Dog sniffs out electricity faults
A DOG that can sniff out faults in the power network is helping to keep electricity flowing this winter.
Scottish Power Energy Networks (Spen) has been trialling the use of a specially-trained detection dog Jac, who is able to help identify faults on the power network deep underground.
The dog is able to smell oil and hydrocarbon gases through earth and tarmac and pinpoint a fault by pointing with a front paw, saving engineers from digging a number of holes as they try to find the source of the problem. While cables are typically buried at 40-80cm, Jac has been known to discover a fault two metres deep and his nose can sniff out as little as a couple of drops of oil.
Scott Mathieson, Spen’s network planning and regulation director, said Jac’s skills have been proving useful, with a 100% success record in pinpointing faults on 30 different occasions.
The dog is being used to help find some of the network issues that could lead to power cuts.