110V vs 230V - a dumb question?

Not in our regulations. 50VAC RMS is the safe touch voltage.

110V CTE supply is over 50VAC, so it must be and is treated as any other LV supply.

Maybe that's why it's 55V and not 50V to earth. It's wired and treated as LV yet in reality, it's as safe as ELV. What a great system.


There is no way you can argue that 230V to earth is as safe as 55V to earth just because you have an RCD in the supply, bearing in mind that RCD's do NOT prevent you from getting an electric shock.

You WILL feel it, but it won't kill you.
 
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Not in our regulations. 50VAC RMS is the safe touch voltage.

110V CTE supply is over 50VAC, so it must be and is treated as any other LV supply.

Maybe that's why it's 55V and not 50V to earth. It's wired and treated as LV yet in reality, it's as safe as ELV. What a great system.


There is no way you can argue that 230V to earth is as safe as 55V to earth just because you have an RCD in the supply, bearing in mind that RCD's do NOT prevent you from getting an electric shock.

You WILL feel it, but it won't kill you.


Sorry but that is just plain and simply wrong.

RCDs might improve your chances, but there is no guarantee they will prevent you being killed.
 
Well it takes 50mA or more through the heart reagion (one conductor each arm) for an otherwise healthy person.
I'd say it improves your chances significantly.
 
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Tell you what, you go grab an RCD protected 230V live wire, and I'll do the same with a 55V live wire from a building site supply.

Post your video on here and I'll do the same.
 
There are regulations, HSE rules, and site rules and I have already said there is nothing in the regulations to stop one using 230 vac equipment on a building site if the requirements on isolation transformers and RCD are met.

However most large sites have their own health and safety rules which exceed those required by HSE and regulations from wearing of gloves, glasses, toe cap shoes, hard hats and hi-vis vests in spite of the general rule that wearing of PPE should be as a last resort when other methods can't make a safe environment.

In the main there will be a directive before you go on site and with large sites finding a 230vac supply is often very hard the only way is to do things like take wandering leads out of tea cabins etc.

I have used 230vac on site for things like supplying a laptop with power using isolation transformers and I have never been stopped the transformer, power supply and laptop were all housed in same suit case and I am sure 110 volt could have been used just as easy as 230 volt but the point was I had got an isolation transformer as the regulations required and had not tried to used 240v extension leads plugged into the tea cabin.

I have had problems with items like 12 inch angle grinders finding a 32A supply the same applies to items like vacuum cleaners on one site we used 3 phase 110 volt for vacuum cleaners (Sizewell B) but on large sites it's normally down to the main contractor to provide power.

Often it is the order of events that matters. Ask for a 32A supply and the main contractor does not have it so suggest using 230v instead and often no problem but use 230v without asking then likely one will get escorted off site.

I have been the electrician for the main contractor many times and been presented with sub contractors power requirements and had to consult with safety officer on how to get around problems where 230v is required. It could be we would lend them 110 volt equipment or install an isolation transformer but there is always a way around the problem.

However where a sub contractor arrives on site and tries to flaunt all the safety regulations then he would put mine and the safety officers back up and we would dig in out heals and say tough you know the regs and confiscate the equipment.

All down to attitude, it should not matter, rules and rules but it does. If I caught some one with 400m of cable drums to get 230V from the site office they would be shown the gate and told not to return. If however he had come and asked where he can get 230 volt for a special item the I would have lent them the 110 to 230 volt blue brick. But if he then tried to run items like a angle grinder off it when these are easy to hire as 110 volt version again would be shown the gate.

OK if not a British national then I would give a little more lee way but site rules are there for every-ones safety and allowing a select few to break them is dangerous as people in this country do not expect to find a flex carrying 230 volt.

As to "Swearing at Wikipedia stating the UK as 230V country." well it's not the government who says it's 110 volt on site it's the safety officer in charge of the job so how would Wikipedia writers know what Lang O'Rorke site rules are for example. As I said before 230 volt is permitted by BS regulations and HSE it is local safety officers who impose the blanket bans.
 
Looks like I won the golden spade.
I just rely on workmates who had been there before and asked why I put angle grinders on the materials list. I wouldn't be able to use them. No 230V permit, no hot work permit, no permission to change the disk once it is used. Hidden portable distribution box to obtain 230V illegally. Changing of Motors to 110V versions from the US. Yellow CEE plugs everywhere. Hand tools burnt while trying to run them on 110V in desperation, not recommended. 400m of cable drums to get 230V from the site office burns them too, voltage loss too high. HSE banning you from site if they catch you doing that. Swearing at Wikipedia stating the UK as 230V country. The prohibition is real. I'll report after seeing and believing myself.
I could imagine that it is not taken very serious on small sites. But on the large ones with a permanent HSE department on site you cannot tie your shoes without being watched through camera equipped binoculars.
You are the Swiss correspondent for the Daily Mail, and I claim my €5.
 
Well it takes 50mA or more through the heart reagion (one conductor each arm) for an otherwise healthy person.
I'd say it improves your chances significantly.

The generally accepted average is 30mA across the chest. As little as 1mA across the heart. And those are averaged, rough figures.

I have suffered a sustained shock far in excess of 30mA across my chest with nothing but minor burns. And people have died from a few milliseconds at 20mA or less, which no RCD, no matter how sensitive, can protect you from. Any significant shock is a lottery, an RCD just reduces the number of tickets.



If 55VAC without an RCD is illegal everywhere else in the world, then the 12.5kVAC supply I have sitting here must be considered a weapon of mass destruction..
 
12.5 kV or 12.5 kVA?
Well the 6 bread and butter HPU we intent to use here require 400V and 30kVA each.
The ones where the 125A CEE plug imposes the limit we leave for the offshore jobs.

Offshore is where you need to tripple the personnel because HSE requirements reduce productivity to less than half. But guess what: no 110V there. Saltwater spray everywhere. And less work accidents than in the construction industry.
 
12.5 kV or 12.5 kVA?
12.5kVAC. Note the C. Also similar DC voltages. Looked inside a CRT lately? Dear gods, the volts, they're MURDEROUS!

There are indeed lots of volts used on CRTs but the supply is such high impedance very little current can be drawn. Not lethal but the initial zap may make you do something dangerous.

Some of them can store adequate charge to kill you, if you're unlucky. It's all in the timing.

I'm just making fun of his 'LV without an RCD is TOTALLY ILLEGAL!!!!' waffle.
 

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