Right on man. If I could go back I would’ve done something different. NLC is good don’t get me wrong but explore your options. You can save yourself ALOT of money. Like in California there is the la trade tech school. There are schools like this in every state. It’s tough to get into a non union apprenticeship. If you are going the union route (I recommend) then you don’t even have to go to a school period. You can work as a groundman for the IBEW outside line and apply to the apprenticeships all over the country and wait to get picked up. Regardless, you’re going to be waiting for interviews after you get out of school. I struggled for about 6 months looking for work and finally had my interview with swlcat and started working, getting indentured. I’m not trying to tell you what to do but just trying to give you some friendly advice. Good luck out there stay safe ✌🏻
By default with the neutral dead ended to the pole without an insulator (the correct way) you will automatically have an EPZ. If you are relying on the pole band it should be as close to your feet without being in the way. I would have run the other 3 from the neutral or 1 from the neutral than go phase to phase with the other 2. You also want the grounds out far enough to do your work, IE grips and hoist inside your grounds.
I’m not sure I understand how you figure it is an epz by default. The point of this type of grounding is to put the worker in parallel with a low resistance shunt, maintaining a low voltage across the worker and therefore keeping the current flow through the worker low enough from being harmed or cause death. I believe the grounding scheme you are referring to would be called phase to phase to neutral, which, does nothing for the worker on the line, but causes a fast trip out of circuit protection. It’s better than nothing but you’re putting yourself in series with a fault if you are working the line when a fault may occur which can potentially hurt or kill you. If you ground all jumpers from the neutral the fault/ high currents have to flow through the short lengths of the neutral between each clamp and through your grounds, adding resistance and increasing the reaction times of circuit protection. If your neutral is a smaller conductor or has less ampacity than your grounds, the clamps could fuse to the neutral during fault conditions. A “T” configuration is your best bet grounding from center phase out to a and b phases, one ground from the cluster rack to the neutral and one from the cluster rack to center phase creating your equipotential zone. Your center phase ground from the cluster rack provides the lowest resistance parallel branch to shunt the fault around you. And yes of course you’d want your grounds out far enough to be able to hang grips and hoists* I’m in Houston and we do not epz let alone even have cluster racks on any one of the trucks. We use bracket grounds to work the line de-energized however bracket grounding is still insufficient for complete worker protection and only provides a fast(er) operation of circuit protection.
@@Itswiggs93 it is an EPZ zone because the pole is bonded to the neutral which keeps everything at the same potential and therefore you are not a parallel path unlike bracket grounding where you are clearly a parallel path. How you apply the grounds whether it’s phase to phase or every conductor to neutral is a personal preference. The purpose of grounds is to prove isolation and to quickly clear the fault. In the event of an accidental energization you don’t know if all 3 phase will become energized or just one. The purpose of the pole band is to bond the pole and bring everything to the same potential that’s why it should be as close to your feet as possible without being in the way. The pole bond doesn’t necessarily have to be attached to the neutral it can be attached to any phase which sometimes happens if you are on a pole with multiple circuits on armless construction. The neutral could be 20 feet from where you are working.
I get what you’re saying now in regards to the pole bond to the neutral and when you ground from the neutral to phases it essentially is an epz assuming the framing puts the neutral and the bond below your feet. Yes, the bracket grounds put you in a parallel path with the jumpers but in series with the earth and still allow enough current to kill. Absolutely the grounding schemes are personal preference but was just saying the “T” scheme provides the least resistance and is the least likely to allow substantial amount of current to pass through you. If no pole bond is on the pole then the cluster rack with a jumper to a screw ground is necessary for epz. I’ve never worked on a delta system personally and you’re probably talking about setups I’ve never learned about or worked on before. Linework is wild man and there is always something to learn. I’m only speaking on what I’ve learned in my books and practiced in the field.
@@Itswiggs93 Any time the pole is bonded to the neutral it’s an EPZ. Do you have case a ground on your transformers? If so all of those poles would be bonded if you were creating an EPZ. Do you insulate your neutrals? If no then you would have an EPZ. One thing though some safety guys only accept the pole band in which case you would have to install the band. The bond doesn’t have to be below your feet, but it’s easier to work if it is, it should be close to your feet or work area if you are in a bucket. Also if you are working mid span on a grounded line you are in an EPZ. Finally if you are within 300 feet maximum of a set of grounds you only have to bond the pole to create an EPZ.
