High Tensile Electric Parts and Design Check

dejavoodoo114

True BYH Addict
Joined
Feb 2, 2013
Messages
515
Reaction score
482
Points
213
Location
East TN
Hi guys, I wanted to check with you and see what you thought of my plans for our next fence. We are ready to order the parts, posts are already in. In order to keep pigs and goats and dogs (only 1 dog has a problem) we are planning on having the first strand 6" off the ground, then two more strands at 6" width, then another at 8", the next at 10", the final two at 12". That should get us to 5'. Unfortunately, that is 7 strands. :th

So, trying to find the best deal on insulators and such. I wanted to know if you guys have had any bad experiences with these cheap options?

1) Dare wire strainer. One for each end of a line with 7 strands means 48 of these.
http://www.midlandhardware.com/product.asp?itemid=69927

2) Corner insulator. We plan on using these for the other end that does not have the strainer. 42 of them.
http://www.midlandhardware.com/product.asp?itemid=172762

3) Porcelain insulator. This is where I am really having a problem. There are two options, I like the price of the small one... .80 cents is better than anything else I found.
http://www.midlandhardware.com/product.asp?itemid=172769
But, should I go with the, I guess, bigger one?
http://www.midlandhardware.com/product.asp?itemid=172763

These porcelain insulators will be used for the bottom 4 strands, the final one being the strand that is 8" higher than the last 6" gap strand. The reason for porcelain is that when the electric goes down and if the pigs decide to push through, I do not want to have to worry about broken insulators.

For the rest of the insulators we will use plastic. I have not bothered to search those out yet.


20171006_104204[1].jpg


This is a VERY rough outline. The barn has a run and fence behind it already. It is in no way to scale.
 

Bruce

Herd Master
Joined
Feb 4, 2016
Messages
17,435
Reaction score
45,775
Points
783
Location
NW Vermont
I don't know the difference between the 2 ceramic insulators and they aren't giving much information. MAYBE the smaller ones are fine for straight line runs where there is really no pressure on them and the bigger ones for corners? Also not sure how easy it will be to have those "donut" corner insulators stay in place such that your vertical gaps stay as you want them. Especially if the power does go out and the pigs rub all over them. Might be worth the extra expense to put lag bolt insulators there as well.

I used "open side" and "pin" insulators from Premier 1. I can't imagine how much fun it will be to thread the hotwire through fixed holes given the wire will want to stay in its coiled shape and you mess with that when you have to run it through a hole. The other benefit of these is you can just unroll the wire spool and stick it on each insulator as you go.
8495.300x300.jpg
8515.300x300.jpg
10683.300x300.jpg


Assuming this isn't the outline of your total property, might I suggest more gates?? Long walk around since you won't want to climb over. It might also be worth running a gate across the open end at the top of the barn, just in case an animal or two manages to sneak by when someone goes in the barn from that end.

A suggestion I got from @greybeard, bury a "hot feed" in conduit under the gate so you don't have to disconnect anything when you need to go through nor worry about damaging a wire on the ground. It doesn't have to be real deep but make sure you put risers with 180° turn on the top and a drip loop in the wire to keep rainwater from filling the conduit. USE WIRE SPECIFIED FOR UNDERGROUND USE FOR THIS!

And another idea, you might want to put a switch in that line on one side of the gate or the other so you can shut off the rest of the fence for maintenance without having to go back to the charger. I had to hike to the north end of the barn to unplug the charger (*) when I went out at 11 PM on a condensation dripping night to fix a once per second ZAP!!! arcing of the top hot wire to a T-post in the south fence line. Of course I first had to figure out what was causing the problem by going to that post with the orange flash (and to know WHICH post was involved!). It was a slug (long dead) that had climbed the post and was making the connection between the wire and post. Once cleared, back to the north end of the barn to plug the charger back in. Could have saved a fair bit of hiking if I had a knife switch on the west fence line gate.

Make a "story pole" with your wire spacing marked on it so you don't have to measure at each post.

