Viability of using monofilament polyamide lines in AC live work

This article presents considerations and results of practical tests on the use of insulating polyamide monofilament line as the likely replacement for the traditional non-insulating multifilament ropes, employed in online interventions. The use of insulating polyamide monofilament line decreases the necessary time in online interventions, since some safety distances can be reduced. Furthermore, its cost is less than USD 0.08 per meter. The line samples were firstly mechanically aged, providing five different degrees of degradation. Electrical tests were performed in all samples, under three conditions: clean, moistened with tap water and moistened with saline water. A traditional insulating hot stick was taken as reference, due to its reliability and long term use in online interventions. The results are promising and indicate a desirable scenario, since the use of such line reduces time and effort, and also increases the process safety.