Great video. I hoped you had a lot more. This is very informative. I’m preparing to go early next year. Been watching videos left and right. Lol
Right on man. If I could go back I would’ve done something different. NLC is good don’t get me wrong but explore your options. You can save yourself ALOT of money. Like in California there is the la trade tech school. There are schools like this in every state. It’s tough to get into a non union apprenticeship. If you are going the union route (I recommend) then you don’t even have to go to a school period. You can work as a groundman for the IBEW outside line and apply to the apprenticeships all over the country and wait to get picked up. Regardless, you’re going to be waiting for interviews after you get out of school. I struggled for about 6 months looking for work and finally had my interview with swlcat and started working, getting indentured. I’m not trying to tell you what to do but just trying to give you some friendly advice. Good luck out there stay safe ✌🏻
By default with the neutral dead ended to the pole without an insulator (the correct way) you will automatically have an EPZ. If you are relying on the pole band it should be as close to your feet without being in the way. I would have run the other 3 from the neutral or 1 from the neutral than go phase to phase with the other 2. You also want the grounds out far enough to do your work, IE grips and hoist inside your grounds.
I’m not sure I understand how you figure it is an epz by default. The point of this type of grounding is to put the worker in parallel with a low resistance shunt, maintaining a low voltage across the worker and therefore keeping the current flow through the worker low enough from being harmed or cause death. I believe the grounding scheme you are referring to would be called phase to phase to neutral, which, does nothing for the worker on the line, but causes a fast trip out of circuit protection. It’s better than nothing but you’re putting yourself in series with a fault if you are working the line when a fault may occur which can potentially hurt or kill you.
If you ground all jumpers from the neutral the fault/ high currents have to flow through the short lengths of the neutral between each clamp and through your grounds, adding resistance and increasing the reaction times of circuit protection. If your neutral is a smaller conductor or has less ampacity than your grounds, the clamps could fuse to the neutral during fault conditions.
A “T” configuration is your best bet grounding from center phase out to a and b phases, one ground from the cluster rack to the neutral and one from the cluster rack to center phase creating your equipotential zone. Your center phase ground from the cluster rack provides the lowest resistance parallel branch to shunt the fault around you.
And yes of course you’d want your grounds out far enough to be able to hang grips and hoists*
I’m in Houston and we do not epz let alone even have cluster racks on any one of the trucks. We use bracket grounds to work the line de-energized however bracket grounding is still insufficient for complete worker protection and only provides a fast(er) operation of circuit protection.
@@Itswiggs93 it is an EPZ zone because the pole is bonded to the neutral which keeps everything at the same potential and therefore you are not a parallel path unlike bracket grounding where you are clearly a parallel path. How you apply the grounds whether it’s phase to phase or every conductor to neutral is a personal preference. The purpose of grounds is to prove isolation and to quickly clear the fault. In the event of an accidental energization you don’t know if all 3 phase will become energized or just one. The purpose of the pole band is to bond the pole and bring everything to the same potential that’s why it should be as close to your feet as possible without being in the way. The pole bond doesn’t necessarily have to be attached to the neutral it can be attached to any phase which sometimes happens if you are on a pole with multiple circuits on armless construction. The neutral could be 20 feet from where you are working.
I get what you’re saying now in regards to the pole bond to the neutral and when you ground from the neutral to phases it essentially is an epz assuming the framing puts the neutral and the bond below your feet.
Yes, the bracket grounds put you in a parallel path with the jumpers but in series with the earth and still allow enough current to kill.
Absolutely the grounding schemes are personal preference but was just saying the “T” scheme provides the least resistance and is the least likely to allow substantial amount of current to pass through you.
If no pole bond is on the pole then the cluster rack with a jumper to a screw ground is necessary for epz.
I’ve never worked on a delta system personally and you’re probably talking about setups I’ve never learned about or worked on before. Linework is wild man and there is always something to learn. I’m only speaking on what I’ve learned in my books and practiced in the field.
@@Itswiggs93 Any time the pole is bonded to the neutral it’s an EPZ. Do you have case a ground on your transformers? If so all of those poles would be bonded if you were creating an EPZ. Do you insulate your neutrals? If no then you would have an EPZ. One thing though some safety guys only accept the pole band in which case you would have to install the band. The bond doesn’t have to be below your feet, but it’s easier to work if it is, it should be close to your feet or work area if you are in a bucket. Also if you are working mid span on a grounded line you are in an EPZ. Finally if you are within 300 feet maximum of a set of grounds you only have to bond the pole to create an EPZ.
Skills
Dumbest and slowest way to un do the EPZ by far