Cable ID running from electricity pole

ROY47

Both cables running down the poles are in U-shaped wooden covers. 

They will be earthing cables possibly bare copper wire down the pole or pvc covered   they "should be " connected to  bare copper wire in the ground which may extend many feet / meters in the ground  but who knows where exactly .

 Some were never recorded  on plans  some were only connected to a spike at base of poles

one is for the high voltage transformer metalwork and all the steelwork

the other is low voltage earthing system  Call National Grid again and ask for a site visit to try to locate buried earth wire  with plans if possible

I used to work for a dno for 40+ years and work on that gear

 

 

35har1old

ROY47 said:

Both cables running down the poles are in U-shaped wooden covers. 

They will be earthing cables possibly bare copper wire down the pole or pvc covered   they "should be " connected to  bare copper wire in the ground which may extend many feet / meters in the ground  but who knows where exactly .

 Some were never recorded  on plans  some were only connected to a spike at base of poles

one is for the high voltage transformer metalwork and all the steelwork

the other is low voltage earthing system  Call National Grid again and ask for a site visit to try to locate buried earth wire  with plans if possible

I used to work for a dno for 40+ years and work on that gear

 

 

There should be 2 earth cables one is a tank earth which should be a pvc covered  possibly green in colour this should continue 10m underground before it then is connected to bare copper and possibly a earth rod the distance it travels is dependent on ground conditions. 
The second earth should be black and connected to bare copper once in the ground which should be at least at 90 degrees to the other earth can run in the opposite direction 
From what I can see the Low voltage is a overhead feed
If using a cat and genny
Genny needs to be at least 10m from the cat when tracing as signal can be sent through the air best way to confirm that you are far enough away is point the cat at the genny and it doesn't indicate you are OK.
Once you have traced the area going away from pole relocate genny on the signal and confirm at pole that you are receiving a signal

Mister_G

jw2 said:

Have attached a pic of top of poles - crap quality sorry. 

Robin - the cables come in as two horizontal, run down to box, then leave again as three in vertical format??

This three vertical format cabling runs to a road and other houses.

QrizB - elec comes in to house from a pole in the lane, runs down the pole, under a road, then into house. We know this for sure as lines were upgraded a couple of years ago.

Qyburn - the two down cables are diammetrically opposite so sounds like your description but it is definitely not the supply to our house...

Thanks Grizzlebeard!

Thank you all for the great info. Clearly there's no simple answer and the downcables could well be a supply for somewhere...
Will be ringing National Grid tomorrow to chase my email - maybe their helpline will actually 'help'... My cynicism for getting an answer out of them led me to this forum..

I would think that you would need to contact your DNO rather than NG, as they will more likely be responsible for the MV/LV network equipment.

Robin9

Mister_G said:

jw2 said:

I would think that you would need to contact your DNO rather than NG, as they will more likely be responsible for the MV/LV network equipment.

NG are the DNO -  they cover the South West, South Wales, West Midlands , East Midlands   (and pay my pension)

jw2

Thanks all for the advice and replies. Got a plan very quickly from the National Grid's 'check before you dig' service. 

Though their email does add unhelpfully:-

Please note: Unfortunately we do not hold a record of all our Single phase Service network, please refer to the Avoidance of Danger leaflet provided with your location plan to assist you further.

​

So a cable scanner it is...

Robin9

Once met an old school council man who divined for cables using a hazel twig and a copper coin.   

Ildhund

Robin9 said:

Once met an old school council man ...

A hyphen or two might help here. Was this an old man on the school council? Or just a man on the old school council? Perhaps a man who worked in old ways for the council? Or a man who worked for a council that hadn't kept up with the times? There may be still other interpretations ...

I rather thought diviners referred to their 'twigs' as wands, BTW. 

Eldi_Dos

Robin9 said:

Once met an old school council man who divined for cables using a hazel twig and a copper coin.   

I think the copper coin was to pay the ferryman for any operative who came a cropper while relying on this method.

Mister_G

Robin9 said:

Mister_G said:

jw2 said:

I would think that you would need to contact your DNO rather than NG, as they will more likely be responsible for the MV/LV network equipment.

NG are the DNO -  they cover the South West, South Wales, West Midlands , East Midlands   (and pay my pension)

Fair enough.  I live in the sunny South and have the pleasure of SSEN and, although they don't pay my pension, they did give me £15k for the privilege of running their 11kV overhead over my garden!

Ildhund

Eldi_Dos said:

I think the copper coin was to pay the ferryman for any operative who came a cropper while relying on this method.

That would be a cropper coin, then ...