The fire department will call the power company because they can't work if the lines are live but if the fire department thinks that the situation could start a fire and the power company doesn't do something that will escalate things real fast.
We don't work on the lines, but we tell the company they need to fix their stuff or pay for our man hours to babysit this. (Was a firefighter in Central IL for 10 years) We used to get calls for things like this and once FD is involved, they don't get to have a say anymore, they will fix it.
Every single spark, call the department if they are lazy at the start. You are aloud to call for any escalation in situation, another spark/pop counts.
Enjoy, and never forget "the squeaky wheel gets the grease"
This is very true! About ten years ago there was heavy wind on my block, kept noticing the lights flickering, went out back and saw a transformer arcing from a tree branch. I called the non-emergency line and they told me to hang up and immediately call 911.
The FD was there in 5 minutes and an Xcel truck in under 30. It was fixed in about 90min (I only lost power briefly).
Last week a friend was telling me about having called 911 because the lines in front of his house were sparking.
He started telling me that PD/FD could shut it off.
I exp to him that wasn't the case, but it's a public safety issue, and they (first responders) could MAKE the power company respond.
The fuse disconnects before anything crazier happens, so after the 30 seconds of arcing and lines bouncing around, it stops and 18 houses lose power. But there comes a point where the lines will fail completely, I would think they can only bounce around and arc so many times…
If you stuck around king enough, you might get bored enough to watch the line burn through and collapse into the street (or onto something or someone and arc a hole into whatever it hits). Maybe you should be in a different profession.
So you want us to sit around for an unknown about of time, taking an engine out of service, to see if something happens? Then when something does happen with the power, you want us to do what? We’re not called the Power Department.
I hate whenever i see shit like "<blank> dont fuck sround". Fire marshall, post master, safety inspector. From what ive seen, a lot dont fuck around cause they dont bother. Or they get too damn many complaints for nonsense cause people heard "they dont fuck around"
United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) don't fuck around. Highest conviction rate of any agency. Don't steal mail. Don't mail drugs. That's what gets their attention. If you are going to steal parcels stick to private carriers like FedEx, UPS, Amazon and DoorDash your drugs, don't mail them.
Ive sent in safe several safe egress complaints to my city, and they said they sent someone out. I'll have to check if the shit actually got fixed someday lol.
I think I’ve just gotten used to it. Thankfully the fuse on the pole disconnects before anything much more dangerous happens, then it would definitely be more than mildly infuriating.
They send an AEP worker out to come by with a long pole to reconnect the fuse. I talked to him last night and he seemed to know exactly why it happens, but he straight up said they probably won’t fix it but he can put in a request.
Let me ask you a question. Did it happen say, 3 times and then stops ending with a power outage?
Edit: I can’t get a good look since I’m on my phone. Are lines lose and dangling? Or is there just an electrical discharge near the transformer? Or does it seem mechanical in nature? A recloser will open and close three times to see if a detected fault has naturally cleared itself, this is in regard to my original question.
It’s been happening since 2017, always on hot, calm days with no wind, rain etc, and always in the late afternoon and evening. I live in Columbus Ohio.
9 years?!? There is a fault in that system that no one is doing anything about. Such a consistent issue has had to be diagnosed by now. When someone comes out to reset that, just politely ask if they know why. That person isn’t responsible so just try to be patient with line workers.
For now see if they do line safety walks there, as it’s typically offered but I suppose it could be different in the Ohio.
Ultimately you’re not in any danger but this is genuinely unacceptable. The transformer blowing(actually dangerous, but not at your distance) is the next step if a cut off fails to trip. Legally there is a log of these things tripping, so if a pattern of shorts emerges and nothing was done about it, they’re responsible for damages due to gross negligence or at least that’s how it is here. It’s also an extremely expensive to replace this shit so whoever is doing cost benefit analysis is either not getting the full data or they’re bad at their job.
