I've seen numerous videos of arc flashes before, but it was a slow Saturday night so I decided to take Michael's suggestion and looked up some videos on YouTube when I stumbled upon this one in particular.
Apparently, some construction work was being done when a backhoe hit some power lines underground* and fireworks obviously ensued. An event like that will surely "trip the breaker," so to speak, and shut down the power to that area. What many people do not know is that the system is designed to "reset" itself three times** before it gives up completely, so those workers were treated to a couple of light shows every 15-20 seconds.***
But what totally rocks my cookies is the dialogue in the video (which is somewhat NSFW).
That's THIRTEEN THOUSAND VOLTS running wild around in that hole and the guy wants to dive in there to rescue his bucket?? What really cracks me up is his answer when his co-worker tells him he can't go in to retrieve it:
"I have to."
"You can't."
"I have to!"
What?? Dude, it's not like you're a white knight deciding to rescue the princess from a dragon's cave. You're not Bruce Willis saving the world from being destroyed by an asteroid. And we're not talking about whether or not it's a good idea to tell your kid you ran over the cat this morning. We're talking about a bucket. You can replace it when you go to Home Depot after work and probably get it reimbursed if you remember to keep the receipt.****
How stupid do you have to be to insist on risking your life for a bucket? It's almost as stupid as the guy on set who tries to move an 18k on top stick of a Roadrunner on uneven ground by himself, obviously ends up tipping it over, only to rush to the other side to try and catch it.
Not that, ahem, that's ever happened...
* Digalert!
** I've been told the reset cycles are what contributed to Adrienne Alpert's unfortunate accident back in 2000.
*** At least, that's my (very limited) understanding of how shit works. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
**** Unless, of course, it's some kind of magic bucket, in which case I stand corrected.
2 comments :
Nice clip... but I believe the "bucket" referred to is the digging end of that backhoe -- the scoop at the end of the arm that contacted the hot cables in the hole and caused the arc flash in the first place. All that arc welding in there -- yeah, 13,000 fracking volts -- was doubtless vaporizing large chunks of the big metal scoop, er, bucket.
Still, that's no excuse for trying to pull the damned thing out and getting fried in the process...
Michael - Ah, yes. That makes more sense. I guess I jumped to the conclusion that it was a personal bucket of sorts since the guy was referring to it as "his bucket" and he had to go in after it. Thanks for the correction.
My comments on his stupidity, however, still stands. And probably even more so now that he seriously contemplated risking his life for company property that is no doubt heavily insured.
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