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FAQ'S (Frequently Asked Questions)
Can I use any
electric fence charger with ElectroBraid ™?
Yes,
but make sure the electric fencer is certified safe by UL
or CSA. Because ElectroBraid ™ uses pure
copper, which is the best electrical conductor other than gold,
any electric fence charger will be more effective over a longer
distance - for example, ElectroBraid ™ will carry a charge
70 times farther than the stainless steel conductor wires used in
many plastic fence products.
Will an
electric fence hurt my children?
No.
The electric pulse put out by an electric fencer is so short it
shocks but it cannot injure. Any UL or CSA approved fencer puts
out a very short pulse (less than 5/10,000 of a second) about
once every second. There's plenty of time to take your hand away
between pulses! Once shocked, neither you nor any animal wants to
touch the electric fence again. It's similar to getting a shock
from a TV screen; the voltage in a static shock from a TV screen
can be as high as 50,000 volts - 5 times higher than an electric
fence charger. With no continuous amperage, there can be no
damage. That's what UL and CSA certify!
Copper is such
a soft metal will it break?
A
copper wire on its own will break, but ElectroBraid ™ is
engineered to braid copper wires into a cushion of polyester fiber. The copper is braided into the outer jacket in two
opposing directions that cross three times per inch. The copper
wires form two helical coils like springs. This construction
allows bend and stretch, without putting strain on the copper
itself. In fact, under extreme tension, ElectroBraid ™
itself will break before the copper wires.
In an unusual accident, a strand of ElectroBraid ™ was
caught between two sharp edges of metal and pulled by a tractor
about 10 feet out of line with the fence. Some of the polyester
was cut on the outside, but not all the way through, and only
three copper wires were cut, so the charge still flowed through
the fence! ElectroBraid ™ passed that torture test with
flying colors.
Is it strong
enough to hold a horse in?
Yes!
A single strand of ElectroBraid ™ will withstand over 1300
lbs. direct linear force. Because ElectroBraid ™ is
resilient under tension, to break a 4-strand ElectroBraid ™
Fence by pushing against it from the inside can take up to 10,000
pounds of force. That's an unlikely force for an animal to apply,
specially when it gets a high voltage electric shock once every
second. Ringling Brothers Circus is evaluating ElectroBraid ™ as a portable fence to hold their elephants on tour.
If a horse
gets one of its legs over a line of ElectroBraid ™ will it
get tangled in it?
NO.
Because the polyester is soft and slippery like silk and has
"give". If a horse does get a foot over it, it's easy
for him to pull his foot back and get free of the fence with no
harm. We've seen one of our stallions do it showing off for a
gelding in the next paddock. He struck out and his foot went over
one of the strands. Zap! He had his foot back pretty darn quick.
No burns, no cuts, and a well learned lesson not to touch that
durn'd fence.
Copper
oxidizes. Will this affect the fence?
NO.
Copper does oxidize but only on the surface (it forms a dark
green "patina"). The patina actually prevents further
oxidation. A useful benefit is that the dark patina gives
ElectroBraid ™ more contrast against snow. Surface
oxidation does not weaken the copper, nor does it reduce
electrical conductivity, nor will it stain or discolor the white
polyester. The Canadian Parliament buildings have had copper
roofs for over 100 years. They turned green long ago, but no one
expects them to deteriorate for centuries or more.
Will the sun
affect the polyester jacket?
NO.
The high grade polyester we use is virtually unaffected by
sunlight. That is why it is used in climbing ropes, seat belts,
cargo straps, parachute harness and other safety related
applications. An independent laboratory subjected ElectroBraid
™ to a standard ASTM test for extreme UV radiation,
representing possibly decades of exposure to continuous Florida
sunlight, and there was no product deterioration
after the full extent of the test.
How long can I
expect the ElectroBraid ™ Fence to last?
Based on independent
laboratory tests, we confidently provide a 25-year Performance
Warranty that ElectroBraid ™ will not rust, rot, lose
strength due to sunlight or weathering, or break in a normal
permanent fence installation. We cannot see how ElectroBraid
™ will deteriorate and we certainly expect it to last much
longer than 25 years.
Can I really
space posts up to 100 feet apart? That seems a long way between
posts. Yes! It is a long
way between posts. Isn't that great? Less work, less cost, less
maintenance, less trees. ElectroBraid ™ is not a
conventional "barrier" fence, requiring many posts to
resist pressure from animals. We all know that horses can break
down every type of barrier fence, but because of its resilience,
it seams virtually impossible for an animal to break through
ElectroBraid ™ (they won't try chewing, if it is
electrified!)
We recommend you put in properly braced corner posts and gate
posts for fence integrity. Intermediate posts are required to
properly space the lines of braid, but these are only required at
distances of 50 to 100 ft. In areas of freezing rain, or snow and
ice, we recommend not more than 50 foot spacing to carry ice
build-up on the braid.
Is it
expensive?
NO.
Wire is the cheapest fence material per foot but, when you add
the cost of fence posts, extra strong bracing, additional
insulators, line strainers, and the cost of labor and equipment
to construct a high tensile wire fence, the installed cost of
ElectroBraid ™ is comparable. Considering the long life of
ElectroBraid ™ and the low cost to maintain it,
ElectroBraid ™ is really economical. Consider the value of
your free time, and how much free time is worth, when you are
tempted to "save" money by buying low-cost HT Wire.
Most important, consider what it costs in heartache and vet bills
when an animal of yours is injured on a wire fence.
If a horse tries to run through ElectroBraid™,can it flip over the fence when it hits it? No. Not if the center of gravity of the horse is lower than the top strand. Panic situations are the worst. Jennifer tells this story...
