[Outages-discussion] Why not to label fiber-optic cables "HighVoltage"

[Bill Wichers]

There are also conductors made with fiber strands within the wire strands themselves. This is commonly called "optical ground" or similar cable, but I've seen it rated for use as a phase conductor rated up to 138kv. AFL is one manufacturer of this type of cable.

Also, it's usually the local city that would possibly know what cables were permitted in a given right if way, not a state-level PUC. I can tell you from experience that the cities generally have very little idea what the utilities have in right of ways though. Cities also lack the skills and experience to make engineering-level decisions regarding these kinds of things. I'd be very wary of encouraging government entities to increase regulation of this kind of thing for exactly that reason. 

It's also worth mentioning that fiber optic cables are often used in high-voltage telemetry networks specifically because of their ability to provide electrical isolation between different parts of the monitoring system.

Regarding the marking of underground facilities, it is common practice to mark the facility using the color prescribed for whatever the most hazardous utility present is. If a conduit system is shared between power and fiber (which is very common since many electric utilities will lease duct space to telecom carriers), then the markings would be red since that's the standardized color for power (fiber is orange). Usually gas (yellow) and power (red) are considered most hazardous and have priority. 

 -Bill

Sent from my iPhone

On Oct 20, 2012, at 2:41 PM, "Warren Kumari" <warren at kumari.net> wrote:

> 
> On Oct 20, 2012, at 2:22 PM, Jimmy Hess <mysidia at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > On 10/20/12, Frank Bulk <frnkblk at iname.com> wrote:
> >> Who said the PUC doesn't have the information?  It was emergency services
> >> that didn't have the contact info.
> >
> > They really shouldn't need the info.   Low voltage or optical
> > telecommunications cables should not be present in an area marked
> > High-Voltage,  or incident to an emergency response.
> >
> 
> Sorry, but that is simply not true -- there are a huge number of reasons for this, including monintoing / management of the HV gear, fiber is often strung along HT cables ( http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2010/09/21/google-our-fiber-gets-shot-down/ ), shared utility poles, etc…
> 
> W
> 
> 
> > The local government should mandate regular inspections of
> > high-voltage marked areas. Either the presence of multiple low-voltage
> > lines,    or  the presence of high voltage  in unmarked boxes in
> > unrestricted areas should net fines.
> >
> > At the very least, the fine for  the marking High voltage a box that
> > contains any low voltage/optical, should exceed 10x the cost of
> > replacing both the box, and all the cabling, and be sufficient  that
> > false markings would always be fiscally irresponsible for Verizon,
> > etc.
> >
> >> Frank
> > --
> > -JH
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> >
> 
> --
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> 
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> 
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