* Having already accidentally touched the wire in the past and having NO desire to do it again.
 

greybeard

Herd Master
Joined
Oct 23, 2011
Messages
5,940
Reaction score
10,803
Points
553
Location
East Texas
I can't imagine how much fun it will be to thread the hotwire through fixed holes given the wire will want to stay in its coiled shape and you mess with that when you have to run it through a hole.
It shouldn't 'want' to stay in a coil shape very muchif pulled off the roll from something like a spinning jenny like it was initially coiled up at the plant.
People get in trouble when they try to unroll it from the coil in complete single coils, either pulling each 'circle' up from coil on the ground or standing the coil on it's side and pulling it off in multiple coils. I just unspooled 3000' of it last week without a hiccup, using a spinning jenny.
jenny.jpg


spjen.jpg


Seen too many people try it without a jenny and wind up with something like this:

htmess.jpg
 

dejavoodoo114

True BYH Addict
Joined
Feb 2, 2013
Messages
515
Reaction score
482
Points
213
Location
East TN
might I suggest more gates??
This is only a few acres. There is the gate in the top right and the one across from the barn and pond. On the outside of the top part of the fence, winding around to the barn is the driveway. We have moved the driveway to take advantage of extra pasture and so that I (disabled) wouldn't have to open more gates.

I can assure you I am not necessarily excited about the thought of running the wire through the holes. However, we have those insulators with pins on our other pasture. When the power went out, the goats and pig went through and broke a ton of the insulators. I am assuming that with high tension on this high tensile that wont be so easy to do and the ceramic wont break as easily.

If either of you @Bruce or @greybeard think the ceramic is weaker and my plan wont work let me know so I don't waste the money!

bury a "hot feed" in conduit under the gate
This is what we did for our other fence. I would hate to have to undo hot wire every time I want to go through the gate.

Make a "story pole"
I have never heard this term but I was planning on making one just to make the job easier.
 

dejavoodoo114

True BYH Addict
Joined
Feb 2, 2013
Messages
515
Reaction score
482
Points
213
Location
East TN
This might help some. I took some google map pics and the rough outlines of our property and the new fence.
New fence outline.jpg

Every thin within the blue is ours. The light blue area by the barn is an existing fence, woven wire. The red is where we are putting it now. The white line is where the new driveway is. We did this so I do not have to get out of the car or off the 4 wheeler or tractor to open gates.

Closeup of new fence outline.jpg

This is a closer image of the new fence outline. The light blue are the posts (approx locations) and the purple is where the gates will be.

The goal is to be able to drive to the barn. Enter through a man door into the feed stall, then from the feed stall to the rest of the barn. We also have the option of driving through the barn.
 

Bruce

Herd Master
Joined
Feb 4, 2016
Messages
17,435
Reaction score
45,775
Points
783
Location
NW Vermont
That all seems reasonable. I believe the ceramic insulators WOULD be stronger than plastic.

I ASSUME your house is the one in the upper left?
 

dejavoodoo114

True BYH Addict
Joined
Feb 2, 2013
Messages
515
Reaction score
482
Points
213
Location
East TN
@Bruce, yes, the house in the top left is mine. To the right of it is our steep goat pasture, partly open and part woods. Between the driveway and below the house is the hay field. The rest also needs to be fenced in. We use all 4x6 rough cut oak for the posts and use high tensile because we are planning ahead for bison. This way all of our different pastures will be able to handle the bison.
 

dejavoodoo114

True BYH Addict
Joined
Feb 2, 2013
Messages
515
Reaction score
482
Points
213
Location
East TN
Yesterday, I went to an Agribility meeting for veterans. They wanted to know if there were enough people who were interested in starting a Farmer Veteran Coalition chapter in TN. While there, I met some really great people. Some of them wanted to get a work party together and actually help me finish that fence. I couldn't believe it. I do not usually get involved in things like this, I like to get things done myself.
 

Mike CHS

Herd Master
Joined
Mar 18, 2013
Messages
10,407
Reaction score
37,366
Points
793
Location
Southern Middle TN
@dejavoodoo114 - you might be interested in checking out the Tennessee Katahdin Sheep Association. They group was only started two years ago but it has an active membership from TN and all of the neighboring states. There are two meetings each year and one of those is the Fall Sheep Sale.
 
Top