Another telegraph pole

[john west]

Much excitement in the Hood today as outreach suddenly arrived with a very short warning then proceeded to hoist out our huge wooden telegraph pole that supplies telephone lines to about six houses with a new pole.

We really could not see anything wrong with the old pole. What might a reason be then for them changing it ?

Two observations: 1 a very thin shiny copper wire running all the way down the pole and then into the ground. Guess its an earth wire? But what might happen to our internet connection if some vandal took to clipping it with his nail clippers ?

2 The pole looked as if it had been stained a dark brown with something then on top of that which was a very rough application of a dark liquid that looked and felt to the touch like well used runny wet car engine oil. What is this kind of weather proofing ? Is it something i might usefully learn about and use on my wooden fence?

[Adrian]

In message <t3nbov$nea$ [e-mail], john west [e-mail] writes

There is a pole planted in the verge outside my house. A few weeks back, someone (OpenReach ?) was digging a hole next to it. I asked why, and was told that they did it to check the condition of the pole, so it is possible that yours had a problem below ground level.

Regarding the copper wire, this one has one. The wire was broken within a few weeks of it being installed. I reported this to OR, but they didn't seem concerned.

Adrian

[Steve Walker]

Maybe age and changing it before any chance of underground rot setting in making it unsafe?

I don't know, but if it was absolutely required, I'd expect it to be capped for protection.

I think that telegraph poles are still one of the uses where proper creosote is permitted. Maybe with a tar based substance for coating the underground section?

[Fredxx]

I thought creosote was only banned for domestic use. And that pros can still get the stuff but tend to come in 44 gallon barrels!

[Brian]

There was a story that a whole batch of poles years ago had been installed by contractors. They hadn?t sunk them the required depth, they?d cut off a section. This makes them unsafe to climb. The story was, they weren?t smart enough to get the hole and bit cut of section right so, some index on the pole which should always be a given distance from the ground wasn?t in the right place. Before climbing a pole, the staff are suppose to check this. If it was in the wrong place, the pole is replaced.

I heard this a good 20 years back from a BT employee.

The poles used to be vacuum / pressure treated with creosote, or something very like it. There were placed in a chamber, air was sucked out, and the gunge introduced under pressure. ( Same BT source.) Perhaps they use some different chemicals now, although creosote is legal for industrial use.

[Andy Burns]

They are imported and treated just outside Boston, there's a yard I drive past occasionally that has huge piles of them giving-off the lovely smell of creosote.

[Theo]

"We are equipped with our own twin set of 36m creosote impregnation vessels, as well as 15m celcure high pressure treatment autoclaves. These resources enable us to treat large amounts of timber quickly and efficiently, meaning we can get your products to you faster."

[Andrew]

A quick sniff will soon tell the OP if it is genuine creosote (which BT, electric co's and farmers can still use).