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caches and electrical boxes


JL_HSTRE

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Oh, no... not JohnnyGeo again! How many geocachers were electrocuted before his blog, and how many have been electrocuted since?

I don't know the answer to your questions, but I'm assuming it's "zero" to both, since I think I would have heard if the number were otherwise.

 

What I do know for sure is that I recently published a microcache placement on one of those hulking big metal electric transformer thingies that you find on concrete pads behind shopping centers. The owner left me a note saying it had full permission from the business owner, who thought the whole idea of a hidden cache at his store to be quite cool. But, that is a lot more boring than speculating about electrocuted etrex enthusiasts.

 

I suspect that the box is owned by a power company. Did the Cache Owner state that they had permission of the power company?

I know of one that was hung by fishing line from a sewer grate. Did the cache owner state that he had permission from the city? Not that I can recall.

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He claims to be all of those things. I'm still skeptical. The part about energized lamp posts, in particular, seems fishy to me. Every lamp post I've ever seen is securely grounded. It doesn't seem possible that one could remain energized for very long.

 

The industry average for contact voltage potential is 0.3 percent. City Light's testing found about 0.13 percent of its equipment had contact voltage above 30 volts. While the industry standard for a hazard is 50 volts, City Light set a lower threshold as an added safety measure.

source

0.13% of the equipment (poles?) had voltage above 30 volts. The industry standard for a hazard is 50 volts. Without knowing how many of their poles came in at over 50 volts, it's impossible to know if even one of their lamp posts are a safety problem.

 

It should also be noted that the type of lamp pole being discussed is not the same kind as those that are used as homes for LPCs. Therefore, the chance of a geocacher being harmed by one of these lamp poles is exactly the same as any other pedestrian even if it were to be shown that any of them is a problem.

Edited by sbell111
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In Iowa, caches hidden on electrical equipment or made to look like electrical equipment will not be approved for placement. Yet, lamppost skirt caches seem to be allowed.

The cache owners should appeal that decision so tptb can advise the offending reviewer to review based on the guidelines, not his personal biases.

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Found this cache awhile ago. As far as I know, this is a working light.

 

cache.jpg

 

That one would immediately get a NA log from me. That is not "on" or "near" electrical equipment... it is one with it. Stupid idea. Did you log it?

I've seen one very similar to that - we walked away and recommended the CO seek permission. It was archived a week later by the owner. Seems he hid it on the plate outside and somebody had opened it up and tucked it inside.

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Found this cache awhile ago. As far as I know, this is a working light.

 

cache.jpg

 

That one would immediately get a NA log from me. That is not "on" or "near" electrical equipment... it is one with it. Stupid idea. Did you log it?

I've seen one very similar to that - we walked away and recommended the CO seek permission. It was archived a week later by the owner. Seems he hid it on the plate outside and somebody had opened it up and tucked it inside.

 

I would post a needs archive with that picture. There is no way that cache has adequate permission.

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Found this cache awhile ago. As far as I know, this is a working light.

 

cache.jpg

 

That one would immediately get a NA log from me. That is not "on" or "near" electrical equipment... it is one with it. Stupid idea. Did you log it?

I've seen one very similar to that - we walked away and recommended the CO seek permission. It was archived a week later by the owner. Seems he hid it on the plate outside and somebody had opened it up and tucked it inside.

 

I would post a needs archive with that picture. There is no way that cache has adequate permission.

agreed

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Found this cache awhile ago. As far as I know, this is a working light.

 

cache.jpg

 

That one would immediately get a NA log from me. That is not "on" or "near" electrical equipment... it is one with it. Stupid idea. Did you log it?

I've seen one very similar to that - we walked away and recommended the CO seek permission. It was archived a week later by the owner. Seems he hid it on the plate outside and somebody had opened it up and tucked it inside.

 

I would post a needs archive with that picture. There is no way that cache has adequate permission.

agreed

 

Looking for a little vacation are we, 4WF? :ph34r:

 

I missed this one pictured above the first time it was posted, that is brutal. I wonder if that cache still exists.

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