" wrote:
On Feb 7, 12:54Â*am, (Floyd L. Davidson) wrote:

And of course it is no more, and no less, "grounded" than
the water that surround fellows who do the welding on
ships and drill rigs underwater that Clark claimed above
is impossible!

the
insulators are designed to not allow water to collect in a continious
path

"Collect" meaning what???

The insulators are *soaked*, and wet all over. *That is
sometimes true when it rains, and is always true when
they are sprayed.

a pro can do all sorts of work around high voltage safely if they
follow all the rules.

Exactly my point.

sadly now and then even a professional lineman makes a mistake and
gets killed.

Understanding how it works is a lot safer than "follow
the rules".

I'd guess off hand that "professional linemen" get
killed while working less often than the "average
freeway driver". *For that matter, I'll be far more
linemen die in highway accidents that are
electrocuted...

ever notice the shape of insulators for high voltage, ribbs might be
one lame description, the in and outs keep water from sheeting
providing a path to ground.

What you are describing actually has nothing to do with
"sheeting" water at at all. Straight vertical sides
would better accomplish what you say it supposedly does.
The ribbs are there to make the actual surface path
physically longer. That helps when the insulator is wet
or damp, to be sure, and it helps just as much when it
is dry and covered with dust.

Regardless, when they are sprayed, and during extended
periods of rain, the insulators are totally wet.
According to what has been claimed in this article by
others, that should short out the line betten phases,
and because the pole is also wet it should short
everthing to ground. It should be deadly to walk near
such a pole! Everyone of them should be bursting into
flames from these short circuits! (Of course none of
that is true, it doesn't happen that way.)

--
Floyd L. Davidson http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)