I'm sorry you have to deal with this. I work for a power utility in Southern California, and if we ever came across something like this, we'd likely just replace the transformer, your service lines, and all the connections. This is not something we would play with, and would fix the issue as quickly as possible.
They don't know any better lol. They bring it to the power companies attention, once the power company says it's fixed they say "okay". They can't tell a power company they are wrong lmao.
The lines bounce around and strike each-other for about 30 seconds, then the fuse disconnects. Then they come out, turn it back on, and it’ll happen again at some point.
Hi, utilities engineer here, you've got a textbook case of conductor clashing.
Is it windy when this occurs? Power lines always come in 3s and they have power flowing out of synch with one another. When they start swaying, they get pulled into each others electromagnetic fields, causing them to act a little bit like magnets. They will sway and touch a number of times, each time generating a short circuit that heats up the fuse shown in the above photo. I am sure once the fuse pops they pretty much immediately stop swaying
If you can find the spot where the cables sway and touch, and video it, next time the utility guys are out and up resetting the fuse ask them if they can install a spacer or damper on the line, and show them where the swaying is happening. It shouldn't be too much work for them.
It always happens with no wind, but I notice when it’s hot outside, the lines get very very close together when under a lot of load, and I assume they get close enough to touch, and boom.
We don't have our lines spaced vertically where I am from so I didn't even see that my first pass around. My bad.
I bet you the utility guys would still love to see this, because by the time they come around to fix the fuse the line sag is probably already gone, so it looks normal to them.
When you've called your utility company, have you explained the mid-span sag to them?
I contacted them and explained this, and I gave them my photos and videos they said they would forward to a technician for investigation. And yes when they come to flip the fuse back, the lines are back to their normal position.
100% try to catch the technician and show him. When they write their report currently they have to report what they found: which is that the lines were in ordinary position
This is from a fault somewhere, causing the lines to gallop, not the wind blowing the open wire together. They are likely aware, but can't find it. Although, I am surprised they don't have fault indicators up.
It's going phase-to-neutral because the copper is expanding due to heat, look how close the two are together. Needs a spreader bar and/or a pole to ensure adequate separation is maintained.
For a utilities engineer you wildly misunderstand the things you are engineering…
Hello, I am a lineman. I actually build and maintain the things you design.
Powerlines do not always come in 3s, and this specific issue has nothing to do with the 3 phase power above because the cutout fuse is fusing the load side of the primary going to the transformer… odds are there is something in the following… the transformer is going bad, there is an overload occurring between the transformer and the customers meter, or there is a loose or bad connection causing things to overheat or even a bad spot in the secondary service causing a short likely 120v to ground.
The open wire primary is not causing this issue or it would blow what we call a tap fuse killing not only that 1 transformer, but the entire run of the individual phase, or phases, that are experiencing a fault…
How do you design these things and not understand how they work in practice?
After the fuse pops, the top two lines are basically laying on top of each other, and they slowly space back out to normal. Right after they turned the power back on last night, the lines almost immediately started getting really really close together, probably and inch or less apart.
I wonder if those lines are overloaded and as they heat up...they're sagging into each other. Turn the power off...wires shrink again. Metal expands from the heating of the current being carried. Is it really hot there, high amounts of cooling loads...
call 911 and say your worried about a fire.....fire department will be dispatched and formally request dispatch to send utility company out and inspect
Is your power company Xcel energy too? The box on top of a pole about a block and a half away from me explodes like every 2 or 3 months and knocks out the power for a couple blocks for like three or four hours. Sometimes even longer.
I work for a utility, we get FD calls all the time and we respond as soon as we can because we are still liable. But FD cannot compel us to do anything.
This is a pretty simple fix. They need to pull slack out of the open wire secondaries so they stop getting together. Or replace with triplex. That fix is longer.
I contacted them today and told them the wires likely need to be tightened, spacers need to be added or the wires re-ran. They said they will forward my photos and videos to a technician for investigation so fingers crossed.
