Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: Debs. on 06 April 2009, 23:57:33
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Many years ago I received a 115 Volt shock from a seemingly innocuous American coffee percolator, which was still damp following washing.....I can recall the muscle constricting 'hum' in my forearms and not being able to release my grip on the handle......not a pleasant experience (even at the relatively-low U.S domestic voltage). :o
Seeing as our workshop/hobby interests often expose us to 'electrickery' in it`s various forms and circumstances; I was wondering if anyone here on the forum has been so unfortunate as to receive an electric shock at higher voltages?.....if so, how?
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Got a 240v shock when I was about 13 years old, used to do a lot of messing and managed to touch the two pins in a lamp, threw me off though. :)
When I was a Service Engineer often used to work on stuff live cos the plug could have been a long way or a long way down, the company eventually started putting a socket on the equipment so you could disconnect from the unit itself. ::) ::) ::)
Had a few from HT leads over the years, and of course have tested some batteries with my tounge :y :y :y
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3phase 415volts, when I put my hand into a motor starter thinking it was turned off, the isolator handle didn't work properly and it was still live, big lesson learnt that day.. Check for dead !!
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Seem to remember a sparkie telling me once " if it's Volts it jolt's ( you ) if its mills it kill ( you ) dont know if this is of any help. When I was a retain fireman , at our big local factory ( we had a little fire engine and all , good old fireman Sam :) ) we were tought to search a dark / smoke filled room with the back of our hands as if you go the other way ( palm ) and you grab a live wire , its hard to let go , whereas if its the back of your hand , it will " bite " you but your hand is repelled away . Hope this helps :y
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Had a few from HT leads over the years, .....
and you always know it's gonna get you!
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Seem to remember a sparkie telling me once " if it's Volts it jolt's ( you ) if its mills it kill ( you ) dont know if this is of any help. When I was a retain fireman , at our big local factory ( we had a little fire engine and all , good old fireman Sam :) ) we were tought to search a dark / smoke filled room with the back of our hands as if you go the other way ( palm ) and you grab a live wire , its hard to let go , whereas if its the back of your hand , it will " bite " you but your hand is repelled away . Hope this helps :y
I was tought that at some stage in the past, thrown off rather than grabbing....
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Seem to remember a sparkie telling me once " if it's Volts it jolt's ( you ) if its mills it kill ( you ) dont know if this is of any help. When I was a retain fireman , at our big local factory ( we had a little fire engine and all , good old fireman Sam :) ) we were tought to search a dark / smoke filled room with the back of our hands as if you go the other way ( palm ) and you grab a live wire , its hard to let go , whereas if its the back of your hand , it will " bite " you but your hand is repelled away . Hope this helps :y
I thought it was Amps that killed, rather than volts, in it's simplest terms :-/
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Mmmm, had a few belts from it in the past but the one that hurt the most was when I was young.
We had just had an extention built, so I must have been 11 years old. to get things finished the trician was still there Saturday lunch time. Mum and Dad had also bought a drop down light for the dining table and the sparky said he would fit it as he was finishing, anyways up he goes, my Dad gets me to hold the ladder for him and asks if he wants the power off. "nah, will be fine, am used to it" was the reply.
30 seconds later I was sprawled out on the floor. Seems as I pased him a screw driver from just behind him, he got a jolt and as he reacted he elbowed me in the eye and knocked me flying. :-/ :-/
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Dodgy electric shower in my mates house. Jolted backwards and ended up sitting on the w.c.
A shocking experience and not just in the literal sense. :o
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My daughter once put her fingers across the terminals of the lamp socket on a standard lamp. She was too short at the time to see into it and reached up, fortunately she was OK. The replacement fitting knocks the switch off now when the lamp is removed.
