When I talk of high voltage, I generally mean 480 to 50,000 volts.  Some construction sites, like dam building, generally use 480 volts for all of their electrically powered tools like electric saws, hammers, etc.  At 480 volts this equipment runs very smooth and even.

Most commercial and industrial buildings will use 480 volts.  However, higher voltage means higher danger and more rules.

While working with 120 – 240 volts I have probably been “bit” 100 times.  After 70 years and more, I still survive, but I have heard many horror stories about high voltage.  I recall one story one of my relatives told me.

He was an apprentice working with an old experienced journeyman.  There were two high voltage cables running through an underground cement tunnel.  One cable was dead, the other one live.  Their job (should they choose to accept it) was to cut out the dead cable and leave the other one running.

The cables traveled down the tunnel, went out through the concrete side of the tunnel, and reappeared back through the tunnel walls further on.

Not having the equipment we have today, they could not determine which cable was alive and which was dead.  After much tracing  of the circuitry and wire routing, and making “educated guesses”, they proceeded with the task.

The journeyman got a great big cable cutter out and told the apprentice; “You go back up the tunnel and around the corner.  If you hear a loud explosion and see a bright flash you run out of the tunnel as fast as you can go.  It will be too late for me.”

The apprentice did as he was instructed and the journeyman cut the cable.

It was the correct one, so nothing happened.

I sometimes wonder if this had anything to do with the apprentice leaving the electrical trade and getting into something else.

Stay tuned for more.

Electricians inherently work in dangerous situations with a high probability of dangerous outcomes.  You would think an electrician would know enough to stay sober while on the job.  One slip and you could have a mountain of a mess on your hands.

Some guys would amaze me with how much they drank on the job and were still alive.

One fellow I worked with in Montana was pretty heavy on the bottle.  I don’t know why the boss kept him on but he was a pain to the rest of us.  One time he was working on a job and the boss sent me down to help him out.

When I got to his job, he was going to pull wire.  However contrary to common sense he had pulled all the wire off of the wire reels.  It was in one big mess in the center of the floor, with him in the center of the mess, like a bird in the middle of a huge nest.

He was of the opinion that he could handle it, and sent me down to the other end of the run to pull the wire.  His plan was to untangle and feed the wire as I pulled it.  We would pull about 4 feet of wire and then have to stop while he untangled more.  Finally I suggested that I go work on other things while he worked on untangling all of the wire.

About 4 hours later he came and told me he was ready.  It took us about ½ hour to pull the whole run.  After that I tried to avoid working with him because I didn’t know what kind of mess he would get into.

In the Electrical Union drinking on the job was one ground to fire a man immediately.  A foreman and a superintendant had to observe the man drinking alcohol on the job.

One time there were about a dozen of us electricians working on a job with one heavy boozer.  Every few hours he would disappear for a short time and reappear fully loaded.  The foreman approached a couple of us and told us to watch where he went when he disappeared.

After a time we saw him crawl up into the attic space and into a dark corner where he got his re-blast.  We informed the foreman and he went and got the superintendant.  They got a powerful light and caught him red handed.  Or should I say red faced.  He was gone within the hour.

One winter in Montana, during a time that the temperatures were hovering in the minus 20 to minus 40 range, two of us were sent to repair some neon lighting over a side door of a hotel.  There was just enough room on the top of the canopy for the two of us to stand and work on the fixture.

While we were working, a young man dressed in summer street clothes came out of the hotel and unlocked a car parked near the side wall of the hotel.  It was obvious that the car had not been winterized.  This was in the 1960s and cars did not start well in the winter in those years.

When the young man tried to start the car, the motor barely turned over.  He got out, locked the car and went back into the hotel before he froze.  The obvious thing to do was to call a service station for help.

About 20 minutes later he came out of the hotel and tried it again.  We concluded that he didn’t have enough money to call a service station.  We felt a little sorry for him, figuring that he was from out of state and this was his first experience with cold weather starting.

Of course the car did not start this time either.  He got out, walked around the car, kicked all four tires and ran back into the hotel.  We looked at each other and one of us said; “Nope, the tires are O.K.  That can’t be the problem.”

A few minutes went by and here he came again.  The same thing happened again.  This time when the car wouldn’t start he raised the hood and looked into the engine compartment.  Then he slammed the hood shut and ran back inside the hotel.

This was starting to get entertaining!

One of us said; “The engine is still there.”

A short while later, out he came and tried to start the car once more.  Still no start.  This time he raised the hood, took off the radiator cap and peered into the radiator.  One of us said; “Yup, it’s full of gas.”

He went back into the hotel and didn’t come out again while we were there.  By that time we had our job done and were starting to get cold.  We picked up our tools and ladders and headed for the barn.  I have no idea what he did with his frozen car.

Perhaps it is incidents like this that give Montana and North Dakota a reputation for being cold.