subject: Utility Networks Seek To Update Distribution Poles To Provide More Reliable Services To Customers [print this page] The failure of a single power pole can create a chain reaction that can cause power loss to thousands of customers in a local area. Old wooden poles can be struck by lightning or hit by a vehicle, collapsing and creating a major problem for the power company in charge of maintaining the power grid. To avoid the expense of a failure, the updating and replacement of wooden poles has been undertaken as power companies buy utility poles that are made from steel or iron.
Iron poles actually outlast the life span of both wooden and steel utility lines, saving the utility companies the cost of replacement sometimes two or three times over the life of the pole. These savings in manpower and materials cost can often make it far more practical to update the pole in an area to iron instead of wood. Wooden utility poles also have the restrictions of height and size placed upon them by the natural growth of the tree the wood was taken from. Manufactured poles can be much larger and higher, allowing the replacement poles to hold the power lines up far higher and carry more power than wooden poles.
No matter what type of materials used for the replacements, the company maintaining the lines must buy utility poles to replace the aging and failing poles in a distribution network. Electrical power is not the only thing carried along these poles, fiber optics, telephone wires and cable communication lines are also transmitted through the lines on distribution poles. Some areas are requiring the burial of distribution lines, but this can also create problems in a network. Along major roadways and transmittal lines, the ease of access to the repair of problems with power and communication wires allows repairs to be done at the point of the problem instead of necessitating the search along buried lines.
While 'buried lines' might be run through tunnels large enough for men to walk through, this is not always the case. Finding and reaching the point needing repairs or replacement can be difficult. Sometimes a problem will start out small before becoming an issue that affects thousands of customers. Handling little problems can prevent them from becoming big headaches for the distribution network to repair. Replacing old poles with new ones can help prevent these types of problems and give the network new life, especially if updated lines are connected to the grid, replacing old and weakened lines.
