Re: Birds DON'T perch on high-voltage wires


"Mike McDowall" <m.a.mcdowall@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:7jnah19crcm3ipc7enruhje3hdddhlh6ji@xxxxxxxxxx
> On Tue, 30 Aug 2005 18:24:51 GMT, "Ron Verrall"
> <ronverrall@xxxxxxx@#$spam.ca> wrote:
>
>>
>>"Mike McDowall" <m.a.mcdowall@xxxxxx> wrote in message
>>news:fn18h1h9feq5bdbjmh0q7h0ab7m1bu45gr@xxxxxxxxxx
>>> On Tue, 30 Aug 2005 03:35:03 GMT, "Ron Verrall"
>>> <ronverrall@xxxxxxx@#$spam.ca> wrote:
>>>
>>> What voltage are you talking about Ron ? Interesting idea. Much of our
>>> distribution network is 11kV, and birds most certainly do sit on that.
>>>
>>> Mike, East Lothian.
>>
>>Hi Mike,
>>The in-city distribution voltage here is 14 kV, I believe. When I
>>remember
>>to check the wires, I never see a bird on them, but, on the other hand,
>>I've
>>not done a serious study. The wires coming into the houses over here are
>>110 Volts relative to ground (earth), and I often see birds on them.

> Interesting, as I said we most definitely have birds sitting on the
> 11kV distribution network. At this time of year, hundreds of swallows,
> in the winter hundreds of fieldfares and redwings. At any time of
> year, hundreds of finches / bunting. They make popular song posts for
> bunting, hunting perches for kestrel, and sizeing up / lookout posts
> for crows and pigeons. These are three wire / three phase systems, so
> all the wires are live. I know they are - cause our power is on :-)
> and we use 3 phase.

I will watch more closely for birds on the 14 kV line. We have a rural
property with our 'own' transformer on a pole. The 14 kV line comes into
the transformer, and the two 120 V lines (two phase) come out. In the
spring we have lots of Violet-Green Swallows nesting around the property.
They love to sit on the 120 V line, but I've never seen them on the
high-voltage line. This may be because (1) I've not been observant or (2)
there is more action over by the buildings.

We once had a juvenile Great Horned Owl sit himself down right on the
transformer. I presume everything was ok until he stretched out a wing and
touched the high-voltage line coming in. It was very sad, but I guess he
didn't suffer long. He blew a 200 amp breaker, and at 14 kV that is a lot
of Watts. The really sad thing was that we could hear momma owl flying
around all afternoon (!) hooting for her little one.

>
> Talking about crows - my grandfather was daft on electricity. His farm
> cottages were the first in the county with electricity (but left the
> residents complaining they didn't have kitchens). He built electric
> boot cleaners, rat traps, and an electric plough which had a
> proportionate winding system for the cables it trailed across the
> field. The power lines around the fields were paired - it was a single
> phase plough - and he made the mistake of hanging the wires one above
> each other. Crows used to sit on the top wire, weighed it down till
> <flash> it shorted and blew the fuse. So he made an electric circuit
> breaker which just had to be switched back on. That was in the 1930's.
>
> Incidentally I noticed there was a fourth wire on the medium distance
> distribution network in China. Their single phase voltage is 220-240.
> I asked an electrical engineering student what the fourth wire was and
> he says they run an earth / return everywhere "for safety". Doesn't
> sound like their phases are very well balanced.

I believe the ones here, and probably in Britain, use the earth, itself, as
a fourth-wire balancer. It's pretty hard to get all three phases balanced
nicely.

>
>>The voltage on the steel-tower distribution network ranges from about 100
>>kV
>>to over 250 kV. You will notice that sometimes the wires come in clusters
>>of four - spaced about 10 inches apart. Sometimes they come in pairs -
>>again spaced about 10 inches apart.
> I haven't noticed four, but have noticed two. I had thought this was
> to keep the weight of any individual wire down.
>
> I'll keep an eye on the HT distribution network for birds perching.
> You think the one at the top is an earth ? That might be the obvious
> one for birds to use any way.
>
> Mike, East Lothian.

The hot lines are all hanging from insulators that are three or four feet
long. The top line (or any line that is at earth potential) has a more
direct connection - i.e., no insulators.

Cheers, Ron Verrall


.

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