Significance of Crane Borers in the Power Distribution Industry

14 September 2018

Crane borers are designed to drill narrow ground openings. They’re typically seen at the edge of a highway or street corner, with their helical booms boring holes for lamp posts or power distribution poles. The crane operator running this equipment reports back to a foreman, who communicates with the regional utility company. Happily, the electrical contractors leave the work to the crane hire experts.

Clear-cut Subcontractor Significance 

And it is clear-cut, the role of the responsible party. Granted, if this were an underground cable run, then a trenching service or specially qualified electrical contractor would be digging ditches, probably with a powerful excavator. The team would know the soil conditions, have the layers of backfill arranged just-so, and the job would proceed as fast as the excavator operator allowed. With overhead lines, the electricians and excavator operators step back. They make room for the arrival of a crane borer, a piece of heavy equipment that’s intended to quickly and safely provide the narrow diameter ground shafts required to send a power distribution line marching towards the far horizon.

Dealing with Unpredictability Factors 

There’s a storm coming. Dug by hand or by an excavator, a power distribution pole is uprooted because the original borehole was cut crudely into the ground. Who knows what’s at the other end of the power line? It could be a hospital, a large industrial complex, a technology centre, homes, or a combination of all of these infrastructural elements. If power poles are uprooted, cables come down, the power goes out, and these structures are left in the dark. In the home, that’s an inconvenience. However, in a hospital, that power loss could cost lives.

Crane Borers Build a Better Infrastructure 

Back at the underground cabling, the backfilled trench is protecting the power lines. That’s not an option we can utilize when overhead power lines are installed. For a distinguished quality assurance factor, the job relies on a team of highly capable line electricians, plus a power distribution pole installation service that’s second to none.

And that’s a cue for the crane borer, which unpacks its outriggers and helical boom. Moving from one installation site to the next, each shaft is consistently deep and consistently bored to the correct diameter. If the job needs a little nudge, extra tool sheaves are installed. If the site is inclined, then the crane adjusts its outriggers, then the boring rod is reconfigured so that it’s still perpendicular to the ground. Those power poles, every one of them, will snugly sink into a perfectly sized bore site.