The week we had to lift a whole HVAC unit over a live power line

Leo Park · 2026-03-22T06:15:09.649814+00:00

It was this past April in Cincinnati, and the site manager came to me with a set of prints that made my stomach drop. They needed a 5-ton rooftop unit placed, but the only path was directly over a 12kV line that couldn't be shut off. My boss just said, 'Figure it out, but don't touch the wire.' We spent three full days planning, using a 120-ton mobile with a super long boom to get the reach and height. The actual lift took 45 minutes of the slowest, smoothest operation I've ever done, with a spotter on the radio the whole time. You could hear a pin drop on site. When we finally set it down, the electrician just shook his head and said, 'I've never seen a dance like that.' It was a bad week that turned good because the planning paid off. Has anyone else had a job where the prep time was longer than the lift itself?

evah406mo ago

Your boss gave you the classic "don't die" project plan.

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paige2056mo ago

Heard about a crew doing a similar lift over train tracks with a live third rail. That prep work is everything, makes the actual move look easy. Your spotter must have had nerves of steel.

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evan_harris144mo ago

Hold up. A live third rail? That's insane. Those things carry enough juice to kill a man before he even hits the ground. Your heart would be pounding the whole time knowing that much power is right there. That crew must have had a mental checklist a mile long before they even started the crane. Honestly, planning for days sounds about right for something that risky. One wrong move and it's over.

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