Poles for electricity: varieties, installation
Company "Russian Fence". We are engaged in the installation of fences, gates (including automatic ones), the installation of poles and power lines throughout Moscow and the Moscow region. Call: +7 (499) 490-00-13 from 10:00 to 21:00 daily.
Some time ago, when power lines were just being laid, only wooden poles were used for electricity. With the passage of time and the development of industry, wooden poles of power lines began to replace iron and reinforced concrete ones. What types of materials for power lines are used today?
Types of electric poles
Today you can find poles of power lines from:
- metal;
metal support
- reinforced concrete;
Reinforced concrete support
- tree.
Wooden homemade support
Metal poles are most often used for high voltage lines because only a metal structure can support the enormous weight of wires and insulators.
Reinforced concrete poles are most often found in wet and soft soil, where the metal corrodes and the wood simply rots.
Wooden poles are the cheapest compared to other types, and their installation is much easier, you can install such a pole without resorting to the help of special equipment and specialists.
Advantages of wooden poles for power lines
- The biggest plus of wooden poles is the relatively low cost compared to other types;
- It is much easier to deliver to the installation site, several dozen poles can be delivered at once by special transport;
- Wooden poles have no equal in seismically active zones, it is much easier to get them there;
- Not subject to displacement by gusts of wind;
- The light weight of the poles allows them to withstand a large weight of wires;
- Wooden poles are dielectrics, therefore they are much safer than their metal and reinforced concrete "brothers" even if the insulating layer of wires is destroyed;
- The service life of a wooden pole is at least forty years, and other types of poles can barely withstand 35.
Wooden power line pole
What are wooden poles
The most common species from which power poles are made are conifers (spruce, pine, fir). The resin secreted by such rocks is an excellent natural preservative and antiseptic that allows you to keep the post strong for many years.
wooden poles
The pillars are made of rounded logs, so their surface is flat, without bark.
Important! In the manufacture of logs for power transmission poles, special processing is carried out in order to increase the service life of the pole.
For impregnation, creosote or shale oil is used, as well as various mixtures containing chromium, copper and arsenic. Pine logs absorb antiseptics most effectively.
After processing, the poles can be installed directly into the ground, without pre-treatment, but it is still possible to close the ends with a special cover or apply a protective paste before starting the installation.
Installation of wooden poles
Any support, whether it be a fence post or an electric pole, must be thoroughly strengthened in the ground, for which we need a cement mortar. Consider how to install a wooden electric pole with your own hands.
Following foreign experience, for power lines with a voltage not exceeding 10 kilowatts, it is best to install impregnated wooden poles.
- It is not necessary to mark the territory, if the pillar is in a single copy, you can simply “by eye” calculate the place and remove the top layer of soil, no deeper than 20 centimeters.
- We drill a hole. To do this, you can use a brace or a garden drill. The depth of the hole should be at least two meters, and the diameter should be 20-25 centimeters wider than the pillar.
- We install the post in the hole to the full depth in a strictly vertical position (check with a vertical level).
- Holding the pole (you can’t do without helpers), we lay around the pole a strapping made of reinforcing mesh.
- We fill with concrete.
- Now you need to wait a week until the concrete hardens, checking every day so that the post does not squint.
There is an option to install a pole without concreting, but it is much more difficult, because every 20 centimeters of the hole must be carefully tamped when falling asleep, this process requires a lot of work and time.
Holes without concreting should be filled with crushed stone or gravel, which will force you to spend extra on the purchase and delivery, which costs several times more than the crushed stone itself.
Important! While the concrete has not "grabbed", you can make supports for the pillar so that it does not begin to tilt. To do this, it is possible to stretch reinforcing or steel wire from three sides, fixed to metal pegs driven into the ground.
What to do if it is not possible to treat the tree with an antiseptic or buy it ready?
If you prepare a pole for power lines yourself, then you will not be able to sufficiently soak it with an antiseptic. Then there is a way out - to install a wooden pole on a reinforced concrete prefix.
Reinforced concrete columns 3.25 and 4.25 meters long are used as attachments. For low voltage, it will be enough to install a column with a height of 3.25 meters.
Deepening the attachment into the soil, as well as concreting, is carried out according to the same scheme as above.
After the concrete has hardened, you can attach a wooden pole to the attachment. To do this, we need bandages made of galvanized steel wire 4 mm thick (if the wire is not galvanized, then its thickness must be at least 6 mm).
The wooden pole is pressed tightly against a special recess on the attachment, and on the pole itself it is necessary to make gaps for bandages (no more than 4 mm).
Fastening a wooden pole to a console