Tree and/or post movement, ripped hammock

I am 40 ft from pole,,and its well grounded into the ground,,cable is rubber coated,,I am not hangging in a storm when at home from it,,will use the trees if I want to storm test,,and like I said,,its detachable. Pole does have 200 amps on it, as I go underground from it to house with no wiring overhead..lol,,yeah,,you have to consider the issues..or your liable to get alittle juiced. I have had lightning take out my hot tub and water softner once,,as living in a woods on a pretty high hill I do take lightning strikes every now and then, so I even have my 10000 watt generator totally grounded when I fire it up.

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Originally Posted by cevans

I am 40 ft from pole, and its well grounded into the ground.....

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Darwin puts down his pipe and smiles.....

I guess you don't have to worry about your widow selling your hammock that way ;)

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Originally Posted by cevans

I am 40 ft from pole,,and its well grounded into the ground,,cable is rubber coated,,I am not hangging in a storm when at home from it,,[...]. Pole does have 200 amps on it, as I go underground from it to house with no wiring overhead..lol,,yeah,,you have to consider the issues..or your liable to get alittle juiced. I have had lightning take out my hot tub and water softner once,,as living in a woods on a pretty high hill I do take lightning strikes every now and then, so I even have my 10000 watt generator totally grounded when I fire it up.

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The following is offered humbly, and with all due respect, to anyone contemplating connecting anything to any sort of utility pole.


My qualifications:

One year power-plant Electrician
Three years shipyard Electrician
Seven years Communications Technician
Seven years Federally certified for AC and DC, High, Medium, and Low Voltages, in both Surface and Underground installations.


I fully understand and appreciate the philosophy of "Hang Your Own Hammock," but unless you live alone, there is more at stake than your hammock.


NEVER connect anything to an electric utility pole.

This set-up could best be described as playing Russian roulette with Mother Nature.

I would never allow myself, and especially my loved ones to be exposed to this much danger.

It takes only a fraction of an Amp to kill an adult male human. Electric utility wiring at the pole carries hundreds of Volts, far more than enough to push a fatal amperage through a human body.

The ground conductor may or may not be well-grounded. No way to know, no safe way for the average guy to find out. Best not to trust it.

The lightning bolt will not care whether the rubber coated cable is 40 ft. long or 400 ft. long. In fact, the lightning bolt will not care that the cable is rubber-coated. For the lightning, the rubber will make an excellent conductor.

The wire that grounds the pole will not carry all of the current of a lightning bolt. It will ensure that the pole exhibits a considerable, highly concentrated charge, making the pole an attractive target for lightning.

When the lightning hits the pole, the ground wire will be first vaporized, then ionized, continuing to form an excellent conductive path for the lightning, and ensuring that the lightning contacts the next path available:

The rubber-coated cable.

Plenty of voltage and current will slam into that rubber-coated cable.

When the lightning bolt's current hits the rubber-coated cable, the rubber coating on the cable will be first vaporized, then ionized, forming an excellent conductive path from the pole to the posts you have sunk into the ground. If the posts are wood, then the lightning may jump from the end of the cable to some better conductor; for example, your house and its wiring. Or, it may just continue down the wood posts, quite possibly exploding them as it instantaneously vaporizes the moisture in the wood.

There is no way to predict what path the lightning bolt may take once it hits the posts and/or your house; therefore, there is no way to predict what will happen. Fire? Injury? Death?:scared:

Lightning need not strike in order for this arrangement to lead to disaster. :scared:

The pole will carry much more than 200 Amps. :scared:

The main breaker in your house wiring panel may be rated at 200 Amps but the wiring outside your house is not protected by that breaker.

(You did not use any sort of clamp on that cable, did you? Did that clamp squeeze the rubber coating, making it thinner or possibly perforating the coating?? You did not tie a knot in that cable, did you? Did the knot squeeze the rubber coating, making it thinner or possibly perforating the coating?)

:scared:
Should anything go wrong with the wiring outside your home, there would be so many variables in this set-up, no one could say what would be safe to touch and what would be fatal.
:scared:

My conscience is now clear, and I am going to shut up.

Straight from the horse's mouth. Thank you.

I tried 4x4 posts and they broke while my wife and I were hanging from them. Upgraded to pier pilings (think telephone poles)

Hurricane Irene broke a Pecan tree (the one to the left in the picture) I use with the poles for hanging but the poles did not break

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Originally Posted by BBQDad

The following is offered humbly, and with all due respect, to anyone contemplating connecting anything to any sort of utility pole....

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Darwin is nodding and holding up a thumb. Tesla looks disappointed at the loss of a free experiment.

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Originally Posted by gunner76

I tried 4x4 posts and they broke while my wife and I were hanging from them.....

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Yeah, I was getting visions of being dropped on the patio and then getting the broken pole across the head. You know that feeling when you get zapped in the head so hard your teeth hurt? I don't like that.

We're talking recreation and BEDDING. It would not look good in the family history to have my offspring say something like, "Yeah, Grandpa got killed in his hammock. Grandma never was the same after that, and she ran off to New Orleans and took up with a piano player" :scared:

So could you not simply use a pair of 4x4s with 2x4 spacers sandwiched between them for a cheaper solution that would be arguably stronger than a 4x6?

Of course I hang from a power pole (lines have been moved and pole was left in my yard) on one end.

The 4"x6"x10' construction grade treated timbers were $24 each. 4"x4"x10' timbers are $15 each. The 4x6's were dense with good grain, and no fiddle-factor. They work.

A lot of fasteners can weaken a beam, so screwing spacers and the timbers together may not work.

Three 2"x6" would make a strong lamination, but you need to bond them well to get a strong beam. I don't know how well treated lumber is for gluing, and I wonder how the glue would perform underground. Epoxy would be my choice and that much isn't cheap. I'll save that for my dream sailboat :)