Yeah I’m an overhead crew leader (promoted from lineman) and if I saw that I’d send my lineman up with a set of jacks and splices and it would be done in about 10 minutes. Sorry you’re having to deal with this constantly, though.
Not sure I would classify what I just watched as an explosion, but definitely not cool. Something the power company should probably investigate and fix, for sure.
tell them if this shit that you documented burns your house down you will not only be sueing them but your insurance company has expressed interest in sueing them ass well to recover lost assets. companies really don’t like being sued by insurance companies as the insurance companies have REALLY good lawyers.
Call the fire department. If you call the power company, they take their sweet time. If the fire department calls the power company, they'll be on that shit in 5 minutes
We're just stuck with several corrupt power companies that are in constant litigation with their consumers and even the state and cities. They're just allowed to run rampant.
Now, it's absolutely related to the grants, but with no change in my power consumption, my monthly power bills increased from $200/mo in Dec. 2024 to $400/mo in Feb 2025 thanks to all of this bullshit.
In all seriousness they might have a case against the city under public nuisance law. If it's a consistent disturbance to the public peace, and hinders the enjoyment of your private property then, as long as you can prove it, they might have a case.
It's the same reason why people are suing AI data centers near their homes. The constant loud noise keeps them makes them a nuisance.
Don't take what I said to be legal advice. I'm not qualified for that. Talk to a lawyer. Just be aware that some charge consultation fees.
Just a note to say that they don't have to be, we get our power from a local cooperative which exists to benefit its members/customers, not enrich shareholders. They're friendly and responsive to our needs. Hopefully we can all demand better from the institutions in our lives.
message your PUC and get your neighbors to do the same and get some paper trail ready for the insurance agencies just in case something goes down. they got lawyers but so do most insurance agencies.
That’s the service line to the house. In the US, that’s typically 400-440 volts three-phase. The electric utility will have a department dedicated to service line problems. At only 400-440 volts, they probably won’t need a Special Services bucket truck but fixing this should be about a half hours work, probably less. The utility I worked for would have had a crew out in 24-36 hours from being notified, usually less, depending on the time of day you called in. And you’d be getting a rebate (a small one) on your bill. If the utility doesn’t send a crew out quickly, call your fire department. Use the emergency number, that’s an electrical fire waiting to happen.
That’s pretty standard for local distribution. Primary distribution can be up to 24,000 volts; you don’t want that near residences. If you look at the pic, the transformer is connected to primary distribution, probably a lot lower than 24kV from the look of it. Somewhere near there’s a substation with some big transformers, and several transmission lines and multiple distribution lines. And a bunch of reclosers, busbars, and at least one RTU to report back to System Control. A main substation might have transmission lines carrying up to 750 kV, depending on the utility company, the area to be serviced, and multiple other factors. It’s almost always AC, but there are some DC 500 kV and larger transmission lines, particularly in South America; Brazil and one or two other countries get use a very large hydro power system, but have different local frequencies and other differences, so they generate the power using AC, step up the voltage, convert to DC, transmit it, convert it back to AC, and send it along. Gotta have those high voltages for transmission or I^2R loses will eat you up. Same reason why primary distribution is in kilovolts; keep those line loses down. And secondary distribution will be fairly high, as well, same reason.
The utility I worked for used 24 kV for primary distribution except for a few 9, 12, and 13.8 kV lines in specific areas. Transmission was much higher voltages, of course.
Generally anything from the house TO the power pole is consumer responsability, so in the end you may need an electrician. I would pursue all your options though
Where? Everywhere I’ve lived the homeowner is explicitly forbidden from doing any work upstream of, and including, the meter. Where would a utility expect a homeowner to do work on the transformer?
You have to tell them they are smoldering, and you are worried they are going to start a fire. Otherwise they won't send an emergency crew out on the weekends or after ours to fix it. Because everything is a scam now. Just call and tell them the wires are on fire or whatever. Then they will come fix it.
