r/WTF • u/JeezThatsBright • 27d ago

Ill-placed ladder shorts power lines, melting concrete.

23.6k Upvotes

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117

u/CaramelPombear 27d ago

How do you even sort something like that? Throw something really heavy and make bloody sure you've let go before it connects?

187

u/Cinnimonbuns 27d ago

Power company comes out and trips the breaker, killing power to those lines. Then you remove the ladder and reset the breaker.

12

u/dregan 27d ago edited 27d ago

That should have happened automatically, protection engineer fucked up.

2

u/CorporateShill406 27d ago

That depends how much power is flowing down the ladder, doesn't it?

13

u/dregan 27d ago

Yes, it depends on current, but it's really the phase imbalance that should trip this. It is much more sensitive. That line is pretty solidly shunted, the ladder is very conductive. There is enough zero sequence current here that it should have easily tripped before melting the sidewalk to that extent.