power line over garage safety...

[Vintage Veloce]

Once a year around this time (fall) I go up on the roof to clean out the gutter on the South side of the garage. The power line to my house runs right over the garage and dips as low as 5 feet above the roof. It would be easy to walk or back into it while up there.

I always tell myself, "BE CAREFUL ABOUT THAT POWER LINE!" But while I have never bumped into it, I often forget it is there and am unpleasantly surprised when it crossed my vision. It doesn't help that I am always looking down when I'm on the roof, watching my footing or whatever I'm doing. The line is just high enough it is often out of my vision.

Anyone have any great tips on avoiding contact with the power line? I don't want an accidental zapping!

 

[threeputt]

Other than staying on the ground I can't help. Those lines are too close. I would be like you and forget.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

How old is your house?

Theres min clearance requirements and the drop may be too low

You could tie some fluorescent pink flags to it

 

[Vintage Veloce]

How old is your house?

The house and garage are from 1926. I have no idea how old the drop is, but the panel was upgraded to 200A maybe 10 years ago, before we bought the house.

 

[RivennHewn]

Keep your tongue off it, and you’ll be fine.

 

[Jim greengo]

Keep your tongue off it, and you’ll be fine.

What he said.

 

[Bighead38]

How old is your house?

Theres min clearance requirements and the drop may be too low

You could tie some fluorescent pink flags to it

I was thinking pink flag or caution tape. Just drape it over when you go up and pull it off on your way down

 

[mark#3]

You should call the power company, that line should be alot higher/moved so it is not over your garage.It looks like triplex which has 2 hot wires/neutral wire. Call the POWER COMPANY ASAP You could call now as there should be linemen on duty to do it.

 

[RivennHewn]

You should call the power company, that line should be alot higher/moved so it is not over your garage.It looks like triplex which has 2 hot wires/neutral wire. Call the POWER COMPANY ASAP You could call now as there should be linemen on duty to do it.

I was doing some roof work on a Starbucks awhile back. Had a similar scenario.

I called Seattle City Light our for a consult.

He said “keep your tongue off it, and you’ll be fine.”

As long as the insulation is intact, no worries

 

[dw1]

You should call the power company, that line should be alot higher/moved so it is not over your garage.It looks like triplex which has 2 hot wires/neutral wire. Call the POWER COMPANY ASAP You could call now as there should be linemen on duty to do it.

You cannot tell from the pic, but the
Power company will probably tell you to raise the riser on the house!! What is the height of it?

 

[Jinks]

Have the drop buried. It'll cost, but you never have to worry about storm damage, ducking the drop, & your house looks cleaner/better. During the remodel I had all wire coming to my house buried.

 

[sberry]

Don't grab on to it. Once a year you clean a gutter there. Use a little care.

 

[joe_padavano]

OK, let's be serious here. That's an insulated 220v drop to the meter. Yeah, it can knock you on your **** IF you contact a bare spot on the wire. The reality is, it's insulated. Don't go out of your way to do chin-ups from it and you'll be fine. Touching an insulated 220V wire is no different than touching the cable to your 220V welder or air compressor when it's plugged in. I'm not saying be careless, but this isn't a 10KV bare conductor.

 

[Innovate1]

Improving this may be difficult/expensive. I really like underground feed but it looks like there isn't an easy path to trench for the cable. And getting an electrician to change it out can be expensive even if the path is easy.

You could contact the power company. If there is a lot of droop in the cable they may be able to just pull it tighter - that would be simple and easy. But if not they may want you to put a taller mast on the house and that may require a guy wire on the mast.

Talk to the power company or or get an estimate from an electrician. That should give you a good idea about options.

Any need/desire to upgrade the service to higher amps? If so you could do both at the same time.

 

[grounded-b]

NEC art. 230 says 8 feet minimum over roofs ( with exceptions - mainly, if it's steeper than 4/12, it is reduced to 3 feet )

 

[Falcon67]

Had the same problem at the old house/shop. Just have to be careful and step over it. I was only up there to check the roof and to spray the pecan tree on the back side of the yard. The drop was from the alley pole to the neighbor's house and no way to re-route because there were no other overheads or underground feeds on the other side of that house.

 

[larry_g]

OK, let's be serious here. That's an insulated 220v drop to the meter. Yeah, it can knock you on your **** IF you contact a bare spot on the wire. The reality is, it's insulated. Don't go out of your way to do chin-ups from it and you'll be fine. Touching an insulated 220V wire is no different than touching the cable to your 220V welder or air compressor when it's plugged in. I'm not saying be careless, but this isn't a 10KV bare conductor.

Ah the voice of reason. No more dangerous than the extension cord running across the shop floor. No less dangerous though if it is in disrepair.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[Fasthotrod]

Had the same problem at the old house/shop. Just have to be careful and step over it.

My luck, I'd step over the one spot that was missing insulation and I'd catch my yam bag on that sucker. POW!

Mark

 

[exranger06]

OK, let's be serious here. That's an insulated 220v drop to the meter. Yeah, it can knock you on your **** IF you contact a bare spot on the wire. The reality is, it's insulated. Don't go out of your way to do chin-ups from it and you'll be fine. Touching an insulated 220V wire is no different than touching the cable to your 220V welder or air compressor when it's plugged in. I'm not saying be careless, but this isn't a 10KV bare conductor.

