Quote Originally Posted by thebigspendur View Post
Okay, thanks for the answers. So explain this to me. A few years ago I had my electric service upgraded and when the guy from the electric company hooked me back up I was shocked-har har as he took the mains coming from the transformer- 600 amps, one wire in each hand wearing only leather gloves. Now how did those leather gloves protect him from that voltage. I thought you needed rubber for that.
a) those 'leather' gloves are rubber on the inside... they have a leather covering so the rubber innards won't puncture as easily.
b) that transformer has a throw switch that turns it on via a fiberglass hook pole - probably energized after the meter was plugged in to the base. Linemen are very wary of public sector electricians they don't know, homeowners and others of ill repute that might cause a fireball to ensue due to a neutral feed plugged into one of the phase terminals.
c) safety protocols would have prevented him from working on live voltage without the proper equipment, or in a safe manner...

I once worked for an electrical contractor who had been a lineman for the power company. He burned up more tools than anyone I ever knew because he refused to de-energize cicuits while working on them. I couldn't afford to buy a new set of Kleins every day of the week, but he did. I guess he thought working with 'low voltage' was pretty boring - but those 40 dollar pliers with big holes blown in them weren't that cool in my book.

The last pair I bought was in 2003. I'm sure he's bought 200 since then.