving electric utility has one. However, the NESC (National Electrical Safety Code?) is written for use by engineers and I doubt you will gain anything from reading it unless you have an engineering background. At this point, you need to let your insurance company and the electric utility do battle.

Who was the person at Arizona Public Service that told you that their wire should have been at 18 feet? It has been my experience that most of the employees of the electric utilities do not know the proper clearances but they do know that 18 feet is safe and go with that. If this were a court case, the answer would not be 18 feet.

Since this NEC? Forum is for those in the electrical and related industries, I am closing this thread. I do not think you are in trouble but you need to be aware that anything over 13' 6" is too high to move without taking precautions. I wish you well in the future.