My biggest shock yet.....Always prove dead!!

[memor maplin]

I always thought wearing rubber shoes would stop you from getting serious electric shocks.

Was I misinformed ?

 

[JohnD]

depends what other parts of your body are touching.

if you are fully insulated from eveything except one conductor, you will not get a shock. If your finger touches another conductor, or if you lean against or brush past e.g. a pipe or some other conductor, or even a damp wall, you may go bang. If you pick up a metal toolbox or tool that is on the floor, you may go bang.

If you touch a metal service head, or an armoured cable, you may go bang.

Working in a meter cupboard under the stairs, or in an airing cupboard full of copper pipes, you are very likely to touch something accidentally. If you are in a trench you are very likely to touch moist earth and be cooked.

 

[Softus]

I always thought wearing rubber shoes would stop you from getting serious electric shocks.

They will, if you wear them on your feet, hands, ears, nose, elbows, knees, hair, and, most importantly of all, genitalia.

 

[whipping boy]

I said to my mate 'don't touch that one, it's live.'
He said 'Is it ******' and grasped it firmly to prove it. Nearly passed out 5 mins later when he realised it was live. It was 2ft long and went straight into the meter, I could see it. That's how I knew.

Jim

 

[GaryinAshby]

I'm R&D Manager for a company that produce cable jointing systems for LV and MV applications. I've seen the arcing that can be present when jointing 230V live (and pickign up load). Not nice. A bit like arc welding but worse, I wouldn't fancy touching that!

Anyway, my ex-wife had her house rewired in 1998 before she moved in by a "contractor" who advertised in the local newspaper. Seemed to do a decent neat job, but I didn't pay a great deal of attention.

She had a problem with one of the outside lights so asked me to have a look. I knocked off the relevant CB & started to remove the light, on doing so the L & N touched & nice big flash. Couldn't understand it. Checked everything & sure enough the live was "live" despite ALL CB's being off. Same for the sockets. And lights.

The "expert" had got the incoming tails switched, so when you knocked off one of the CB's you were actually switching off the neutral.......

 

[Softus]

The "expert" had got the incoming tails switched, so when you knocked off one of the CB's you were actually switching off the neutral.......

Do you consider yourself more of an "expert", given that you didn't test for dead or check the polarity?

 

[GaryinAshby]

Expert? No, more a case of taking things for granted, assuming that others knew what they were doing and generally taking a risk as "its only a two minute job".

Never again. It sometimes takes a near miss to hammer home the fact that you should never assume anything.......

 

[Softus]

Too true. Fair play. I'm glad you survived to tell the tale.

 

[waggonway]

I was doing some tiles for my sister-in-law in her kitchen. Switched off the breaker for the sockets under the cabinets so I could take them off. I tested them with a volt stick, it didn't glow, so I took of the socket cover. I have always used insultated pliers to touch the earth onto the live as an extra precaution, got a huge flash which blinded me for a few seconds. Checked the breaker again, it was off. Had a little check with the rest of the breakers, turns out somebody had replaced the cooker socket with a standard socket!!! And the battery in my volt stick was dud.

 

[Spark123]

Yep, I wouldn't trust something that lights up when you rub it on your jumper to test for dead either, or in your case it wouldn't have lit up!!
Use something a bit better than them such as a voltage indicator and check they are working on a know source before and after you check for dead.

 

[securespark]

iv'e had 33 shocks to date..All of them my fault.


dont touch it, because it hurts , a lot.

I sincerely hope after 33 shocks, you now test for dead in an approved manner & lock off...

 

[namsag]

With spark123 on volt stick mate uses one all time , i held it to a door handle in middle of a wooden door it lit up held it to cable i knew was live, nothing. Told him to Bin it before he killed himself

 

[i_am_fubar]

I always check for dead, then, even after that always brush the BACK of my hand against the wires... I've caught a potentially lethal fault that way before... Remember, if you cant grip it, you wont grip it

 

[Softus]

...always brush the BACK of my hand against the wires... I've caught a potentially lethal fault that way before...

Me too, and I now use a particularly calloused knuckle - highly resistive but still lets through enough to tingle slightly.

 

[holmslaw]

i recently found out, that if you manage to unfortunately end up gripping a live cable it is absolutely impossible to let go because the electricity causes your upper arm muscles to tighten and as they are much stronger than your hand muscles the only solution - apart from turning off the power - is to break every finger or chop your hand off.