One of Life's Unanswered Questions -- Do You Know?
 

With all the knowledge and experience here in TV and especially on TOTV, one of you must know the answer to this question, which has baffled humans for decades:

What is the purpose of those little (and big) red balls on electrical lines? :shrug:

None of these I've heard seem right:

- they warn low-flying planes there are wires :cool:
- they keep small animals from crossing the lines :blahblahblah:
- they prevent ice from forming on the wires :ohdear:

So please help us out and tell us the correct answer. (Most of us have already figured out life's other unanswered questions like "why is there air?" and "what is my life's purpose?" but these little red balls . . . it seems no one has been able to figure this one out yet. :undecided:

The wind
 

The wind does funny things to wires which are controlled by these gadgets.

I just always assumed they were male wires:a20:
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You will always find them on wires somewhere near an airport flight path and in areas of high wind. Wires cannot be seen from the air, so the red balls are there so the wire becomes visible to aircraft.

The website I posted is a company that manufactures the balls. The site says they are used for several things including providing resistance for electrical current discharges into the air from a high voltage source and ease wind load. They are also required by the FAA to mark communications lines, powerlines, guy wires at airports, helicopter approach areas, river and canyon crossings, overhead obstructions at construction sites or obstructions that present hazards to birds.

:a20::clap2:

errrr, ummm, in that case wouldn't they be blue?

Not thanks to Ms. Sue!!!!!!!:bowdown:

Usually the further north you go. :D

When I first started reading this post, I thought you were going to ask the proper way to hang the roll of toilet paper.

Everyone knows you hang the paper coming over the top of the roll. :loco:

Comes out of the top either way (towards the wall or away from the wall).


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Back to the Red Balls on high voltage lines - - -

Many times they are installed between towers that are a long ways from each other . . . How do they get the Red Balls spaced evenly between the towers?


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Oh no, it MUST hang AWAY from the wall, so that the next square is visible on TOP of the roll.

Don't you all agree? :evil6:

Why is seeing the next square on top of the roll important? (unless your TP has jokes or pics on it...)

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Just one of my obsessive-compulsive traits. :D No, just kidding.

When I was young, it was necessary for me to buy cheap toilet paper. If you hang the roll so the top sheet faces the wall, it makes it difficult to pull more than one square at a time, because cheap toilet paper pulls apart so easily.

I know, I know, this is way too much information . . .:throwtomatoes:

I thought I saw a mail plane the other day, but it was just the landing gear.