High voltage power lines

[diggummup]

What are they made of? The reason I ask is because a while back I was out in a Wildlife Management Area that has some large high voltage power lines running through them.Anyway at the bottom of at least one of the "towers" were several thick 6-8 ft. long pieces if power line scrap.It has been laying there for a long time and was barely noticable through the brush and overgrown weeds.I noticed a small section and thought it was a snake.I didn't have my metal detector with me at the time so I didn't get a reading on it. They were too heavy and long and overgrown to really mess with,so I just left them as they were,but lately i've been thinking,should I go out there again and see if they were copper? If I did, and they were, would that be considered "stealing"? I mean this is a public hunting ground and it has been out there abandoned for a good while.

 

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[aa battery]

In my mind all you are doing is cleaning up after them and i do not think it would be stealing.In my town you have to have a slip of paper stating where and who you got it from because of all the theft of copper.

 

[jhoff310]

power companies are just like the railroad they know what they have sitting around, where its at how long its been there and how much of it is there. More than likely its alum. wire and with what info you have provided if you were to take it EXPECT to be questioned at the scrapyard.
Me personally I wouldnt take it, its not on your property so its technically stealing.


Hoff out

 

[Ascholten]

If it's a true 'high tension line' then it's a steel alloy. Need steel for the tensile strength of being stretched that far between poles, especially with the gauge wire they use.

If it's more a residential feed then it's probably a copper / copper alloy. Some of the late 70's and 80's wire was aluminum, especially cable that was buried underground was aluminum.

Hold a magnet to it, if it don't stick its probably copper. If it's grey colored, then it's tin coated copper, and you generally get #2 prices for it. If it's real light it's aluminum. If it's magnetic or rusty then its steel.

Be careful though, even though it's been laying there for years, it's still property of the power company and you taking it could technically be considered stealing. Get a lineman or someone to tell you, yah, you can clean it up ...before you take it. All scemantics aside, it's just not worth the headache trying to explain to the cops if a scrapyard turns you in for attempting to sell it and you don't have solid permission to have taken it in the first place.

Aaron

 

[Talos]

In my mind all you are doing is cleaning up after them and i do not think it would be stealing.In my town you have to have a slip of paper stating where and who you got it from because of all the theft of copper.

No offense, but I'm glad I don't live in your town. People junk copper wire all the time -- in dumpsters, on the curb, in makeshift dumps out in the country. Regarding the latter, some of that stuff has been sitting there since Ike was president. And you're supposed to prove where it came from? I do believe that's why they call it "junk" -- no parentage claimed or given.

 

[Ascholten]

Talos, it all depends on where you live at what the laws or the enforcement of them is.

If you live in some quaint little suburban town then they probably are not going to ask too many questions. If you live in ghettoville USA, yes they will ask questions because the crackheads steal stuff all the time. If they (scrap yards) get caught with stolen items, they have to turn it back into the authorities and possibly get fined themselves for mere posession of it. This is why the scrap dealers want to see an ID, #1 a thief is unlikely to want to show an ID on a load of hot stuff they are trying to dump. #2 if the thief does, then they have a real good lead to give to the cops to track em down when the owner reports it stolen.

What you have, and how it is presented plays a major part on the suspicion scale as well. If you bring in a box of green, twisted up faded wire that looks like you scrounged it from the local dump (because you did) then they are not going to ask too many questions. If you bring in a load of nice shiny 2/0 cable, all neatly cut and in a box, or a 500 foot spool all nicely wound up, then yes questions will be asked.

Im glad they do ask questions, and want to see ID's; it keeps the losers in check. I have nothing to hide so what is the valid reason for getting upset over it.

Copper from plumbing is the same way, since that is another highly pilferable item. You bring in a box of shiny copper with the lead solder still shiny, umm .. unless you work for a plumbing or HVAC company, you gonna have some 'splainin to do.

Aaron

 

[diggummup]

Thanks for the replies.They are true "high tension" lines that are carrying 500 kV, from what I have been able to find out about them. They were installed in 1992 so I guess it has been out there (in the Everglades) for the last 15 years. I guess that also means they are steel. Oh well.

 

[aa battery]

Talked to the local power company here and they told me that most of their scrap is taken to the yard and thrown away.It seems some employes were turning it in so now its thrown away to prevent theft. Also they advised not to pick up scrap because the local scrap yards will call the police if they think its stolen AA

 

[diggummup]

That sounds typical. Much like an archaeologis that would rather something rot away in the ground than have some metal detectorist be allowed ti dig it up. Uh-huh. Lets see, employees were turning it in so now they throw it away to prevent theft. Yeah that makes a whole lot of sense. Can you spell- S-T-U-P-I-D. I'm sure you agree.

 

[aa battery]

Yup!!!

 

[Ascholten]

Digum it makes perfect sense if you are able to look past personal greed and all that.

Think about it. If I am a lineman, and I get to keep the 'scraps' of my work, what do you think the chances of me 'pulling an extra few feet' from every job I do, just to make sure my scrap fund is well endowed? Let's cut the BS and sorry excuses, pretty much anyone is going to do just that... it's human nature.

