limb stuck on powerline

[coachgeo]

Powerline from pole to house has a tree limb on it. Limb is maybe 14' long 3" diameter and has one end on another tree branch and other on power line.

Figured I could shimmy across the power line like a military slide for life cable, but don't think it will hold me. Thought of a long medal pole and just whack the power line to vibrate the branch off but I don't have a pole that long.

Any suggestions on best way of getting it down?

 

[Daren Todd]

Call the power company. Because it's a life safety issue, they will usually send someone out to remove the limb. Which usually consists of thick rubber gloves and a fiber glass pole. It doesn't hurt to ask anyway I wouldn't suggest doing it your self though.

Plan B, if there aren't any neighbors in the line of fire, you could just shoot the limb off the tree supporting the branch on the line with the ol shot gun. Just stand out of the way of the branch and the power line

 

[OldeEnglish]

Powerline from pole to house has a tree limb on it. Limb is maybe 14' long 3" diameter and has one end on another tree branch and other on power line.

Figured I could shimmy across the power line like a military slide for life cable, but don't think it will hold me. Thought of a long medal pole and just whack the power line to vibrate the branch off but I don't have a pole that long.

Any suggestions on best way of getting it down?

Call the power company, I wouldn't try touching a power line with a metal pole.... I wouldn't want to hear that you turned into a crispy critter

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Powerline from pole to house has a tree limb on it. Limb is maybe 14' long 3" diameter and has one end on another tree branch and other on power line.

Figured I could shimmy across the power line like a military slide for life cable, but don't think it will hold me. Thought of a long medal pole and just whack the power line to vibrate the branch off but I don't have a pole that long.

Any suggestions on best way of getting it down?

Use the Tractors loader with forks and stab at the limb till is comes down, and make sure you set the rear blade on the ground to make sure the tractor has an efficient ground!
If you still can't reach it have a friend, wife, kid, or entire family drive the tractor and lift you in the bucket use a chain saw to hack the limb out of the wires!
Make sure to have someone film the entire event for our education... oh I really mean our entertainment!

 

[Tooljunkie]

I shudder just at the thought of it. Call the power company, you will live longer.

 

[bcbull378]

CALL THE POWER COMPANY!!!!!!! Please for your safety and others around you do not try to take it down your self , don't try to remove it with anything. The gloves the power company uses arnt just rubber gloves there are made just for working voltages , there are high voltage gloves and low voltage gloves and they are tested every 6 months. I'm a retired lineman for Southern Ca Edison. ( 37 years) I responded to 2 diffrent calls over the years where someone had tried to do just what your talking about one fellow was killed another had second and third degree burns. So please call the power company and let a trained lineman remove the limb under the right conditions house voltage 120/240 can kill you in an instant it only takes 1/5 th of a amp to stop the human heart.

 

[Eric McCarthy]

Did dude seriously say he wanted to take a metal pole to the power lines??

 

[CaveCreekRay]

I think he was kidding.

 

[coachgeo]

I think he was kidding.

Yep kidding... tis why I used emoticons

Was not sure where my responsibility took over from power company.... them responsible for Power lines to my pole only; thu$ requiring I call a tree guy... or included power lines after my pole, to my house thus I an call power company.

 

[Daren Todd]

Yep kidding... tis why I used emoticons

Was not sure where my responsibility took over from power company.... them responsible for Power lines to my pole only; thu$ requiring I call a tree guy... or included power lines after my pole, to my house thus I an call power company.

If you have trees growing up through the power lines they will come out and top for free. I've had them come out and top trees below the power lines so I could take them down and get rid of them. But it depends on the location as well.

They took the smaller trees, but left the 80ft oak that was tearing up my driveway. That one they would only limb. Said I had to get a tree service to come out for that one

 

[D2Cat]

Call the power company. They are not responsible for anything from their transformer to your property, however they will disconnect power at transformer and give you how ever much time to need to do your work.

 

[olthumpa]

Call the power company. They are not responsible for anything from their transformer to your property, however they will disconnect power at transformer and give you how ever much time to need to do your work.

This can and does vary from one power supplier to another. My supplier is responsible for everything up to where the power line is connected to my house. If you have an underground service, you are responsible for the underground cable from your house to the transformer.

For the time it takes to make a call, I would definitely call your power supplier.

If the branch had fallen ans broke the wire going from their transformer to your house, would you replace/fix it or would the power company?

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Up here power company owns and is responsible for lines to meter.

 

[Eric McCarthy]

If you have trees growing up through the power lines they will come out and top for free. I've had them come out and top trees below the power lines so I could take them down and get rid of them. But it depends on the location as well.

They took the smaller trees, but left the 80ft oak that was tearing up my driveway. That one they would only limb. Said I had to get a tree service to come out for that one

Never have a tree topped and left. It'll kill the tree over time and it'll come falling down.

Topping is fine for a complete tree take down and removal.

 

[D2Cat]

Eric, I think this statement is not ...... "Never have a tree topped and left. It'll kill the tree over time and it'll come falling down."

I guess it's a good thing to tell your potential customers to get more work!

 

[Tooljunkie]

The power company here has a tree service trimming around the wires. I got three loads of chips dropped in my yard. Pellet mill gonna be busy next summer.

 

[skeets]

tooljunkie question,,, I see how the pellets are made form sawdust, but can you make them from chips or do you have to run all the stuff from the chipper through a hammer mill to turn it to dust?

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Never have a tree topped and left. It'll kill the tree over time and it'll come falling down.

Topping is fine for a complete tree take down and removal.

Not even close to true! I'll send you pic's of many a tree that are 50+ years old that get topped by the power company all the time and they are still going strong!

 

[Lil Foot]

Around here the power company is responsible right up to the connection to the structure.
Reminds me of an incident at my place in the mountains. I have hundreds of Gambel oak & occasionally one feels the need to fuel my fireplace & dies off.
I was thinning near the power line & decided to drop a dead oak about 25ft from the line. The tree was about 25-28ft tall, with the last 3ft being about 3/4" in diameter. I knew it would come close to the line, but figured even if it hit, it would just snap off that thin piece at the top. Wrong! It dropped to about a 30 degree angle, hit the line, bounced back up to near vertical, dropped again, bounced again, etc, etc, etc, seemed like it went on a long time. No amount of wrestling could get it down. I had to cut it off about 4ft above the ground to get it off the line, but no damage done. I got lucky I guess. Would have made a great youtube video.

 

[Daren Todd]

Around here the power company is responsible right up to the connection to the structure.
Reminds me of an incident at my place in the mountains. I have hundreds of Gambel oak & occasionally one feels the need to fuel my fireplace & dies off.
I was thinning near the power line & decided to drop a dead oak about 25ft from the line. The tree was about 25-28ft tall, with the last 3ft being about 3/4" in diameter. I knew it would come close to the line, but figured even if it hit, it would just snap off that thin piece at the top. Wrong! It dropped to about a 30 degree angle, hit the line, bounced back up to near vertical, dropped again, bounced again, etc, etc, etc, seemed like it went on a long time. No amount of wrestling could get it down. I had to cut it off about 4ft above the ground to get it off the line, but no damage done. I got lucky I guess. Would have made a great youtube video.

That was a pretty good way to get barbequed we had a power line come down about 1/4 mile up the road from the house during a storm. Power company restored power to the house. All we were getting was a humming on the phone lines. Phone company came out to diagnose the issue. Hooked his butt set up to the outside phone box and got blown back 30ft into my gramps car. The downed power line up the road was back feeding through the phone lines