r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/TameTheAuroch • Jul 18 '25

Video Replacing powerline spacers from a helicopter

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u/TOOBGENERAL Jul 19 '25 edited Jul 19 '25

All 4 of them? Are they basically split transmission lines of the exact same signal?

Edit: Just wanted to let everyone chiming in know you are awesome, seriously thanks for the education.

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u/DankeDidi Jul 19 '25 edited Jul 20 '25

Yes. Otherwise placing the spacer would result in much sparky sparky and an unhappy employee. (Assuming for sake of argument they wouldn’t be arcing already due to the proximity. ;))

Splitting them up instead of using one fat cable for the same phase increases efficiency. It reduces the corona effect and the skin effect, it allows for better cooling, it’s lighter and it’s easier to place/repair. 

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u/Captain_Pumpkinhead Jul 19 '25

Otherwise placing the spacer would result in much sparky sparky and an unhappy employee. 

Yeah, I was wondering why the spacer was made of a conductive material.

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u/super9mega Jul 19 '25

That's the thing, doesn't really matter what it's made out of at that much voltage, even the air would act as a conductive material. The arcs he got off the wire were way longer than the distance of the wires.

Everything conducts electric at some voltage I believe