HELCO drill holes in poles Why?

[whalesong]

On Saturday, a couple of guys in an white utility truck, went down our road here in HPP on 8th. They drilled 4- 1" holes into sides of the pole, about 3' from the ground. Why, would they do this? I thought, it may be for termite reasons. However, they didn't fill the hole with anything and left it exposed. Anyone, know why they'd do this? Did they come down anyone else road? Thanks for your help.

[Rob Tucker]

If you are really curious about it call HELCO engineering department and ask them. Let us know what you find out.

[whalesong]

Thanks, I'll do that, just thought, maybe, someone that works at HELCO would might follow PUNATALK. I'll let you know what I find out

[macuu222]

Just saw them do it to our pole on 5th street. Didn't get a chance to ask them though.

[bystander]

I noticed they screwed in some heavy torx head screws. It could be to discourage vandals from cutting down the poles with chainsaws. Someone told me that's why they put the chain link around the poles along the road going to the transfer station in Pahoa.

[whalesong]

I just got off the phone with HELCO engineering. Tony said, that they are testing the integrity of the poles, but the holes SHOULD BE FILLED and PLUGGED. So, if your poles are still exposed and NOT PLUGGED, you do need to call in and make a report for them to come out to finish the job. Tony said, they must of run out of plugs. My reply, well, a blogger on PunaWeb, just reported on 5th, they were drilling his pole, so, they should have come back, to the poles, they left unplugged first, considering the depth and angle of the hole drilled.
Oh well, glad I called! Just wished companies had the integrity to get the job done right the first time around, and cared about providing good customer service!

[Obie]

The poles that they don't plug are goners !!

They will come back and replaced that pole at some point in time.

The center of the pole is rotted away and plugging would do no good.

[whalesong]

The HELCO engineer called me back, after he spoke to the foreman of the company,that they had contracted out to do the work. The foreman, informed the engineer, that they had run out of the material needed, to fill and plug the holes and would be back on Thursday, to finish the job. The engineer, said nothing about the poles needing to be replaced. IMHO, this compromises the structural integrity of the pole and I agree Obie, should be replaced. However, that's not going to happen!

[Obie]

I guess that came out wrong !!

The poles they don't plug are already gone !
They won't waste plugs on bad poles !

Sorry for the mistake!

[ef9]

I work in the HELCO engineering department and could've answered you.

HELCO contracts out the pole restoration to Osmose. Osmose goes to majority of all of the poles and inspects, tags, records information, and treats.

They drill into the pole and insert an anti-termite chemical into the pole. Even tho the poles are treated at the factory, the termites still eat them. Typically Osmose uses Mit-Z fume which is a safe chemical ingredient used to kill termites.

Osmose then tags the pole and logs the information of the location of the pole (GPS coordinates), what type of equipment is on the pole (transformer, how many phase, etc.), gives the pole a unique serial number for tracking purposes, puts a tag on the pole to note what type of treatment (if given).

Stan