Dumb question: tractor + electric fence

[jfouse]

We have an electric fence up around our garden to keep critters out, but whenever I go around it with the finish mower I'm a little iffy on whether I need to worry about how close the tractor gets to the wire. Mostly thinking sparks around a big diesel engine might not be the best scenario. Is this a reasonable concern, or nothing to worry about?

 

[Triguy1]

I just unplug mine while I am mowing. I don't think the amount of power to the fence would be an issue, but turning it off seems easy enough in my case.

Jon

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[Paul N]

Unplugging it is very easy to do if it makes you feel better. But the truth is, you have nothing to worry about. My biggest fear is, did I remember to plug it back in?

 

[bcp]

Mark Twain: “A cat who sits on a hot stove will never sit on a hot stove again. But he won’t sit on a cold stove, either.”

If your tractor gets shocked, you won't ever be able to mow close to the fence again, even if it is turned off.



Bruce

 

[Gary Fowler]

The truth is, your tractor nor you will get shocked since you are insulated by the rubber tires. Even if you did, it is not enough amperage to make a spark although the voltage might be 5000v or more, it is not enough amps to do you any damage although it does tingle a bit when you touch one. It really isnt the amount of damage that the fence does to animals rather the unexpected jolt that makes them not want to touch it more than once. I had my 5 month old German Shepherd pup run into one a few days ago and he would not come near the white cord to come back across the fence. I had to go over, pick him up and carry him back across. Now thanks to his full grown next door neighbor running mate, he knows how to duck under it. Man that neighbor dog is teaching him all kinds of bad thinks like how to open doors @3months old, how to cool off in the pond complete with mud top to bottom, how to chase chickens (he has caught a couple but not damaged them so far) and how to make believe dog fight which they do all the time.

 

[RandyT]

I had my 5 month old German Shepherd pup run into one a few days ago and he would not come near the white cord to come back across the fence. I had to go over, pick him up and carry him back across. Now thanks to his full grown next door neighbor running mate, he knows how to duck under it. Man that neighbor dog is teaching him all kinds of bad thinks like how to open doors @3months old, how to cool off in the pond complete with mud top to bottom, how to chase chickens (he has caught a couple but not damaged them so far) and how to make believe dog fight which they do all the time.

My black lab mix will either go 1/4 mile around the edge and find a high spot to go under, or will lay on his side and crawl under an electric fence. Its not like he can't just jump over it. I have seen him clear a 4 strand barbed wire fence to chase a rabbit.

 

[Gary Fowler]

That is the beauty of electric fence, once shocked most animals fear them once shocked even though it doesnt physically hurt them and they can smell the current when it is hot so they stay away.

 

[Soundguy]

diesel is combustable.. gasoline is flamable.

the electric fence likely poses 0.000000001% threat to you or the tractor...

if you are getting close enough to touch the wire though.. you are liekly close enough to rip the fence down...


if mowing and you did touch the fence.. the electrons will follow a path to ground. probably thru sheet metal to frame.. then to hitch.. then to mower to blades, and to the grass it's cutting.. etc..
soundguy

 

[SPYDERLK]

Takes a rare situation for a person to get as bad a shock as an animal. Try touching one with your hand on the ground.
larry

 

[joshuabardwell]

The truth is, your tractor nor you will get shocked since you are insulated by the rubber tires.

The rubber tires are some help, sure, but they're not impervious. Remember that an electric fence is intentionally designed to drive current through things. They typically operate at between 3000-7000 volts. The real reason, IMO, why you won't get shocked if you're actually on the tractor, is that there are much better paths to ground than your body. So if the mower deck touches the lower wire, for example, the electricity will travel through the deck, through the lower part of the frame, and out the tires. You're not significantly in that path, so you don't get shocked. If, on the other hand, I stop the mower touching the fence and get off, then touch a metal part of the mower, I will get shocked, because I am now the least-resistance path to ground.

Even if you did, it is not enough amperage to make a spark

This has not been my experience. I have electric net fencing, and if two strands are close to each other, I will definitely see a small spark and hear some popping. I have also seen sparks when I am clipping an alligator clip onto the main fence wire. Do I think there's any risk of blowing up a tractor? Not hardly. But electric fences definitely can have enough charge to spark.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Fence chargers definitely dont have a spark as hot as spark plug wire from someone who has touched both. Yes it will spark but is the spark hot enough to ignite diesel, I dont think so.
I have witnessed a rubber tired crane hit a main overhead electric trunkline that was 48Kv line and the operator sat in the seat till the power company turned off the power. The current went thru the boom and out the front outrigger which was not more than 3 feet from the operator with the only effect a big pile of glass under the outrigger pad which was setting on sand and it melted about a 4 foot ball of glass under the pad. Had he tried to dismount the rig, he most certainly would have died. A few months later a transformer blew up coming off that same line and it was arcing 4-6 foot arcs all over that pole for several minutes till power was shut off.
But that is ultra high voltage AC current and the fence is milliamp DC which is far less dangerous than AC. I mow under my electric fence all the time with gasoline mower and dont worry about anything blowing up or damaging the mower either.
There are much more dangerous things on a farm to worry about than an electric fence.