Being a Lineman - Episode 23 

Before I stared lineman school I’d watch these videos while having no idea what he was talking about, but now with the crazy amount of info I’ve learned so far this has become an incredible tool to see how these things are worked on in the field. Thanks so much Aaron I look forward to continue watching to make me a better apprentice!

For a new apprentice only 6month into my apprenticeship these kinds of videos are huge to see how the work is safely done in Canada. No one else makes content like this.

it’s wild to find a lineman channel, my dads been doing it for almost 25 years and he despises youtubers 😂 you kick ass dude!

speaking as someone not in the trades, I find these videos to be utterly fascinating and oddly soothing. the way you keep your voice pretty even, and calm, I find to be a good way of conveying the information, and that you translate it so even us poor fools who do other things can understand is very helpful.

Wow this was great! I had no idea that your safety procedures were so involved. The communication with dispatch is like listening to air traffic control! The redundancy of the communication, tagging, and grounding is really far more involved than I ever would have guessed, and obvioisly for good reason.

True professional. You know your craft well. Impressive to say the least!

As someone in a trades Job I absolutely envy the communication and professionalism.

Hey guys stay safe out there. I earthed a single wire earth return took all 3 shots of 19kva, lost both my legs nearly lost an arm. 30% of me is skingrafted after deep tissue burn. It’s grips ya hard, doesn’t let go. The heat is extreme to say the least. The bangs are so loud! When they pass through you like a get hitting the sound barrier. The electricity exited through every part of my body. No one knows or understands how I survived it. I’m talking to my state providers to do speeches to linesmen in there crews.

Excellent three part communication! 👊🏻👊🏻👍🏻👍🏻Switching instructions communicated over 2-way radio so other crews responding can hear what your doing. We remove the source side tap/ remove the door. As well as strap a reflective pole banner at the base of the pole alerting other crews to our presence on the line. Keep up the great work Aaron.

As a spectator, I really appreciate your explanations of what you are doing. Stay safe.

Appreciate the post! The automatic sleeves make life so much easier! 40 years ago we only had compression sleeves. For #4 acsr they were about 24" long and had 2 plugs at the midpoint that you had to pull out before inserting the wire. Anti-ox would squirt out, then you had to crimp 14 BG (5/8 die single groove) crimps each side of center point, with a wooden handle press, rolling the wire/sleeve or the press each crimp or the sleeve would curve or curl! Almost a 2 person job, really difficult in the air!! Not to mention no-ox squirting out and getting on everything! The new shorter compression sleeves, hydraulic presses, double groove BG dies and automatics are a welcomed improvement!

This was one of your better videos from start to finish love the camera also I have always wondered about those sleeves that go on a broken line and now u have explained exactly 💯 how that works great job thanks mike iron river m.i.

I have applied For a lines person apprenticeship in the UK. Currently halfway through the application process and I am excited!

That was a brilliant move touching the wire, and wrapping it at the base of the gate!!

We call the automatics pickles. I always get a little paranoid when I see more than 1 of those in a span. Had one come apart on us during storm. Luckily no one got hurt. Keep up the good work.👊🏾

I teach electrical trades at a high school in Michigan, many of our students go on to be lineman, will show this video to the future prospects as a great example of what a day might look like!! Thanks so much for sharing this I hope your company fully supports you in this effort it is a great way to share you what you do!

I am starting lineman school may 9th I have no idea about anything you are mentioning and talking about but your videos are very intriguing and I cannot wait to start learning more about everything this trade has to offer thank you for the awesome videos! Keep doing your thing brother !

I'm gonna try calling my old lady the "Load Buster".... Pray for my safety boys! I'll probably be on the couch for the next week if anyone needs me. 😆

Compelling watching makes us realise what a good job you guys do. Watching from the UK. Thank you.

Thanks Aaron for the video. Just another day with less then ideal working conditions. I can see that we have more tree trimming funds here in Maryland around primaries and secondary's. Not to mention many more automatic reclosers everywhere. Since I never did linework, never heard about radial feed and loop feeds, Thanks for the info. BTW, I've been watching temps in your area. Too cold for me!

i really like that he says the instructions and yall repeat them back…more companies should use this practice

As a distribution design engineer, its so cool seeing what I put on paper coming into fruition. I respect the work you do because just thinking about being near 7200v makes me pee, love the content!

I like your video's and they make it perfectly clear how dangerous a linemans job can be...

Thanks! I have learned a lot from you and your videos. Quite the job you all have to do. I had no idea the steps were so intricate, but it makes you safe. Thanks for keeping the lights on!

