Toronto Hydro admits it has little control over stray voltage, tells parents to watch children

[phantom power]

WTF?

Toronto Hydro is admitting it can do little to prevent stray voltage, asking residents in a new ad campaign to tread carefully lest they or their pets be stung by the electricity coursing below city sidewalks.

“What we are trying to tell customers is ... step around any electrical equipment. If you have children, make sure they know not to touch or play around electrical equipment,” said Toronto Hydro spokeswoman Tanya Bruckmueller.

“If you can, walk your dog before the streetlights come on. Because then there is no electricity,” said Ms. Bruckmueller, adding that dogs who contact hot spots should not be touched without proper equipment.

Stray, or “contact voltage,” became an issue after one young child and several dogs received jolts as they walked down the street last winter. Two animals died, leading Toronto Hydro to spend more than $14-million to track down and fix stray voltage problems across the city. The issue resurfaced this month, however, when a Chesapeake Bay Retriever was zapped on the Danforth. It is recovering well.

Now the city-owned hydro provider says they may never have the leaks licked, meaning the $3-million annual cost of running three trucks to survey the city for stray voltage would remain on the books. A massive sweep launched last January involved every Hydro employee testing metal handwells on sidewalks and the launch of a year-round mobile survey for signs of contact voltage.

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/archive/2010/01/19/toronto-hydro-admits-it-has-little-control-over-stray-voltage-tells-parents-to-watch-children.aspx

[hobbit709]

1. Sounds like the insulation on the wiring is breaking down.

If the wires touch anything with cracked or peeling insulation, it will be electrified.

[thunder rising]

2. $14-million for a web site and a van? I guess just pounding copper rods into the ground and tying

the cases to it wouldn't work?

I've only known this kind of problem to exist in very dry areas where it's difficult to keep a good ground.

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. Are they saying you could be fried by just walking down the street?

Or touching a metal light pole or anything metal on the street?
And they can or will do nothing about it?

[shraby]

4. I would think they could run it through conduit pipe that's

plastic.

[ensho]

5. they sure sound relaxed about the situation

nt

[phantom power]

6. Well, it's mostly a threat to children and dogs...

and really they're just underfoot all the damn time anyway.

Did I just say that?

[hunter]

7. We welcome Canada to the Americas...

...where all the infrastructure is suspect.

It adds a little zest to life knowing you can be zapped, burned, or blown up by failing gas or electrical systems, that the bridge above or below you might might fall down, or that the very earth itself might collapse beneath you or spew out suffocating fumes.

[GliderGuider]

8. Images of peeing on an electric fence run through my mind...

[Po_d Mainiac]

9. Major problem with the dairy industry

http://www.rivervalleynewspapers.com/strayvoltage/

Enough amperage to kill is rare, but enough to "tingle" is not.
60 Minutes even ran a story a number of years back.

[Nihil]

10. Well ...

... that should cut down the "urinating in a public place" problem a bit ...
:wow: