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[Marks DTM Calib]

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.

[Elite Pete]

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

[Marks DTM Calib]

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

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)

[Elite Pete]

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

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.

[Marks DTM Calib]

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

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!)

[Elite Pete]

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

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

[Andy B]

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

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.

[Marks DTM Calib]

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

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)

[Debs.]

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.

*Thinking about it; does that mean I pay more for the same watt/hour than a lower voltage supply (242 V. vs. 230 V.)? :-/

[Pitchfork]

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!

[Andy B]

...... about 500VDC on the anodes - that hurts!

You shouldn't put them near your anodes then!

[Richie London]

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  

[Kevin Wood]

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

[Marks DTM Calib]

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.....

[Marks DTM Calib]

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.

*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!