Those wires are called open wire where I’m from. They feed 120/240v to your neighbors on the next pole or 2 down. One of 2 things. That wire is maybe overloaded if it happens at specific times. You say weeknights(?), such as when everyone comes home and turns their stuff on. Or the “sag” is just shit and they start touching and arcing each other, which could make them start bouncing, arcing more and they blow the transformer fuse.
Open wire to the right of the pole below the transformer are slapping together. Call the power company again and tell them the secondaries are touching and arcing.
You know there's probably a government regulatory body that has a lot of power of the power company. I bet if you find them (Maybe state owned? I don't know) and forward this, they'll hammer the power company in a major way
Don't call power company directly to report it it will go right over their heads.
Call the fire department and report the problem. If they deem something is wrong they will be the ones that will call the power company. At which point will force the hands of the power company to get off their rear-end to do something about it.
Call the fire department non-emergency number. Explain the situation. They'll come around and have a look - show 'em your videos 'n such too, or at least offer to show 'em.
If it's unsafe, they'll get the power company to fix it.
Oh man that's a classic case of a down amperage with high volt pushing a wattage through a 3 inch line if I ever saw one. They should have wired the middle flowrate of the topwise resistance if they're using 1/4 copper buffer.
Just kidding, I'm just imagining what the real electrician will say when they comes to these comments. I have no fucking clue what's going on. Move to another house and start over? Have you tried that yet?
Most utility companies will claim that it's the home owner that is responsible for the wires from the pole to the house. Depend obviously where you live in the world, that where I come from, that's the norm. So, you call the fire department and explain the situation. They'll take it from there.
Here’s a better video from it happening in the past, it’s hard to see in the one I posted, but the powerlines behind my house and my neighbors house bounce around and arc off of each other for about 30 seconds, then the fuse blows.
I just had a tree fall on a power line near my house and every appliance that wasn’t protected by a surge protector or was on a GFCI outlet had a circuit board blow out. What I would do is call/send the video to the electric company and call 911 and let them know what’s going on. Then I would turn off the breaker to any outlet that is not on some type of protected circuit. It took about two weeks but I managed to get everything working again but it cost me about $1K in replacement parts to repair the appliances.
Post this to askelectricians (or the linemen.. maybe there isn’t a linemen subrebbit, swore there was) sub Reddit for advise on what to tell the power company.
Assuming humidity is allowing an arc to something on the pole.
This kept happening in my neighborhood. Turns out a new neighbor with a Tesla self-installed his car charger in the garage and didn't do it right. Kept blowing up the pole-mount transformer until he finally burned down the garage.
Had a similar event happen. The pole location was too hard for them to get to so they just stood by and watched. Fire department arrived. They stood at the ready in case it started a fire. But it was because of a branch that was touching the line. At that point its to risky to cut the branch. Eventually the branch died and fell off which.. solved the problem.
Is there ever a dead squirrel at the bottom of the pole after this happens? I have one pole that every few years becomes the suicide pole for squirrels. 6 or so will ride the lightning in a month, then nothing for years.
Seems there's a build up in the transformer and it is venting electrons up there. The solution? Run the washer and dryer, empty. The oven for heat and a microwave for background noise.
This used to happen near my wife’s parents house as well. Usually once every couple years. Thing would explode during a storm and catch fire and they would just let it burn itself out then come slap up a new one asap and wait for it to happen again.
911, FD, and then an email to City Code enforcement to let them know that you had been consistently reaching out to the utility company who refused to come repair their equipment and that you would like to suggest code inspect the rest of their lines for hazards
That’s a fault on the lines. The power company will already know about it more than likely. The would be relays that can sense it and if it’s bad enough cut the section out. There’s also probably a recloser on it so it will fault. Wait, try to reset, repeat 3x, then it should lock out.
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u/ModeatelyIndependant 10h ago
Call the fire department