"One of our fillies, a 16 hand, 1000 lb. three-year-old was having a snooze in the sun when I moved the mares from that pasture to another. Now, this was shortly after we changed the line of the ElectroBraid ™ Fence and the placement of the gate. The other mares all galloped into the other field no problem. The filly woke up at the thunder of hooves, found herself alone, hopped to her feet in panic and hit high gear. I stood there at the gate, 100 yards from where she was making a beeline for the fence - - too far away to do anything to turn her! That awful thought crossed my mind... What is going to happen when she hits the fence at that speed? Will her legs get tangled in it? Will she flip and break her neck? All I could do was watch and pray. Despite her panic she saw the ElectroBraid ™ and tried to slow down. She hit at about 3\4 speed (a good 25 to 30 mph). The ElectroBraid ™ gave; stopped her; set her back on her feet. Whew! She was so surprised she just stood there. I checked her over for cuts & scrapes. NONE! The hair was a bit ruffled, but that was it. No burns, no cuts, nada'. The saving grace was the fact the fence was 5 feet 2 inches high. A horse's center of gravity is just behind the withers and about halfway down the barrel. That means that on this horse, the top two lines were above her center of gravity. The lesson is... always make sure your fence is the height of the horses you keep in the paddock. 16 hand horses 64" fence; 17 hand horses 68" fence. The remaining fence lines should be spaced equally from 15 inches off the ground. The horse can't flip over something taller than its center of gravity. The ElectroBraid ™ fence can absorb the energy of a charge along the entire length of the fence with no damage to either the horse or the fence.
How will
ElectroBraid ™ stand up to adverse conditions?
Extremely
well.
Trial by ice
Last winter we had
unusual weather in Nova Scotia. Blame it on El Nino. The first
test was a freezing rain that put 2" of ice on everything.
The fence included. Some lines, where there was more than 130'
between posts, sagged seriously. However, as soon as the ice
melted, or fell off, the fence sprang back to its original shape.
Where the distance between posts was less than 50', the lines
sagged slightly. There was no damage to the fence.
Trial by flood
We had another dramatic incident during a sudden thaw in January. There was a foot of snow on the ground; then the temperature climbed and it rained cats and dogs. Brooks overflowed and flooded low-lying areas. Our lower pasture and driveway was under a foot and a half of water, flowing fast enough to sweep the feet out from under you. Along with the water came branches, logs, ice pans 6 to 10 inches deep and as big as 12 ft. across. In the middle of this was a stretch of ElectroBraid ™ more than 100' between posts, with an intermediate plastic T-bar post resting on top of the ground.
Flood pictures coming soon...
Floating branches caught the T-bar, the ice pans built up around it and pushed the whole fence about 20' out of line. It could have been fixed easily, as soon as the water went down a little, by simply unclipping the braid from the insulators on the T-bar. We chose to leave it there and let it freeze in the ice for the next THREE MONTHS. We wanted to see how ElectroBraid ™ would stand up to that kind of abuse. The next big thaw in March freed the braid and it popped back to its original shape. One of the posts at the edge of the brook, was basically set in swamp, and it shifted. Because of that movement, one line of ElectroBraid ™ had to be shortened by a foot. Total maintenance time 15 minutes.
Trial by tree
Another incident....
During a major wind storm this winter, a very tall spruce tree
snapped in half. The top half of this tree landed across a
section of ElectroBraid ™ fence. All four lines of braid
were mashed to the ground and then, later, frozen in. It was like
that for some time, but it did not affect the voltage going
through the fence. The same voltage went past the obstruction, to
the other side, as the voltage from the charger; the copper in
the ElectroBraid ™ was the path of least resistance to the
current, and not the tree, branches, soil, or ice and snow. The
ElectroBraid ™ Fence did not lose its effectiveness even
with the tree mashing it to the ground. Of course, as soon as the
tree was cut off the fence, the ElectroBraid ™ popped back
into place as if nothing had happened. That bit of work accounted
for another 15 minutes of maintenance time.
The sum total spring maintenance on 43 acres and over 8000 feet
of fence was one line needed tightening (because of the post
shifting), one plastic T-bar had to be replaced because the ice
broke it, and one felled tree had to be cut off the fence. No
other part of any of our ElectroBraid ™ fence needed any
work at all. We have never before been able to say all
our spring fence maintenance took us less than 60 minutes!
Will
ElectroBraid ™ burn or melt in a fire?
You bet! Do you want
your animals trapped behind a fence in a fire? In a fire, unless
you can load them up and take them away, the safest place for
animals is loose, and hope they can outrun it.
Do I have to
stop weeds from growing up around ElectroBraid ™?
NO.
ElectroBraid ™ will not short out as most electrical fence
products do. Because pure copper has such low resistance, and the
twisted wire conductors go in two different directions and cross
3 times per inch, if something does touch one conductor wire, the
electricity will follow the path of least resistance, which is
the other copper wire. Weeds against the fence do not perceptibly
reduce the voltage in the line.
Some fence products are hard to mow alongside - have you ever tried to whipper-snip next to a wire fence? Because ElectroBraid ™ is flexible, it is easy to get a mower under it. In fact, we have a flail mower attachment for the tractor and simply push the braid aside to mow under it. You can put guards on your mower attachments so the braid will not get caught in the blades. Just be careful not to hit fence posts as you drive along.
Plowing around
fences in the winter is a pain. What about ElectroBraid ™?
Most
fences are a pain to plow around because you have to plow around
them. With ElectroBraid ™ you can plow under it and through
it. The flexibility of ElectroBraid ™ lets you actually
push snow right through the fence. Just be careful not to catch
the braid on sharp projections on the tractor. I am not the best
tractor operator in the world, and I have spent a lot of time
fixing broken boards in other fences I used to try to plow
around. ElectroBraid ™ is easy to work with.
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