Southland Electric, Inc. is a San Diego based commercial and industrial electrical contractor that serves the Southern California region. The company does electrical work for Cox Cable, San Diego City Schools, San Diego Gas & Electric (SDGE), and more.
“We install, splice, and test SDGE’s fiber optic and copper communication cables between substations,” says Dale Thompson, an outside plant supervisor for Southland Electric, Inc. “Recently, we have been installing a fiber optic cable 1 ft above a 16-inch gas main.”
Southland needed cable reel trailers to free up their Telsta, a bucket truck with a reel carrier on the back. When conversations first started, Southland was looking at Felling’s FT-14 R cable reel trailer. Dale worked with Mark Rapp, Felling’s utility and telecom product manager, to ensure they ordered the right trailer. Dale decided the FT-6 R was sufficient for the company after he reviewed the project’s needs. Southland took delivery of their first FT-6 R cable reel in May; Felling equipped the trailer with hydraulic retriever/take-up, or rim drive, with a self-contained hydraulic power pack.
“I was thoroughly impressed with our new FT-6 R reel trailer,” Dale says. “It’s a beautiful cable dolly. Hydraulics are very well done. Very sharp in appearance. Very easy to use.”
THE PROJECT’S NEEDS
“On gas projects, we start the process with a 4,500-ft reel of fiber optic cable,” Dale begins. “The gas line is being installed in the middle of the street, so at the end of the day, the cable has to go back on the reel so we can lower it into the trench and then cover it with steel plates. We are only trenching 150 to 200 ft a day, so we have to figure eight the entire reel of cable so that we have a starting end of the cable to pull under any gas, telecom, cable, etc. they encounter. Then we use our new Felling FT-6R trailer to wind up the cable and put it back in the trench.”
“Figure eighting” allows a contractor to park the trailer mid-span of the run and pull it in both directions. Contractors must empty the cable from the reel and lay it on the ground. A figure eight pattern prevents a twisted cable when pulled in two directions. Contractors figure eight the entire reel because they don’t know how much material the project needs or what they’ll run into. Once they pull material through the obstacle, they load the material back on the reel. Contractors can then deploy the material by driving along the unobstructed trench.
With the first FT-6 R in service, Southland Electric, Inc. still needed an additional one to two reel trailers. These would need to be a bit more customized for the project application. Dale had two upcoming projects that required the capacity for 50 38-inch reels. This required an extension of 2 inches of the rim drive. Luckily, customizing a trailer to a customer’s needs is Felling’s forte. Mark worked with Felling’s engineering and weld teams to execute this request. Felling extended the hydraulic drive to accommodate the turning of a 38-inch diameter reel, allowing for the rim drive hydraulic retriever/take-up system’s smooth operation. Now after finishing project after project, instead of the additional one to two trailers, Southland Electric, Inc. requests a third.
Find out more, visit www.felling.com.
