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Three-phase transmission/distribution lines

Gebhard Wilbard
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    Depends on what else they're touching. Birds manage to do it all the time. – brhans May 25 '22 at 21:43
  • https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/158778/can-a-bird-previously-at-earth-potential-get-electrocuted-by-landing-on-a-powe – brhans May 25 '22 at 21:45
  • https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/244941/why-do-condors-get-electrocuted-by-power-lines/244945 – brhans May 25 '22 at 21:46
  • Only if pulling away from the other wires. Leakage currents in humidity could be deadly. Birds are short antennae for E fields. Have you heard of the guy (RIP) who used a DVM on 600 V line and died from arc flash? It's called SHC. – Tony Stewart EE75 May 25 '22 at 21:53
  • @Tony Ok I'll bite; what is SHC? – JYelton May 25 '22 at 22:14
  • The interweb defines it better https://tinyurl.com/4kcan4b2 @JYelton – Tony Stewart EE75 May 25 '22 at 22:19
  • @Tony Ok, I'll take it that you were joking. – JYelton May 25 '22 at 22:42
  • sadly , no, an old technician working a phase failure in 600 Vac line went up in smoke. Now vests, goggles and rubber gloves are mandatory.. The arc detonated the air around the meter into a cascade effect which was a massive energy burst. It has to due to the low impedance follow-on current not the high voltage – Tony Stewart EE75 May 25 '22 at 23:15
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    @TonyStewartEE75 that's not SHC (which is pseudoscientific nonsense). – Bruce Abbott May 26 '22 at 00:51
  • Sorry @BruceAbbott to use that reference to the pseudo nonsense but arc flash is definitely not nonsense. " Arc flash is extremely dangerous because it can produce some of the highest temperatures known to occur on earth, up to 35,000 degrees Fahrenheit, which is four times the temperature of the surface of the sun!" WHICH CAN and has caused what I said, except WITH a trigger – Tony Stewart EE75 May 26 '22 at 07:05

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Can someone get electrocuted by holding one of the 3 phases in overhead transmission/distribution lines?

Yes, if they are standing on the ground. Especially if they are barefoot and the ground is wet.

It takes very few milliamps of current to be lethal. Small leakages through the insulation, and into the ground and one can become a statistic.

On the other hand, if one is not touching the ground, or some other surface that might conduct a lethal shock, one can touch a high voltage line without getting a shock. Birds do it all the time, and humans who are properly trained do it as well.

I do not mean this to be snarky, but anyone who needs to ask this question is not qualified to handle high voltages safely. They should treat overhead lines as potentially lethal.

Math Keeps Me Busy
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  • You need to electrically tie your body to the line before touching a HV line if your body is dangling in free space. If not, there will be an arc to your body just before contact which could burn you and give you a nasty sensation. – qrk May 25 '22 at 23:46
  • @qrk I have seen that done by men in helicopters. I wonder why it doesn't seem to apply to birds. – Math Keeps Me Busy May 26 '22 at 10:33