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Many moons ago i was doing a YTS (remember those??) in a VW dealership and every friday the apprentices and trainees got the unwelcome job of steam cleaning and degreasing the workshop floor. Basically everything that could be wheeeled out, was, and everything else was lifted clear on the ramps while we walked metal-detector fashion cleaning the floor. Doing this would leave about 1/4 inch of water on the floor for a couple of minutes till it drained out. And as we were standing in it with steel-capped boots this was an ideal chance for the garage prankster to `accidentally` drop the live extention lead from the steamer into the pool of water as we worked. All you could hear were 3 loud bangs as we were thrown into the the air as we scrambled to reach the exit. I think i only touched the ground twice in nearly 15 yards!!! The dozen or so mechanics outside were p1ss1ng themselves laughing, whereas we were p1ss1ng ourselves literally in shock!! :o :o :-[ :-[ None of us injured but i think it would have been jail time for the prankster in this day and age? :o
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i used to be in the licenced trade and remember one night one in the morning cleaning my cellar floor i had the hosepipe wash spillage down the sump i had 110 volt motors one was on the floor dropped the hose and i got the biggest belt it knocked me right across the floor thought i was a gonna .i needed another drink or two after that.wife says it should have been twoforty volts and she would have got a good payout.she loves realy
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When I was about 12 I had a plug socket in my bedroom that you had to wiggle to get to work. So out came the swiss army knife and off came the front of the socket! I found the loose wire, so far so good, I held the front plate of the socket in my left hand and went to tighten the wire with the screwdriver bit of the knife .......... No told me the front of thoses metal fronted sockets were earthed!!!!! and the loose wire was live! :o
All I remember is hitting the bedroom door! :-[
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Had a bried 240 shock of an illegally converted cherry picker.
was meant to be battery, but someone had done a mains conversion.
trouble is it had a camping type SOCKET attached to it.
so 3 pin plug on one end of the lead, 3 pin camping PLUG on the other end.
I picked this up to move it and BANG, smarted a bit that did :'(
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had loads of them from wet washing machines to rewiring the shed with live cables, alwys managed to drop it sharpish!!
best one tho was when an apprentice mechanic, forst job when being taught how to repair bits , issued with an inch and a half round bar of steel 6 inches long, then a hammer, cold chisel, square and a large file, task is to chisel round bar into an inch square using aforementioned tools, BUT the vices were bolted to a metal bench and also mounted to the bench was a spark plug cleaning and testing machine ;D this had a long HT kind of lead on it that clipped to the spark plug and then you pressed a button to ignite the spark plug to test it was firing ok !! so you can imagine the scene a newbie comes in starts the tedious process of chiseling and a few days later is used to us using the plug tester while he is using the file, lead clipped to bench, wait until he has a good sweat on then hit the button, ::) the howls could be heard throughout the building!!!! :y it was only 50,000 volts!!!!!
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I have had many 230V shocks (Uk is 230V officialy and has been for 16 years +!).
A few 200V DC kicks when I was working at Alsthom (we had a simulator with 200V DC all over it).....these are not pleasent as unlike AC, you remain stuck to the bloody thing!
Hvae done some live work on 11Kv.....big rubber gloves and a rubber mat. No real shock but you can feel a bit of a tingling and get a few static discharges.
Spark plug systems with upto 50Kv (the V6 for example puts out over 45Kv!)
As for 3 phase.....remember this, to get 415V shocks you need to contact 2 phases (Very unlikely) as each phase is 230V with 415 between the 2. So those who have contacted 3 phase setups, chances are you only (although still bad enough!) were exposed to 230V.
The danger of course is the current.....its this that does the damage and much more than 25mA is considered an issue particularly if it travels across the chest cavity.
That said, the UK mains setup is about the best on the planet (the US is pretty poor despite the lower voltage!) with plenty of earths, well proctected socket setups and the latest regs requiring all circuits to have 30mA ELCB's.