Very good instructive video. Always wire brush the conductor and wire brush “ goop” ( no oxide) onto the conductor before putting it into splice. Better, use compression splices!

The training app is FANTASTIC! Thats super work Trent!

1:45 that is incredibly scary. Thank goodness it was a dead neutral.

What a fantastic video! He dropped that door in and I can't even see that high up! Kudos to the Young Man with the Transformer App!

That snow looks really refreshing. Down here in LA (Lower Alabama) temps are flirting with the century mark (100 degrees F/38 degrees C for y'all) with high humidity.

My big brother is a lineman chicago local 9 IBEW I've been doing residential commercial electrical but I want to get into the lineman apprenticeship I've been watching your videos for months. Thank you for your inspiring videos!

Cool videos Bob👍...when grounding we were taught to never leave ground tails in the bucket with urself n always leave secured outside the bucket like on ur bucket hooks ..while installing or removing em...stay safe out there uall👍👍

Love the videos Always Aaron! I'm getting out of the US Navy as a Construction Electrician going to work for my local PUD back home! I'll be doing an awesome program offered for AD Military where I get to work with a company for the last 6 months of my Military time with all pay etc, and the company gets me for free; with the commitment that once everything works out I'll be endentured into my Lineman Apprenticeship as a 2nd step. I'll be a groundsman for those six months, no problem as I'll take it with strides. Gotta restart somewhere. I was a groundsman with a tree trimming around the lines prior to service so falling trees safely, etc I'll have that to also help as a new Lineman. I'm very excited! Finally getting closer! I'll start 09Dec this year! Love your videos, God Bless! Keep it up Brother! Local 125 here.

40 years with san diego gas & electric and retired in 2020 , sure do miss it ! I love seeing the trouble men at work , good group of men............ Alan Thomas

I’m testing for apprenticeship in a week. Green as grass so I’ve been studying hard and trying to take as much in as I can. Love the videos

You must have world class depth perception to install that door like you did. Stay safe and warm up there!

Thank you for all of your hard work in restoring power in times of severe weather. Going out when it's -30˚F during a blizzard to restore power is truly appreciated. I take a neutral stance of the neutral subject.

It's amazing what you done with such a long stick. I could never do that. Good that I'm an engineer, not a lineman ^^

Long live the mullet! Props to your company for allowing you to make these videos!

Aaron, another great video. I've said it before, I have the utmost respect for our linemen, not so much for the company they work for. Our company got the award for worst customer service for a power company in the US.

1 of the poles in my yard got replaced Friday, pretty impressive how they can do that without interrupting power, shame they had to leave part of the old pole because my fiber lines were on it.. Unfortunately, they didnt fully bury the line and broke a copper strand from the insulation some how, so i have Verizon coming out Monday.

Quite interesting to see that app uses Australia/NZ colour schemes for the wiring, vs USA/Canada. Neutral in Aus/NZ is black. Active (or hot as you say in US/Canada) is Red. Phase colours are red, white, blue (A, B, C, L1, L2, L3). Always enjoy watching electrical line work from around the world. Thanks for sharing!

I'm currently in Line School, I love your videos!

as an apprentice lineman this is an amazing channel to just stumble on

Great video as always Aaron. 2 lengths on the load bust. I like it!!! Never seen a guy burnt with 2 lengths of stick!!!

As a linesman in the U.K I enjoyed seeing your way of work. We have similarities, the only difference being is you have far better equipment than us. We could only dream of them trucks 💪

Its very nice that you made a video about this, my dad actually just started working for a contracted company connected to oncore, and i have no idea what he does when hes out there, all i know is that he is a pole setter. And i dont wanna say its a coincedence, but id say about 2 weeks ago he and a few other men went out to fix and lay a few new poles. But the thing was the initial poles needed to be pulled because they were damage etc. Well acompaning him was a new guy and he had never been around electrical work or anything related to his new job. ( no names will be named ) but they had a foreman and the new guy was to be directed on what to do by said foreman. This new guy couldnt have been but maybe 20 yrs old man, so his foreman instructed him to get the tools needed and get ready for the job, but the new guy unfortunately didnt understand that he wasnt instructed to start working. He just wanted to start working and see what his new job was about and there's nothing wrong with that. But the electricity was STILL ON, everything he was about to touch was ON. And unfortunately on the day he did touch those wires and fried about 70 percent of his body. I have no further information on whether or not he is still here today, but I pray to the good lord above that he have mercy on his soul, and when my dad came back and told me what had happened, i told him he needs to seriously find a different line of work. But i do understand someone has to do it, but i stress to EVERYONE, whether your shooting guns, welding cuttin wood.. WEAR YOUR PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT. It may save your life...

