Pole.

The danger is slightly less than that of a PME earthed lamp-post, but then you do not normally want one of those in your garden. Less because any connection is not metallic, as it would also be for say an outside tap via metal pipes, but via the earth around the rod.

The unhappy coincidence of an electrical fault that put a lot of current into the ground, and the child being optimally positioned and oriented to receive a dangerous shock, is to say the least, most unlikely. The fact that the supply is ABC also works in your favour - a single core fault will not result from a falling tree or similar - and that sort of thing does not happen on a sunny day.

Perhaps the youngsters should not be out in conditions of high wind and rain without insulating footwear, as well as waterproofs. The short of fault that would be dangerous (broken PEN) is usually fixed  or isolated PDQ, as fok notice the effects of voltages being wildly out.

It is probably less of a risk than almost everything else in the back garden, unless all plants, garden tools, trip hazards etc are removed first.  Small children have a lower shock threshold, but they also take smaller steps.

I'd not be worrying.

More of a concern if they want to do something like build a den round it would be splinters, or the wood preservatives that are quite nasty.



Mike.

Mike

What would your thoughts be had there been either a single phase or three phase transformer on that wooden pole? There would be separate HV & LV earths. There is such a (single phase) pole & transformer in our local cemetery at 53.187457 -3.022637 (Hawarden No.2)


Concerned of Hawarden

The double pole one which supplies my daughter's house is just on the grass verge. I doubt that the DNO would have put it there if it presented a hazard. The smaller one which supplies step-daughter is in a field adjacent to the house. There are no piles of dead sheep at the bottom of the pole.

With a single phase transformer (as per the local cemetery one) connected across two 11 kV overhead lines, would there normally be much current flow to earth due to the capacitance of the HV windings to the earthed tank?

Clive

under certain situations a pole can give real trouble,  luckily that sort of thing is rare.


On a transformer there will be some current from the HV phase windings through the inter-winding capacitance that can be nanofarads.

Mike

I'll go for a flippant remark since it's the weekend.


Is there more of a risk in kids near 11 kV overheads growing up to become little *******s and throwing stones at the insulators until they break?

Regards the pole earth, any voltage on it will almost certainly be the same as the voltage on all the earthed metal work in and around the house.

I just watched that video  scary what can happen what I want to know why didn't the substation fuses blow?