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About 20 years ago I was knocking a wall down in a friends bathroom so we could fit a shower, he had removed the old electric shower and said he had disconnected the 30amp wire at the fuse box, turn out he had disconnected the wrong wire, it left me with a burn hole in my finger and pulled muscles in my arm, luckily I was quite fit when I was younger. The last shock I had was a few months ago, I was routing a length of copper piping for the new sink I was fitting in the bathroom and I managed to touch the kitchen light which was hanging from me pulling the ceiling down, funny thing was the circuit breaker didn't trip :o
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About 20 years ago I was knocking a wall down in a friends bathroom so we could fit a shower, he had removed the old electric shower and said he had disconnected the 30amp wire at the fuse box, turn out he had disconnected the wrong wire, it left me with a burn hole in my finger and pulled muscles in my arm, luckily I was quite fit when I was younger. The last shock I had was a few months ago, I was routing a length of copper piping for the new sink I was fitting in the bathroom and I managed to touch the kitchen light which was hanging from me pulling the ceiling down, funny thing was the circuit breaker didn't trip :o
The circuit breaker wouldn't as the current would be to low.....and most lighting circuits are not on an ELCB so that would not trip (Latest regs requie all circuits to be ELCB protected and hence the new fuse boards with twin ELCB)
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About 20 years ago I was knocking a wall down in a friends bathroom so we could fit a shower, he had removed the old electric shower and said he had disconnected the 30amp wire at the fuse box, turn out he had disconnected the wrong wire, it left me with a burn hole in my finger and pulled muscles in my arm, luckily I was quite fit when I was younger. The last shock I had was a few months ago, I was routing a length of copper piping for the new sink I was fitting in the bathroom and I managed to touch the kitchen light which was hanging from me pulling the ceiling down, funny thing was the circuit breaker didn't trip :o
The circuit breaker wouldn't as the current would be to low.....and most lighting circuits are not on an ELCB so that would not trip (Latest regs requie all circuits to be ELCB protected and hence the new fuse boards with twin ELCB)
But when we get a bulb blow it trips then.
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About 20 years ago I was knocking a wall down in a friends bathroom so we could fit a shower, he had removed the old electric shower and said he had disconnected the 30amp wire at the fuse box, turn out he had disconnected the wrong wire, it left me with a burn hole in my finger and pulled muscles in my arm, luckily I was quite fit when I was younger. The last shock I had was a few months ago, I was routing a length of copper piping for the new sink I was fitting in the bathroom and I managed to touch the kitchen light which was hanging from me pulling the ceiling down, funny thing was the circuit breaker didn't trip :o
The circuit breaker wouldn't as the current would be to low.....and most lighting circuits are not on an ELCB so that would not trip (Latest regs requie all circuits to be ELCB protected and hence the new fuse boards with twin ELCB)
But when we get a bulb blow it trips then.
Yep, cheap bulbs.
They often do this as you get a momentary short cicruit which takes wads of current and takes the trip out (check also some nit has not saved a few quid and fitted fast MCB's!)
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About 20 years ago I was knocking a wall down in a friends bathroom so we could fit a shower, he had removed the old electric shower and said he had disconnected the 30amp wire at the fuse box, turn out he had disconnected the wrong wire, it left me with a burn hole in my finger and pulled muscles in my arm, luckily I was quite fit when I was younger. The last shock I had was a few months ago, I was routing a length of copper piping for the new sink I was fitting in the bathroom and I managed to touch the kitchen light which was hanging from me pulling the ceiling down, funny thing was the circuit breaker didn't trip :o
The circuit breaker wouldn't as the current would be to low.....and most lighting circuits are not on an ELCB so that would not trip (Latest regs requie all circuits to be ELCB protected and hence the new fuse boards with twin ELCB)
But when we get a bulb blow it trips then.
Yep, cheap bulbs.
They often do this as you get a momentary short cicruit which takes wads of current and takes the trip out (check also some nit has not saved a few quid and fitted fast MCB's!)
Cheap Ikea light fittings in the kitchen ::)
Most bulbs have been replaced with the energy efficient ones but ive still got to get the LEDs for the down lighters
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About 20 years ago I was knocking a wall down in a friends bathroom so we could fit a shower, he had removed the old electric shower and said he had disconnected the 30amp wire at the fuse box, turn out he had disconnected the wrong wire, it left me with a burn hole in my finger and pulled muscles in my arm, luckily I was quite fit when I was younger. The last shock I had was a few months ago, I was routing a length of copper piping for the new sink I was fitting in the bathroom and I managed to touch the kitchen light which was hanging from me pulling the ceiling down, funny thing was the circuit breaker didn't trip :o
The circuit breaker wouldn't as the current would be to low.....and most lighting circuits are not on an ELCB so that would not trip (Latest regs requie all circuits to be ELCB protected and hence the new fuse boards with twin ELCB)
But when we get a bulb blow it trips then.