+1. And the line to ground voltage (which is what you're concerned with) is only 120V. And even if you did touch an exposed wire, there's a good chance you STILL wouldn't get shocked, since you're on the roof of a wood frame building with no path to ground. You'd be like a bird sitting on a power line. Not that I recommend testing that theory, of course.

 

[Toomanytools?]

Cool garage doors, can't tell by photo looks like it's touching the front, I'm guessing not but if it does that would be the point of concern where the insulation could rub off.

 

[TractorJeff]

+1. And the line to ground voltage (which is what you're concerned with) is only 120V. And even if you did touch an exposed wire, there's a good chance you STILL wouldn't get shocked, since you're on the roof of a wood frame building with no path to ground. You'd be like a bird sitting on a power line. Not that I recommend testing that theory, of course.

+2! Its is INSULATED!
If it bothers you that much, look into having the Utility raise it but my guess is they will charge you to do so.

 

[Vintage Veloce]

wyliesdiesels and Bighead38 - Good idea to bring a couple caution ribbons up and and toss them over the line. I can even lightly weight the ends with pieces of PC or something.

Attached is another angle, you can see the clearance better in this shot. It is about 5' above the roof at the lowest point and then slowly rises from there to about 6 to 7 feet at the rear of the garage.

Burying it would be a real problem, everything is paved all the way out to the alley behind my house. That isn't going to happen.

This kind of service drop seems normal in the neighborhood. Lots of houses on the block are just like this, or worse (lower). Maybe it wasn't required to have so much clearance when these were done... and would be a tough design problem in the fairly dense neighborhoods with garages between the houses and the alley. Many homes have the drop running through (and touching) trees in the back yard and over their garages (a separate building). (And some of the garages are still powered by 3 separate knob and tube wires on insulators... yikes!)

(Note: the wires on the right side of the picture are the fiber internet line and the unused coax cable television/internet line.)

 

[Vintage Veloce]

Here is a pic of the attachment to the service mast on the house.
I'm not sure how high that mast could be without guy wires.

 

[2level]

I wouldn't be concerned, unless the insulation is breaking down.

My house has a power line that I also have to duck under while working in one area on the roof. It's probably about 4 feet off the roof. Power Co. approved this layout and replaced the power feed after I put in a new power pole.

I don't recommend this, but when 'grounded' my brother used to escape through a 2nd story window via the power lines!!

 

[Vintage Veloce]

OK, let's be serious here. That's an insulated 220v drop to the meter. Yeah, it can knock you on your **** IF you contact a bare spot on the wire. The reality is, it's insulated. Don't go out of your way to do chin-ups from it and you'll be fine. Touching an insulated 220V wire is no different than touching the cable to your 220V welder or air compressor when it's plugged in. I'm not saying be careless, but this isn't a 10KV bare conductor.

You are obviously correct... I'm just super careful around anything more than TTL levels (5V digital electronics). And it is important to note there is no easy disconnect on that side of the service box.

When I was young, I actually saw a kid climb a tree to get down some toy stuck up there. He ended up stuck up there, frozen in contact with the power, screaming and vibrating. Eventually they got him down. So I'm just always extra careful and spooked by stuff on the "unprotected side".

 

[JordanOH]

Looks like it could easily be raised about a foot at the service mast.

 

[lazyriverrat]

https://www.gdsassociates.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/NESC-2017-Clearance-Charts.pdf
Triplex needs to be 3.5 ft over roof if Non-accessible.

 

[dw1]

Here is a pic of the attachment to the service mast on the house.
I'm not sure how high that mast could be without guy wires.

The mast does not look to be a 10"piece of conduit? I changed a service for a family friend at their lake house, I used a 10' piece of 2" GRC for the new riser and did not cut it off, the incoming power wires ran directly over where they park, I had right at 45" of conduit above the roof, inspector asked me to put guy wires on mast, he said it was a utility company issue, that was the first time I had run across that.

 

[mark#3]

Oh ya, the new picture changes my answer, as I thought the triplex was rubbing on the roof, or close to it, I remember the spec of 3' on the mast, but this old lineman's memory is fading
at times.

 

[itb45]

spray paint some bright colored lines on the roof, 2-3ft from the power line on either side. When your looking down, they will remind you to look up

 

[Vintage Veloce]

https://www.gdsassociates.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/NESC-2017-Clearance-Charts.pdf
Triplex needs to be 3.5 ft over roof if Non-accessible.

That is a very cool set of charts!

 

[mm08822]

Buy a length of slit corrugated plastic sleeving however long is needed and slide it over the triplex.

 

[strutaeng]

I wouldn't worry about it.

My parents built a shed in their backyard about 15 years ago in the vicinity of telephone and power overhead power line. Telephone line is nearly rubbing the shed roof, but they don't even have a landline anymore. Power line is 2-3 feet from roof. My BIL replaced the shingles last summer and didn't get zapped, and this is a guy that sometimes takes shortcuts.

Now, in my house I had overhead power line off my detached garage about 5 feet horizontally and vertically from the garage eave. I was concerned about trimming by neighbor's pecan tree limbs with my cordless ryobi pole saw. I hired a pro tree cutter and the guy cut the branches with a manual pole prunning saw, LOL. The guy even moved the power line a bit to allow the branches to fall...

I did do underground conversion for my house addition for about $2500, but no concrete demolition or repour. Triple or quadruple+ that for concrete work and CA premium.

 

[lazyriverrat]

That is a very cool set of charts!

[emoji106]


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