Great episode. Love all the first person footage of what you do.

Great vid! I also took notice of your finger discipline when holding the come along grip. Can tell you're a military man lol. Stay safe out there!

I'm going to be starting lineman school soon, I'm subscribing to learn more about this field. Thanks for the info 👍

I highly appreciate the videos you do! I fairly recently got out of a pre-apprentice lineman school this past August 2021, and have been tossing out resumes and applications since to get hired as an apprentice. Right now, it's possible that I might be doing underground, in hopes that I can get on with the company's overhead crew. You have no idea of how many things you've refreshed me on, like as you were explaining stuff, my mind immediately takes me back to the lineman school and I immediately start to understand what you're talking about!

Lineman from NY sending love 💪🏾💯

Thanks for the shoutout! You have a very helpful and educational channel here and I love that I could be a part of it, even in a small way. Keep up the great work and stay safe out there!

Trent is a Genius !! Why didn’t I ever think of making a transformer app to practice banks omg I’m blown away lol

Last month when we had that massive snow storm a FEDEx truck slid into a pole and took out half the town’s power. Two crews showed up in the nastiest weather possible. My mom and sisters made them hot chocolate and I took thermos jugs out to them. Took four loads to get hot chocolate into all of them. They initially politely refused but the boss said it was okay so they drank. Took them 3 hours to get the new pole set and another three getting all the lines hung. Not bad considering the weather and the ground was frozen solid. Love my lineman!

Excelente

Thanks for another great video.

New subscriber! I’m a union laborer working mostly in road construction and pipe work, love the videos it’s nice to see how you guys work it’s pretty awesome! Much love from central Massachusetts

Awesome video brother. Very good job explaining procedures and what we do in the field. May I suggest looking into using pole banners. They are a reusable velcro pole wrap, reflective orange high visibility, and has 'MEN WORKING LINE". They are great to have, especially during storms when there are contractors all over the place. I usually carry three of them with me for multiple locations on a job. I simply put my pole banner 6' above ground at the open point, fuse, or switch. Anyone that gets called out to my job can't miss seeing it and they know someone is already there working on the line. The pole banner also has clear pockets for switching tags. Just a suggestion to keep you a little bit safer. Can't tell you how many times I've been dispatched to a job during storms and another crew shows up to the same job because a supervisor sent them there. Stay safe bro. 🙂

I love these linemen type videos 🥰🥰

another good video! I hope the winter will be over soon 🥶

the amount of trust, the company puts in you

The skill you used with the Load buster and removal of the Cutout was freaking epic at the 13:00 min mark I have a contract for the Toronto Blue jays and The yankees waiting for ya based off ur bat speed!! Though you'd probly prefer to snipe a Goalie from the blue line with that stick being Canadian!!!

Command and response hall, very important in all aspects of the job! (When he was talking to dispatch)

Wise beyond your years! Great videos.👍👍😁

I’m going into this field for work and I don’t know any about it so hopefully I can get a basic knowledge of it from these videos

First time seeing your videos, you did really well and covered everything in great detail. Stay safe out there and keep doing exactly what your doing.

Always enjoy your videos Aaron. Stay safe and healthy. 🤛

That is some scary stuff 😳! I got stuck to a wall outlet being an idiot in electronics class in high-school. NEVER want to feel that again! (Playing drums on an outlet with two screw drivers, teacher laughed louder than the whole class!)

Very fascinating. Greatly enjoyed it

I got a good one for you. I went to turn on the 240v heater/AC unit (13,000 BTU) the other night (the sun heats up the room during the day). When it went on my clock in the bedroom which is plugged into a surge protector with other items reset back to flashing 12:01, giving a minute for me to travel from the living room to the bedroom. Your thoughts. Love you channel.

Much respect to you sir!

Such a cool video I love the pov working shots

I've had a trouble ticket open for over 5 weeks with my own power utility for high voltage. I've been in contact 1 - 2 times a week with customer service with no resolution (and promises of call backs that don't happen). One of my cousins knows someone on the distribution side (but he does commercial power, not residential), but he still has access to substations, etc. Checked voltage there and it's spot on, but there is a transformer bank that feeds my neighborhood (steps down 13.8kv down to either 4.4kv or 7.8kv... can't remember which... my plant is very old), but that bank is configured with a 2.5% boost. He gave me a copy of the plant map that feeds my neighborhood which was pretty cool. Voltage here floats right around 252v, but routinely coasts up to 256v. It's a problem for me being a solar customer - my stuff shuts down if grid voltage goes over 252v, so it disables itself a LOT. Company said they have a 5% +- tolerance so I'm right at the high limit constantly. Question for you... What are the average resolution times for high voltage tickets submitted by residential customers for the utility you work for, if you even get those? I'm here in the US and I know you're our neighbor to the north... just trying to get a potential idea of how much longer I may need to wait.