Yep, cheap bulbs.
They often do this as you get a momentary short cicruit which takes wads of current and takes the trip out (check also some nit has not saved a few quid and fitted fast MCB's!)
Cheap Ikea light fittings in the kitchen ::)
Most bulbs have been replaced with the energy efficient ones but ive still got to get the LEDs for the down lighters
We get the same, and have heard of plenty of others. :y
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About 20 years ago I was knocking a wall down in a friends bathroom so we could fit a shower, he had removed the old electric shower and said he had disconnected the 30amp wire at the fuse box, turn out he had disconnected the wrong wire, it left me with a burn hole in my finger and pulled muscles in my arm, luckily I was quite fit when I was younger. The last shock I had was a few months ago, I was routing a length of copper piping for the new sink I was fitting in the bathroom and I managed to touch the kitchen light which was hanging from me pulling the ceiling down, funny thing was the circuit breaker didn't trip :o
The circuit breaker wouldn't as the current would be to low.....and most lighting circuits are not on an ELCB so that would not trip (Latest regs requie all circuits to be ELCB protected and hence the new fuse boards with twin ELCB)
But when we get a bulb blow it trips then.
Yep, cheap bulbs.
They often do this as you get a momentary short cicruit which takes wads of current and takes the trip out (check also some nit has not saved a few quid and fitted fast MCB's!)
Cheap Ikea light fittings in the kitchen ::)
Most bulbs have been replaced with the energy efficient ones but ive still got to get the LEDs for the down lighters
Dont bother, they are shite....
The colour is shite, the light output is shite and you loose detail.
There not upto the job (yet)
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I have had many 230V shocks (Uk is 230V officially and has been for 16 years +!).
Up on the top of the "hilly-bits" here, we seem to have more unofficial 'pressure'; my incoming supply (direct from the 46Kv. step-down transformer) is a steady 242 Volts. ;D
*Thinking about it; does that mean I pay more for the same watt/hour than a lower voltage supply (242 V. vs. 230 V.)? :-/
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I'm in the habit of forgetting that I should turn off a valve amplifier & discharge the HT capacitors when working on it because I usually am asked to fix solid state amps.
A big Marshall has about 500VDC on the anodes - that hurts!
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...... about 500VDC on the anodes - that hurts!
You shouldn't put them near your anodes then!
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live cable hanging out the ceiling on a job on the back of the neck, threw me off the ladder and forgot to switch leccy off when i put a new light fitting in at home. live and learn ;D ;D ;D
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I've had many of various voltages. The one that made me think was when I was repairing an old 'scope at the age of about 14 or 15 IIRC. I was pulling a valve out of its' socket while the equipment was plugged in but switched off. The knuckle of my thumb touched about the only contact in the device that was live with the main switch off.
What made this memorable is that my other hand was frimly clasping the chassis - so the shock was straight through the chest. Next thing I recall was picking myself up from the floor.
More by luck than judgement I had an earth leakage circuit breaker in circuit. The extension lead I was using just happened to have one on the end. I suspect it probably saved me but I got one hell of a belt in the time it took to trip. If you don't have one of these in your house (all modern installations will, but plenty of older houses won't) then they are a very wise investment.
I am a bit more careful now, especially as I occasionally work on amateur radio valve transmitters rated at the full legal limit and beyond. 3kV DC at half an amp will kill you if you make a mistake. There'd be no lucky escapes like I had from one of those.
Kevin
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Interestingly, the most lethal thing in most homes is the microwave....12Kv+ with a nice big capacitor at 100mA constant (plus the stored charge!) or so.....
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I have had many 230V shocks (Uk is 230V officially and has been for 16 years +!).
Up on the top of the "hilly-bits" here, we seem to have more unofficial 'pressure'; my incoming supply (direct from the 46Kv. step-down transformer) is a steady 242 Volts. ;D
*Thinking about it; does that mean I pay more for the same watt/hour than a lower voltage supply (242 V. vs. 230 V.)? :-/
Unlikely to have changed for you Debs as the output is contolled by taps at the local sub station, I guess your off a pole pig which is unlikely to have been changed for amny years.
