is 240v really that dangerous

[calumr135]

seriously I am not trying to be funny but I have had several shocks from 240v and it does nothing more than tickle you. even touched both live and neutral once nothing really dramatic happened just a bigger tickle and hurt a tiny bit but not a lot.

let me know what your opinions are. maybe 415v or 11kv will probably kill you stone dead. but tbh 240 aint that bad.

 

[Adam_151]

There are a lot of variables involved, such as how good the contact with the part is. How well your connected to earth, What the path of the current is (hand to leg is about the worst). Whether or not its touched in a way that your muscles move you clear of it or not (such as back of a hand).

It can easily be a small tingle in some circumstances, it can also be a lot more than a small tingle! You won't live very long if you think that its always going to be a small tingle if you make contact with it!

 

[bernardgreen]

230 volt can be and has been lethal to many people.

It is the amount of current that flows through the chest that determines if it will be a lethal heart stopping shock or a muscle twitching shock.

How much current flows through the body depends on the voltage and the size of the areas of contact at the entry and exit points.

Where the current flows through the body depends on where the entry and exit points are on the body.

Some fatalities occur hours or days after a severe shock due to damage to organs other than the heart or from toxins from damaged tissues decaying inside the body.

 

[PBC_1966]

You may have received only a small tickle or a shock which "hurt just a bit," but others have been electrocuted by 240V (people here have been electrocuted by "only" 120V).

It depends upon the way in which contact is made, your skin conditions, and so on, which in turn determines how much current can flow. A very gentle brush against a 240V terminal with dry skin is likely to result in somewhat lower current than grabbing firm hold of a live busbar with sweaty hands, for example.

The intensity of the shock, its duration, and the parts of the body through which the current passes play a big part in whether it's just a "strong tingle" or whether you don't walk away from it, shocks across the chest which affect heart and lung functions being much more dangerous than, say, a shock across the fingers of one hand.

 

[Nige F]

I can tell you that if you have arthritis ( as I have had for a long time ) it bloody HURTS . No idea why it's so painful but it used to be a tingle before I developed arthritis,

 

[ross94]

try pouring a bucket of water over yourself then grab live and neutral on each hand and let us know how it feels if you come back that is. IDIOT

ps. don't actually do that!. be safe and turn the power off. it only takes 1ma to kill

 

[Lectrician]

seriously I am not trying to be funny but I have had several shocks from 240v and it does nothing more than tickle you. even touched both live and neutral once nothing really dramatic happened just a bigger tickle and hurt a tiny bit but not a lot.

let me know what your opinions are. maybe 415v or 11kv will probably kill you stone dead. but tbh 240 aint that bad.

Count yourself lucky. 240v kills. Not always, but it kills. If it didn't, other than fire, would we really have all these regulations?

Everyone here has probably had a shock, and all are lucky. Don't get complacent. It DOES kill.

 

[ross94]

I remember getting a shock from a heating thermostat only touched the live alone and it was horrible and i thought that was it for me. luckily the rcd tripped so the shock was only brief but it was still pretty bad. 240 will kill you easily treat it with respect.

people back then found out the hard way when there were no rcds and the results were much worse. classic example is running over the lawn mower cable on wet grass.

 

[333rocky333]

Sometimes the physical reaction to the shock is what kills, one colleage whilst receiving a shock hit his head severely on a concrete floor knocking him unconsciose, and another died through hitting the back of his head on the floorboards after touching live parts under a domestic floor.

I also knew of a shopfitter who died touching a Live pole on a till counter, and a female shopworker paralised from exposed electrics on a supermarket till

 

[Risteard]

(hand to leg is about the worst).

Hand-to-hand surely.

 

[PBC_1966]

Head to leg? Far less likely in normal accidental circumstances, but would not only result in current passing through the chest area but also through the essential parts of the nervous system in the head and neck.

 

[gman76]

is 240v really that dangerous

Yes.

 

[gregers]

made me dance when i got a shock,
but what really hurt is when i tried to clamber under a cattle fence and lent down with my hand on the ground and my shoulder touched the cable,apart from the crack of noise it hurt like hell.and i assume that was 50 volts???

 

[PBC_1966]

i assume that was 50 volts???

Actually a lot more than that, but the current is limited by the source impedance, and it's short-duration pulses rather than 50Hz AC continuous so as to limit the amount of energy delivered, so not easily comparable directly.

 

[OwainDIYer]

made me dance when i got a shock,
but what really hurt is when i tried to clamber under a cattle fence and lent down with my hand on the ground and my shoulder touched the cable,apart from the crack of noise it hurt like hell.and i assume that was 50 volts???

3,000 - 4,000 volts on the fence line with an energiser that has a minimum of 1.5 Joules of stored energy for bulls.
http://www.rutland-electric-fencing.co.uk/PageAnimalCattle.aspx