Dennis Keen, an American living in Almaty, Kazakhstan, got to wondering about the utility poles he finds there. More specifically why they use two cement pillars to secure the pole instead of just planting it into the ground. Pictured left.
I replied with a suggestion that there may be a termite/wood boring insect problem in the area. I’ve seen this splinting in photos from other countries – Africa and Oz – and that was the explanation given to me. As always, I took the opportunity to beg photos of interesting poles in this faraway land.
Dennis replied with these gems:
…What interests me is that these poles don’t seem to have after-the-fact splints, put in to shore up rotted or chewed-up wood, but rather seem to have been installed that way – and notice that the wooden parts of the poles are always lifted off the ground by the two cement pillars. When I saw that, I thought it must have something to do with how the electricity is conducted, but I’m an absolute amateur at this stuff and could be mistaken.
I took a few other photos for you today, so you can appreciate more of what Kazakh poles offer.
The first picture shows you the most common form of the utility pole here: concrete supports at the bottom, a small platform halfway up, and an array with about 20 pins and insulators at the top. If you can help me with more observations or descriptive language, I’d appreciate it.
In the second picture, you can see a pole that had these two crate-like things nailed to it on either side of it. I couldn’t figure what they were for, and thought you might have some ideas.
The third picture shows you what a mess the wiring seems to be. This post was near some kind of sub-station, but still, I challenge you to make sense of it.
And lastly, I’m attaching a photo of a lineman I ran into here, wearing his gear. The pole-climbing gaffs are called kogti, or “claws.”Best wishes,
Dennis Keen
So dear readers…
- Is my termite guess correct?
- What’s the concrete splint thing all about then?
- What the hell is that pallet doing nailed half way up pole #2? and…
- Does the sign saying “ROCNHNUA CAYHA” in picture #3 really mean “GOLF SALE” in Kazhak?