Substation worker

Hello ,i have an aicd,defibulator medtronic. implanted on 10/14/2012 half my job duties require me to work in subsation yards with voltage up to 240K volts ,I do inspection, and operate switches , as well as racking in and out of breakers 26kv..
i am thinking of having the medtronic tech., meet with my job to walk the yards and work areas to see if the interferences from EM fields will have my device treating me when not needed. (is that a good ideal, or should i just go for it )
i heard its like getting kicked in chest by a Horse?
there is a chance that i could be transferd . But i really like the job and dont want to leave my work group

3 Comments

Welcome to Standard Time again

by donr - 2012-11-04 07:11:32

This is an inte5resting one - we've talked about hydro-electric generation & Dams before, but not this one - HV substations.

If you had a PM, as opposed to a Defib, I'd say the answer is easy - do what you suggested. For those of us w/ mere PM's your device just makes you feel funny if there is an effect & you back away. The Defib is a bit more dramatic - it just might activate & give you the horse (or is it a mule) kick in the chest.

People who have visited dams have had weird effects at some fairly large distances from the transformer yards - considerably farther than you have to be to do your job.

You will hear from them as they wake up. There are a couple here on the East Coast & at least one on the West Coast.

I will give you my two simple data points to help.

1) 240V, 30A cable feeding my water heater in my shop. Got PM w/i 6 inches of it & it slipped my PM into the "Test" mode. I was at about the same time post-op as you are now. It scared the crap out of me because I had not had a download yet & did not recognize the funny feeling.

2) Steel box residential transformer in front yard. What is it? 13,000 V & Amperage corresponding to 200 A service to house? I sit on it all the time to take a break from yard work. One day I laid across the top to pick up something on the ground on the other side & felt NOTHING. Now the steel box gives me some shielding from the E fields, which must be pretty high around the HV coils. But I do not know what they are right next to the top. But w/ the secondary fields coming from 240V at 200A, there must be some pretty confusing fields there.

Good luck.

Don

ICD around substation

by ElectricFrank - 2012-11-05 01:11:19

My guess is that you will be barred from working in that environment with an ICD whether or not there is a problem. OSHA would have a fit.

Aside from the effect multiple firings could have on your body, there is also the effect it could have on the equipment in the substation. What would happen if during the operation of one of those 26KV breakers your ICD fired and caused you to do an unintended operation? There are some very large unbalanced transients during those operations.

Of course the ICD might solve the line problem for you. LOL

frank

Mine's not a defib

by mandogrl - 2012-11-24 12:11:50

Just a two lead PM, but I work around all kinds of telecommunications equipment. I occasionally take a 180V shock, but no damage done. I was told try to stay away from the high voltage bus bars, and I couldn't run the generators or be a battery tech (600lb batteries). That didn't interfere with my job.
Good luck!

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