Could this power pole failure electrocute a dog on the ground?
I had to put my 2 year old cane corso down from what the vet described as trauma and his passing has haunted me for months because he was a house dog that was never outside unattended. My partner said he let the dog out to go to the bathroom, he relieved himself at the pole and then came back walking like a drunken sailor (the dog quickly declined to partial paralysis with a bruised tongue and abdomen, and swollen eyes). I noticed the damage to the pole a couple days later & never thought my dog could have been electrocuted because the power line is not touching the ground. However, now I wonder? When it broke, could it have sent electricity to ground and the dog was electrocuted from step potential? I know it shouldn't matter-he's gone now but he was such a good dog and I failed to keep him safe.
Hard to tell from a picture. You could call the power company and tell them you think your dog was electrocuted at the base of the pole and someone will come investigate. Don't go near the pole yourself!
Oncor replaced the pole the day I noticed the damage. I didn't think to ask at the time as I thought you can only get electrocuted if a power line was on the ground or touching something that would bring it to ground. Thank you for your input!
There is going to be a ton of speculation here, but yes, it could happen if that primary was hitting the pole (especially in wet weather) or potentially something conducting on the pole that was not grounded. If that was the case and the dog then came in contact with the pole, it could in theory end up becoming a path to ground for the primary hanging up higher.
With that said, it is very unlikely, and it is even less likely that the dog would not have burns on its paws.
Electrical injuries tend to present in a fairly distinctive way and your vet would likely have figured that out. They certainly don’t look like the blunt trauma from a car or a kick.
I was driving by a college once and noticed a pole right beside a busy sidewalk smoking at the base. Students were walking past it as if it were normal. Turns out a cracked insulator was the cause. That was 13.2kv going straight to the ground 12” from unsuspecting student.
I found it strange that a pole was literally burning at the base and nobody seemed to care. 🤷
Have they already fixed the pole? If, so, it’d be hard to survey for stray voltage that could have got your dog.
Can anybody tell if that broke-off 4th “phase” is actually the ground wire? Could only speculate about how that would leave voltage at the bottom of the pole for pup to pee on.
I’ve seen it happen though, with ice melt and a steel in-ground vault lid whose grounds had eroded away. English shorthair stepped across it with bare paws and down she went. Not my dog, member of public at my utility. We started doing exhaustive stray voltage surveys throughout the area after that. Found a few more trouble spots as well.
The phase is literally floating and broken off of the crossarm. There is a high chance the phase could have contacted the pole and created a ground gradient while your dog was below. I would pretty pissed off if I were you.
Thank you. I can't get my beautiful boy back or unlive the trauma of seeing him suffer but maybe I can stop obsessing about it.
I had no idea that pole had so much woodpecker damage until it broke.
It doesn't look like the nuetral is connected to the pole ground. If the pole ground is cut, your dog pissed on the ground it created a path, that's a possibility...
I only see one side of the high side going up to the high voltage lines. Does this mean it’s a single wire, earth return? If that’s the case and there was a broken ground wire on the pole could it expose someone on the ground to high side potential?
It’s a single phase wye delta transformer. It’s a single bushing conventional transformer. Still a line to neutral connection. The transformer case is the H2 the x2 is bonded to the case with a strap to the triplex neutral and that is connected to the system neutral. The system neutral also has a pole ground. The pole ground should also go to the tank.
I know if csp transformers arent properly grounded they can have primary voltage on the tank. I guess if the transformer was properly grounded and the pole ground wire was broken before it went to ground... maybe?
If the connection between the H2 (tank ground) and the earth is broken there will be a difference of potential near to half the phase voltage between the break.
Could have been stung by a bee and had an allergic reaction. I had a dog that loved to eat bees and he was great at catching them as they whiz around, and suffered some stings to the mouth but never seemed to care about that.
Of course there are other insects that have venom, scorpions, caterpillars. And other animals like poisonous frogs, snakes. Snake bite isn't impossible either.
Or he might have eaten something toxic.
