Electric Fences: Does it really work (Part 1 of 2)

    Sep 4, 2019 | Blog | 0 comments

    Electric Fences: Does it really work (Part 1 of 2)
    Simply put – Of course electric fences work! Security is a major topic of conversation in South Africa and at some point, in a conversation the question comes up “Do Electric Fences work?”. Our question to that is why do you think Electric Fences do not work?
    It seems the following are the most common objections:

    1. You can through a blanket over the electric fence and climb over it;
    2. The electric fence does not always give an alarm when it is supposed to;
    3. An electric fence gives too many false alarms (especially when it rains);
    4. Electric fences require too much maintenance;
    5. If the criminals really want to come in, you can’t stop them (my personal favourite).

    Let’s deal with these objections one by one.

    1. Throwing a blanket over the electric fence and climbing over it
    This is laughably impossible to do without triggering the alarm. The electric fence wire is tensioned with springs and cannot support any person’s weight on it. If you put a blanket over the electric fence and push on the electric fence to climb over it, one of 2 things will happen:

    (a) You will either break the spring and wire, which will trigger the alarm; or
    (b) The top 2 wires will touch, which will trigger the alarm.

    Additionally, what sort of blanket, which will not break the fence, will a person use to insulate himself against 10,000 Volts of electricity?

    2. The electric fence does not always give an alarm when it is supposed to
    If your electric fence does not give an alarm when 2 of the wires touch or one of the fence wires is cut, it means either that your installation was not done properly or that something is wrong and you need to contact a professional to check your fence.

    There are 2 tests your electric fence installer can do, to show that your fence works. Please have a look at one of our earlier articles, https://www.nelspruitfencing.co.za/cut-wire-and-earth-short-test/, discussing these tests.

    3. Electric fences give too many false alarms, especially when it rains
    Again, if this is the case with your electric fence, it means either that your installation was not done properly, or something is wrong, and you need a professional to check your fence.

    Some times, animals like a small lizard can cause false alarms if it climbs up a bracket and shocks itself to death when it is half-way on the bracket and half-way on a live wire. Unfortunately, it may then be stuck on the electric fence and causes a short, which will lead to false alarms.

    Conclusion
    While this is a great topic for me to discuss, I am on a word limit. Therefore, objections number 4 and 5 will be addressed in a follow-up article, which we will publish next week. If you can think of any other objections, please either comment on this article or email us at sales@nelspruitfencing.co.za: we’ll be happy to address any more objections.

    Lastly (for now) if you are experiencing objection numbers 2 and 3 above, or would like a free quotation on a new electric fence, please contact us on 074 104 6028 / www.nelspruitfencing.co.za. We provide free quotes in Nelspruit, White River, Barberton, Witbank and Lydenburg.

    3 September 2019, Nelspruit Fencing, Mbombela, Mpumalanga