Plus of course there is always the question of accuracy of the measuring device and if its true RMS capable to,
Cost wont be an issue as you are charged for power useage and given as it may be an industrial type install you might have a meter capable of measuring true power including reactive power! (most domestic meters cant measure reactive power)
What of course will happen is that because you have a higher supply voltage then any power consuimg devices will consume more watts....and you will be charged for the extra watts to!
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When I read the title I thought Debs was going to whip out her coil again (of the tesla variety) ::)
Only had the domestic voltage shock when I was little and tried to prise the beads out of a live heating element in the living room -- when mum rushed in after hearing the bang she found me on the other side of the room behind the sofa :o
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I take electrical safety VERY seriously here and when working anywhere on the farm`s electrical installation, I always make use of the SPST lockable-isolators in the meter tails of the 3 phase incoming supply......Using the safety premise:
"What isn`t there, can`t hurt me"
For our safety, we all might do well to have a quick read the safety advice this E.S.C pamplet:
http://www.esc.org.uk/pdfs/business-and-community/electrical-industry/BPG2_08.pdf
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When I read the title I thought Debs was going to whip out her coil again (of the tesla variety) ::)
Only had the domestic voltage shock when I was little and tried to prise the beads out of a live heating element in the living room -- when mum rushed in after hearing the bang she found me on the other side of the room behind the sofa :o
::) I`ll be whipping my coil out in mid-May.....so, I`ll have to be taking 'precautions' to avoid a shock. ;D
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Yes, I have had a good few over the years when working on 240v domestic circuits as an experienced amateur electrician from the age of 12 (taught by my uncle an LEB electrician), but I have learnt to instinctively and very quickly let go! ::) ::) ::)
What worries me is I have always enjoyed the sensation when the power goes up your arm! ::) ::) ::) ::)
One of my brothers at the age of 7 decided it was clever to stick a butchers skewer in an old round pin socket, and ended up with a very badly burned hand, but at least he lived due to it being an old radial system ::) ::) ::) ::).
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I take electrical safety VERY seriously here and when working anywhere on the farm`s electrical installation, I always make use of the SPST lockable-isolators in the meter tails of the 3 phase incoming supply......Using the safety premise:
"What isn`t there, can`t hurt me"
For our safety, we all might do well to have a quick read the safety advice this E.S.C pamplet:
http://www.esc.org.uk/pdfs/business-and-community/electrical-industry/BPG2_08.pdf
Wise advice, its also worth noting that double isolation is preffered so trip the main breaker and the MCB of the sub circuit.
As an extra measure, I always connect an earth to the output side of the MCB. This is the same practice we used on real wiring (11KV+) and can also offer additional protection from surges and over volt conditions on the supply which can jump the breaker/contactor terminals (worthy of note if you are in a remote location Debs).
I have a short earth lead with crocodile clips on to do this job.
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I take electrical safety VERY seriously here and when working anywhere on the farm`s electrical installation, I always make use of the SPST lockable-isolators in the meter tails of the 3 phase incoming supply......Using the safety premise:
"What isn`t there, can`t hurt me"
For our safety, we all might do well to have a quick read the safety advice this E.S.C pamplet:
http://www.esc.org.uk/pdfs/business-and-community/electrical-industry/BPG2_08.pdf
Wise advice, its also worth noting that double isolation is preffered so trip the main breaker and the MCB of the sub circuit.
As an extra measure, I always connect an earth to the output side of the MCB. This is the same practice we used on real wiring (11KV+) and can also offer additional protection from surges and over volt conditions on the supply which can jump the breaker/contactor terminals (worthy of note if you are in a remote location Debs).
I have a short earth lead with crocodile clips on to do this job.
Ah...the wise old mnemonic:
S.I.D.E
Switch Off
Isolate
Damp
Earth
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When I read the title I thought Debs was going to whip out her coil again (of the tesla variety) ::)
Only had the domestic voltage shock when I was little and tried to prise the beads out of a live heating element in the living room -- when mum rushed in after hearing the bang she found me on the other side of the room behind the sofa :o
::) I`ll be whipping my coil out in mid-May.....so, I`ll have to be taking 'precautions' to avoid a shock. ;D
;D ;D Rubber makes a good insulator ! ::)