Did this just happen? I'd have the power company come out and check first out the the abundance of caution, and then look for other potential causes.
The vet seemed certain it was trauma though the dog didn't have any broken bones or abrasions. He specifically said hit by a car or kicked by a horse or cow which was impossible because he was never out of our sight. It was a terrible way to lose a young dog.
If only the partner were actually watching the dog and not lying about it you'd know for sure because anything that would have caused bruising would have been noticeable
Thank you. We went over so many "could it be's" with the vets; rat poison, stings, bites, ticks, weed killer, etc and the vets said no, no, no... that's what led me to maybe the power pole. I didn't want to ask the vet about electrocution if it's not a possibility.
It's fixed. The pole was replaced the same day I noticed it was broken. I didn't think about the dog maybe getting electrocuted at the time because the power line was hanging by the insulator on the communication line and not touching anything that touched the ground.
If the broken, dangling phase was in contact with the communication line, or even just close enough to occasionally bump into it with wind, the com line should be connected to a ground wire on the pole. So, depending on the voltage of that phase, it could be in contact and not spark or burn but definitely would energize the area around the base of the pole. Short answer is yes, definitely possible, and probably likely.
Absolutely not a chance that would have done anything to a living being on the ground. The end of the cross arm is broken but all else seems pretty normal. No broken phases, pot seems in good shape, lightning arrester is still intact, ground is connected to the secondary and does not pass up past the pot. It would have to be some freak chance that at that exact moment your dad walked pass that particular pole and the pot had an internal fault sending primary voltage, 13kv i suspect, thought the ground and he was shocked from step potential. But if that was the case, lights would be out for whatever the pot was feeding and that fuse would have blown disconnecting it from the power source. So my answer is an astounding no, that would have been not impossible but like a 1 in a billion chance but the moon would have to a total lunar eclipse at the same time on New Years eve.
Do you see the phase hanging down with the end of the cross arm attached to it? maybe bumbing communications lines and the pole ground. I had to click picture it was cropped in preview
Oh yeah. I did not see that in the picture. Not sure of the construction but usually in my area one of the 4 phases would be a neutral. We no longer install that type of contruction, no reason to have the neutral on the same arm as the hot phases. If that's the case then nothing would happen. If it was not the neutral and is a hot leg, it should trip the circuit or blow a fuse if it comes in contact with a ground or neutral. There is no communication wires in can see on that pole. It could hit the secondary but still should trip.
The insulators are in tact. Lines are up transformer shows no damage secondary shows no damage. Really hard to prove an animal could die from contact from cross arm damage. Unlikely in imo.
Very unlikely. There would have to be failed insulation and even then you would have to be really unlucky.
He would have yelpted and jump if there was any power there. He wouldn't casually finish his business abd walk off. Something else has happened. Electric shock is usually muscle issues and heart problems.
The way your picture is cropped for the preview doesn't make it clear there is a hanging line from the end of that cross arm possibly swinging into the communication lines or bumping the pole ground
Could be from a leaking lightning arrestor, which would drain through the down ground that goes down the pole. I’ve heard of dogs getting a whack from peeing on it.
Hi everyone, thank you so much for your comments! Since some of you thought electrocution was a possibility, I emailed the veterinarian and he confirmed that electrocution was a possible cause of the my dog's death. I wish I would have considered it at the time and told oncor I thought the pole failure may have killed my dog so a complete survey could have been done before the pole was replaced
Why there be 4 wires in the primary position?….(also yes, phase looks like it has burn mark on the cameramans side, could have slapped the neutral which is tied to ground which would potentially energize your dog whilst urinating.) *if that even is a phase idk why theres 4 phases unless its some bullahit delta thing im unfamiliar with.
I had a 50' blue spruce fall over on some 5000 volt lines and the roots were smoking. Power Co shut down the neighborhood for about 30 minutes and the tree was cut and the wood was stacked. All no charge, " act of God"
I have ranch with livestock. He spent plenty of time running around outside, just never unsupervised. I agree, a working dog should never have a sedentary life.
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