Anyone have an electric line fall on an electric fence? What happened?

[Desert Topaz]

I'm planning a fencing project and due to the way things are the fence has to go underneath an electric utility line at least twice. There is no way around this. I'd like to use electric (Horse Guard Bi-Polar specifically) but worry about what might happen if the line falls on the fence. We've had lightning hit the poles before (we get a hit on our property about once a year) so it's a real possibility they'll come off and land on the fence.

Anyone have this happen? Am I worrying over nothing?

[greysandbays]

I've lived practically under an electric line my whole life, and the line has never come down; and has never come down in five miles in either direction either that I know of. Only "incident" was when the electric company dropped a disconnected line for replacement -- and came within a heartbeat of killing two of my horses in the process.

[twofatponies]

If a power line came down, I think the electric fence would be a negligible factor in comparison.

My understanding (which may be lousy) is that it has so much power in comparison the bigger worry would be that the wire is on the ground, because it electrifies the wet ground for yards in all directions.

I'm imagining the electric fence simply melting if contacted by a downed wire. But that might be me being dramatic! :D

Last town I lived in had wires down often, because there were lots of trees around them and they didn't keep the trees trimmed back well. Like after one storm I saw four trees down, each bringing wires down, in four miles in our neighborhood!! One woman's dog got killed walking on ground near a downed line.

Where I live now I've never seen a wire down in six years.

You could ask your power company customer service? They might have more specific answers?

[Desert Topaz]

I plan to call the power company, but since it's the weekend no one is there other than for emergencies, so I thought I'd ask here first. The power line is maybe 10 feet away from my barn and cuts across the middle of my property, so I'm worried about it in general. But, my specific concern with the fence is will it send so much juice back to the fencer, which would be attached to the barn, that the fencer would catch on fire and burn my barn down?

[twofatponies]

I think potentially yes.

But the bigger question is "is it likely to fall down". They don't just fall down by themselves for no reason.

What could make it fall down, and do these things happen frequently:

severe ice storm
tree falling on it
tornado
hurricane
possibly earthquake (strong one)
other....??

The latter three situations will give you plenty of other things to worry more about.

Depending on where you live, the first two might be possible, or unlikely. Depends on the layout and your climate.

Like I said, here the only thing that brings them down reliably is trees falling on them, and that is preventable by cutting back/down any overhanging trees.

If you think some of those things could potentially happen, you could build a short section of non-electric/non-metal fence between the barn and the electric part, so the wiring doesn't come right into the barn, or talk to an electrician about grounding it in some way that would protect?

But unless you are in a place prone to some of the above situations (and even then) I suspect you are worrying a bit unnecessarily.

You could get a direct lightning strike, too, and that would burn the barn down.

I figure some things like that are just in God's hands, you know?

[Desert Topaz]

I live in Southwest Colorado in sort of the transition zone between the desert and the mountains. We don't get hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, or ice storms. We have very few trees, most of them well away from the lines, and those that aren't are far shorter than the lines. We get big snows, but it's mostly that dry fluffy stuff. Our biggest danger is lightning hitting the utility pole and it's a very real danger. It happened two months ago to one of the other poles. There was wood shrapnel everywhere. If it hadn't happened I would have never thought about all the bad things it could cause. We've had trees hit too and we've only lived here three years.

I am probably worrying needlessly, but I want to cut all risks down to a minimum :)

[twofatponies]

I live in Southwest Colorado in sort of the transition zone between the desert and the mountains. We don't get hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, or ice storms. We have very few trees, most of them well away from the lines, and those that aren't are far shorter than the lines. We get big snows, but it's mostly that dry fluffy stuff. Our biggest danger is lightning hitting the utility pole and it's a very real danger. It happened two months ago to one of the other poles. There was wood shrapnel everywhere. If it hadn't happened I would have never thought about all the bad things it could cause. We've had trees hit too and we've only lived here three years.

I am probably worrying needlessly, but I want to cut all risks down to a minimum :)

Then I'd consider it PTSD!! :D

Maybe something to consider is a lightning rod service, or researching lightning protection online.

We have a neighbor who gets hit by lightning all the time. Very weird. He has three dead trees now, each one blasted to smithereens (all the bark blown off!!!).

[twofatponies]

Someone just started a new thread about lightning melting electric fences! Check it out!

[BasqueMom]

When we lived in Colorado between Denver and Colorado Springs and were about 30 miles
east of the mountains, our pine trees took several lightning strikes. Funny thing--the horses would rarely go into the barn during the storms--just keep on munching. Here in Texas, if it even sprinkles, they head for the barn and either stand under the metal overhang or go into their stalls. We have very few trees--like maybe four in their area
whereas our place in Colorado probably had a hundred. Maybe they think their odds aren't
as good here as they were there where the lightning would probably get the trees before
getting them. Who knows...

We had a power line in their area but it never came down even with the mighty blizzards.
Never had thought about it before.....