Shocks

[tonyelectric]

Heres one for you to ponder

On site today me and two other sparks got taking about shocks we have had (as you do), it has been said to all of us over the years that 230 will nip you but you won't walk away from a three phase belt, this got me thinking, is this right?

I reckon not, but welcome suggestions ( except to try it and see), my rationale is.

Current is the key player, an electric fence runs at say 10,000V a small Van De Graaf at 100,000 - 1,000,000V, but with little current it just stings.

A shock from a three phase supply to earth is still only 230V, but even across phases is surely dependant more on the contact between you and the live parts and therefore the ability of a current to flow

Another musing in next post...

 

[Spark123]

Unless you are daft enough to touch two phases simultaneously you will receive a 230v shock from a 3 phase supply.
Wether or not it is fatal is dependant on a lot of factors such as your internal body resistance, wether or not you have a weak heart, how the shock flows through your body, time and external factors such as the environment to name a few.
If you did manage to direct contact between two phases, one in each hand there is a good chance of ventricular fibrilation and burns.

 

[MrTinker]

well you would have to be sodin' unlucky or stupid or both to catch 2 ph's at the same time, it's not like you're going to have hold of 1 and then catch another, mind you i wouldn't put it past some
working off a 230v blast is worse than a 110v one i recon 415v has got to be a doozie???
anyone got a gullible young lad they don't mind loosing lol

 

[wingcoax]

Take it from me, YOU DO NOT WANT A 415 belt. Got one a few years ago while commissioning a piece of switchgear, luckily i was not touching ground at the time and was stood on wooden steps, it still gives you a jolt(and does your watch no good either)

 

[ricicle]

Take it from me, YOU DO NOT WANT A 415 belt. Got one a few years ago while commissioning a piece of switchgear, luckily i was not touching ground at the time and was stood on wooden steps, it still gives you a jolt(and does your watch no good either)

Why is it lucky you weren't touching ground ? You had already had the shock of greatest magnitude ?

 

[OscarFoxtrot]

My cousin was holding a piece of wood against a wall when his workmate drilled through the wood, into the wall and through 415V.
. It blew my cousin 8ft backwards, knocking him unconscious. Both his hands were badly burned.

 

[Lectrician]

My cousin was holding a piece of wood against a wall when his workmate drilled through the wood, into the wall and through 415V.
. It blew my cousin 8ft backwards, knocking him unconscious. Both his hands were badly burned.

So he didn't get a phase to phase belt either - just a 240v one, and at that, not directly.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

My cousin was holding a piece of wood against a wall

Was it that special low-resistance wood?

It blew my cousin 8ft backwards

Any idea roughly what he weighed?

 

[martinxxxxxx]

I got a 690V DC shock that threw me across a room (ABOUT 3FT I weighed in at 12st) I had to be revived with smelling salts. The test lead I was using had a crack in the insulation as it exited the end of the probe. I was measuring the DC rail on a marshal valve amp.

Lesson learnt: always check your leads each time before use.

 

[Stoday]

I got an 800 VDC shock off a transmitter which threw me across the room. The safety resistor across the main capacitor was open circuit.

I was young in those far-off days and I could take it.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

http://images.google.co.uk/images?s...rlz=1T4GGLL_en-GBGB302GB302&q=electrical+burn

 

[Monkeh]

I've had 325VDC, that.. really rather stung. Don't play with capacitors.

 

[ricicle]

I had 700V DC up my arm through my own stupidity from this :-

Untitled

• ricicle
• 19 Dec 2010
• 1

 

[Steve]

I had 700V DC up my arm through my own stupidity from this :-

Untitled

• ricicle
• 19 Dec 2010
• 1

Whats that? Some kind of rectifyer? I see it has 3 phases into it and some kind of 2-pole output, I assume this is DC given your statement.

 

[wingcoax]

Take it from me, YOU DO NOT WANT A 415 belt. Got one a few years ago while commissioning a piece of switchgear, luckily i was not touching ground at the time and was stood on wooden steps, it still gives you a jolt(and does your watch no good either)

Why is it lucky you weren't touching ground ? You had already had the shock of greatest magnitude ?

The current did not flow through me, it only knocked me several feet sideways off the ladder.