Reconductoring, the process of replacing existing overhead conductors with new ones (often higher capacity HTLS or ACCC), presents unique challenges, especially when maintaining partial or full service. This requires highly specialized techniques and equipment:

• Live-Line Reconductoring (Maintaining Service): This highly complex and dangerous method requires specialized equipment and rigorously trained personnel to work on or near energized lines.

  • Insulated Equipment: All stringing equipment, tools, and platforms must be highly insulated and rated for the specific voltage of the energized line.

  • Barehand or Hot Stick Techniques: Personnel work from insulated buckets or with insulated tools (hot sticks) to manipulate the conductors while the line remains energized.

  • Conductor Transfer Devices: Specialized clamps, rollers, and temporary supports are used to safely transfer the energized conductors from old insulators to new ones without creating electrical faults.

  • Strict Grounding and Bonding: Meticulous grounding and bonding procedures are followed to ensure equipotential zones and prevent accidental energization or induced voltages.

  • Specialized Tension Stringing: The new conductor is pulled in alongside the old, or the old conductor is simultaneously pulled out as the new one is pulled in, all while maintaining precise tension to prevent contact with energized lines or structures.

• De-energized Reconductoring (Safer, More Common): The line section is de-energized, grounded, and isolated before work begins.

  • Pulling Old and Pulling New Simultaneously: Often, the old conductor acts as the pulling rope for the new conductor. Specialized splicing grips or conductor connectors are used to connect the old conductor to the new one. As the old conductor is pulled out on one side by a tensioner, the new conductor is simultaneously pulled in by a puller on the other side.

  • Conductor Replacement Rollers (CRR): Innovative systems allow the new conductor to be threaded through the existing insulators, or specialized rollers are temporarily attached to the existing line to guide the new conductor, minimizing the need for extensive rigging changes.

  • High-Capacity Pullers & Tensioners: Reconductoring often involves pulling long sections and/or heavy new conductors, requiring robust equipment capable of handling high loads and maintaining precise tension control.

• OPGW Stringing during Reconductoring: When replacing an old ground wire with OPGW, extreme care is taken to protect the optical fibers, necessitating specific OPGW-compatible stringing blocks and precise tension control.

Our comprehensive range of overhead conductor pulling equipment, including high-capacity hydraulic pullers and tensioners, specialized reconductoring tools, and sensitive conductor-friendly accessories, provides the essential solutions for safe, efficient, and reliable reconductoring projects, whether de-energized or, with the necessary safety protocols, in live-line environments.