I’m watching this arborist on YouTube and they have a truck with a bucket on an arm so they can reach heights without climbing. On/after a rainy day the bucket will accumulate water and they mentioned they can’t drill a hole to drain because it will compromise the grounding.
My understanding of grounding/electricity doesn’t explain this. Can someone help me understand why this would make a difference?
Edit: I get it, I/he should have said “electrical isolation” instead of “grounding”. Either way, a hole allowing a stream of dirty water seems to be the answer here. Thanks 🙂
In: Physics
A hole in a truck bucket voids its insulation rating. Period.
Water with any impurities in it (which includes ALL water you would find out in nature) is a pretty good conductor of electricity.
Furthermore, elevated buckets like those used by arborists get sawdust fines and other types of grime in them all the time. When it rains, you get a mix of particularly dirty water at the bottom of the bucket. If there were a drain hole, you get a path for nicely conductive water from the earth to the feet of the folk in the bucket. These folk are reaching up and out with tools in their hands that can contact energized wire. Zap.
Elevation equipment must be regularly inspected and certified to ensure they are still safe to be allowed near live lines.
To address water accumulation, some store their trucks with the buckets spun upside down. Others, like my company, use big ‘shower caps’ over the top of the buckets to keep them dry between uses.
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