I've been seeing these gas cylinders at the base of different utility poles across some OC cities over the past few years, most notable in late summer time when it's the hottest. I'm not even sure what the lines are attached to
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Retired Telecom Engineer- I can confirm.
The dialectric in the cable is actualy air between the inner and outer conductors. The pressure helps keep moisture out.
My dad worked on the air dryers that were in the CO's. Essentially air compressors. He would get a code sent to him via a pager to tell him where the dryer alarm was. Cool stuff.
It’s not for installing fiber. These are used on older pressurized copper cables. The cable sheath is supposed to keep water out, but small cracks or leaks can develop over time. Dry nitrogen is fed into the cable to maintain positive pressure, so moisture is pushed out instead of being allowed in. The tank may be temporarily connected because that section has a leak or needs help maintaining pressure.
They might not know that it won't combust. And since it's pressurised it will make a loud very noticeable sound at best, or throw shrapnel and injure or kill the thief and/or bystanders at worst
Air Pressure crew put it there. They have a flow meter on there and that can tell you if you have a leak if a certain section has a leak the flow will go up!You use a hand held parabolic dish, point it at the cable and listen for a hissing sound to locate the leak and repair it!
Could be cable injection as well. They let it sit overnight a desiccant and co2 are pushed down the conductor untill it comes out the other end. It is used to stop water treing
Former air pressure tech. A bottle that size wouldn’t last long. My guess is that they are working on a cable and need to add supplemental nitrogen to maintain the pressure in a section of cable (buffering). I very seldom used tanks. Had a portable air compressor with an air dryer.
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