Who pays for that wire, YOU do, WE do, unless you are one of those welfare bunnies who get free electricity because they are too pathet.. err poor to work and earn a wage to pay for it.

Power company employees using stuff bought with tax dollars, and money paid by customers (and taxpayers) for personal gain... big conflict of interest. And yes folks would complain once they find out, and try to get their piece of that pie via a lawsuit. The power companies are protecting their customers from fraud, and themselves from lawsuits from whiny customers looking for a free handout as well.

A good point was brougt up... scrap yards do call the police if they see someone trying to sell stolen goods or stuff they think is stolen. They get rewards for turning the folks in if the stuff indeed is stolen. Again, not a bad thing.

anyways back to the original topic, could be steel, could be tin coated copper, hold a magnet to it, if it sticks its steel, if not it's copper. Do what you wish with it but be careful. Oh and if you got 500kv above you, watch for induced voltages as well, parallel's and coupled capacitance.. oh nevermind... just be careful..

as to the archaeologist analogy, bit of a difference there, in the case of the wire, the true owner is known, it's probably still on their property. (utility easements are considered property of the govt or elec co), and you are told its private property and don't steal from it. I do agree on the sentiment though, about arcs wanting something to be rotting in the ground .vs. letting someone take it, but let's not delve into that in this topic as it'd quickly turn ugly I bet.

Aaron

 

[SomeGuy]

Talked to the local power company here and they told me that most of their scrap is taken to the yard and thrown away.It seems some employes were turning it in so now its thrown away to prevent theft. Also they advised not to pick up scrap because the local scrap yards will call the police if they think its stolen AA

Thrown away, or recycled? Where do they throw it away to?

 

[diggummup]

Digum it makes perfect sense if you are able to look past personal greed and all that.

Think about it. If I am a lineman, and I get to keep the 'scraps' of my work, what do you think the chances of me 'pulling an extra few feet' from every job I do, just to make sure my scrap fund is well endowed? Let's cut the BS and sorry excuses, pretty much anyone is going to do just that... it's human nature.
Aaron

I disagree. I don't think it's "human nature" to be a thief at heart, which is exactly what you are implying. If that were the case I could/should be rich by now. There is not too much, worse than a thief. Skimming is stealing.

 

[Ascholten]

ahh. but sometimes the most 'righteous' of people are the most wicked. they just have a better excuse to explain away their abhorent behavior.

still, semantics aside, it's a conflict of interest. Even IF they were not skimming, the stuff was still paid for by the power company, mostlikely from government money or money from the customers / consumers. since utilities are considered public, and many of them list the jobs as civil service (aka government) then the wire is not the employees property to take in the first place.

That would be like a military person taking home military property to use themselves because, well they were just throwing it away. It doesn't look right, and can raise questions, is best not done.

Let's look at it this way, I work for the electric co as a lineman, you work for them as an accountant lets say, I get the wire because I have 'access' to it, and personally profit from it. We both work for the same place, yet I get perks you don't merely because of access to certain items. That is not going to sit well with you, in fact you are probably going to end up bitter over it, demand that the money be shared among all employees, yadda yadda....

No matter how you try to twist it, it's not a good thing. Jealousy and greed are two other human 'traits'.... whether we wish to admit it or not.

Aaron

 

[Postalrevnant]

COIN FLIP

Survey says: If the workers there are really being crooked then they will take the extra anyways. Also, not much is really secret. Finding out where the scaps are dumped or what trash place is taking it could be easy enough.

Other side of the coin: Yep have met peps who change under the right circumstances. Who knows if the trigger is right or not, but all the same have known some peps for many years then something bad happen and see them do things I would never have thought them to do.

ANSWER if I was the power company..or other type of company. Place the items in a place secured by camera or in view of security guards if place has them. Keep good idea of how much and then recycle it yourself. I bet that would add up to a large sum over time.

After all that is what the military basically does. Didn't used to enforce it as much, but during the 13 years I was in they made huge changes in recycling and in accountiblity of amounts.

Looks like you both have great points. Looks like throwing away the copper very wasteful though.

Oh I live in SE KY so there is rampant Copper theft. We just ranked in as #1 in the nation per capita in narcotic pain pill and other prescription abused drugs as far as how much is prescribed and how much they see illegally coming here. I imagine that is driving the huge amounts of theft from the railroads and coal companies here. Very sad. I got permission to clean out copper from washers, dryers, ....etc...at my local dump. They take metal for free and once a huge mountain is there they crush it and sell it. They don't take out the copper so they let me do it. It is very nutty though, they don't pay anything here much so I take it to another state. The rate varies from states at times so sometimes..even counting gas..its better to go to other areas in other states. Each time I need to show them papers on the copper and they always call as well, even though much is number 2 and very small strand.

Great conversation. Love the ones that both sides have a ring of truth to.

Rev

 

[Silver Stripe]

I know I'm a drywaller and steling of copper wire has been rampant. They're even stealing wire from street lights here. HH all, Mark