God bless Man U did a fantastic job recording this💪🏼

I work in telecommunications so we don’t go as high nor do we even work on the same components, but I love these videos. Makes me want to take the jump over to Energy…😂

I work for a cable company. Those automatic sleeves you talk about we call pickles lol. I actually hate them. They fail somewhat easily. I've literally repaired 1/2 inch strand and then a few hours later they break. What we normally do is use a preformed straight splice. Power does here as well. I'm assuming it's because of the extreme heat here in Texas. Maybe makes the strand contract I'm not sure. I love it watching your videos Aaron they are amazing and show so much.

So grateful for our maps lol. They show actual poles.

First time seeing this, I hope more do. You guys do an awesome job restoring power. If more saw what you guys go through they would understand that it's a process and safety is definately the main concern.

Hey man, love learning from your videos. I have few questions/ video ideas that I'm interested to see. I'm curious about the political side of your job. Do you have a direct boss or multiple direct bosses?? Does he have to watch you work a number of times per month to make sure you're being safe? Are there post quality inspections done on your work? Is there company safety guy who will pull up on you unannounced? What does your boss do? Is he an engineer or a former lineman? Who do you call at 3am when you need backup, your boss? Dispatch? Etc? Do you ever have to discuss plans with your engineering team or get approval for your management team to do things that may our of the ordinary? What happens when your boss is on vacation? Who controls your route? Just dispatch or does your boss move orders around? What about his boss and your company rank structure? Do you know the CEO and ever interface with him? Do you have train people? Do you have to attend meeting with your team or is it really just you on your team? What else is the cb radio used for and what policies are concerning the radio? Are there any obscure company policies that people wouldn't expect like no smoking ever or you must wear long sleeves at all times? You could do an entire video on some of the company policies that the layman wouldn't expect you to have. Obviously you can't give intimate details like names or specific processes. But this would be an easy and interesting video(s) you could do from your cab or dining room table and i would appreciate the info. Thanks!

Must be pretty good amperage to use a solid blade. Those telescopic stick certainly can save a climb on back lot switches!!

Great video Thank you for what you do. Been looking at getting a job as a lineman but was wondering if you know if there is a age limit or cut off age. Im 47 and in good shape. Thanks again for all you and the crew's do.

Thank you. Nice app. Purchased.

That load Buster is very safe to unlocking the cutout.🙂

Interesting to see the lack of snow if this is recent. The snow comes and goes so quickly. On Monday, you cannot walk through it. On Friday, there is no snow on ground. crazy stuff.

Fascinating.

Wow, three way comms seems over kill for single phase. But to each their own, nothing wrong with being safe.

Ever work on transmission lines parralleing a railroad? if any wire hits the track rail it can become energized, regardless of energy on the track itself like a 100hz or 91.6hz track circuit or propulsion retun. We had a 60k wire 60hz fall on our lines (100hz 5k) and hut and the surge blew each hut in turn and fried alot of stuff. Huts are grounded and like a farday cage but the ground can feed in. Our system is isolated and has two condutors off of the transformer.

Love watching your videos and seeing behind the scenes of something I used to take for granted every day! I used to want to work as a lineman after I found out how hard microarchitecture engineering was haha. PS: Mullets Rule!

Great video 👊🏼From Clearwater, Florida🇺🇸💯

Curious watching these after all the crap going on in houston with our grid being crapped right now due to the tropical storm

Excellent safety procedures 👍

Great Depth Perception.

Never had to take an outage on a radial for a broken express neutral. Also here on Long Island every house has a water main bond so there is great grounding potential through that. But we’ll keep the line energized get the wire back up and use a jumper and a shotgun the make the actual bond connection for any difference in potential then we will splice the neutral. This is a huge production and and intentional outage for a broken neutral. But hey when in Rome right. Gots ta follow your companies rules. Some rules are definitely overkill. But good thing ya did so you can easily make the repairs on the primary

i just have this urge right now to buy a bucket truck and start climbing these high wires and start adjusting them.

🔥

Good job Aaron.

New to the channel. Great videos, content and information 👍🏽

Awesome job guy

just a side note, didn't realize how much bass your intro music has till i got my new speakers!

Thank for working in some of the worse weather and storms to provide everyone with electric power