I almost died earlier

[Skiz]

I was hooking up my girlfriend's dryer, but I had to switch the wall outlet from a non-grounded to a grounded power box. I went and shut off the breaker and removed the old box. I was going to test it out so I turned the breaker back on but then my phone rang. Talked for a minute, then crawled back behind the dryer to make an adjustment. I had thought to my self, "did I turned the breaker on?" but was sure I hadn't since I hadn't tested the dryer yet. I went back to re-securing the ground wire when a hot wire touched the neutral wire and all hell broke loose. (Keep in mine I'm in a crawl space about 2 feet wide and only about 5 feet high - a hole) The instant those wires touched there was a huge explosion of sorts, an extremely bright and blinding light, and sparks were going everywhere and burning me. The closest I could compare this to would be trying to weld something in a small space like that with no mask as that's essentially what I was doing. 220V going to that screwdriver and the tip was what was being welded.

The flash lasted about 1 sec, but the sparks were everywhere for about 5 secs i guess. I was frantically brushing them off me and out of my hair. Again, small crawl space, can't even move back there. All the hair on the side of my hand and arm is burnt off. I went and shut off the breaker and finished the job. Surprisingly it didn't trip it.

The screw that held the neutral wire is now there for life. It was melted down like a big wad of solder and the screwdriver's shaft is all black and the tip is melted with a big notch melted out right in the center of the shaft.

Scared the shit out of me!

[100%]

You wouldn't have died if it had passed through you, although they say it will make you a happier person.
Still it is always freaky when it happens.
If you had done this 100 years ago you would be multimilionaire for inventing welding.

[Skiz]

You wouldn't have died if it had passed through you, although they say it will make you a happier person.
Still it is always freaky when it happens.
If you had done this 100 years ago you would be multimilionaire for inventing welding.

220V is plenty to stop someone's heart.

[Karen DiConcet]

Mes' disappointed.

[100%]

220V is plenty to stop someone's heart.

ok your right, but how come out of the 20 or so hits i have had in my life i never died?
:immortal:

Does it not depend, how the electricity travels, whether your made of metal, standing in a pool of water,etc,
in general if you are standing normally on the ground and touch 220v wires with one hand, youll be ok?

[Skiz]

220V is plenty to stop someone's heart.

ok your right, but how come out of the 20 or so hits i have had in my life i never died?
:immortal:

Does it not depend, how the electricity travels, whether your made of metal, standing in a pool of water,etc,
in general if you are standing normally on the ground and touch 220v wires with one hand, youll be ok?

You haven't been hit by 220V, twenty times I assure you. All other sockets in American homes are 110V. The dryer socket is different though.

Spoiler: Show

I've been shocked several times with 110V plugs as well. While it isn't pleasant, it's not that big of a deal, I agree.

Believe me, there is a HUGE difference in 110V and 220V.

Here are a couple of accounts I found online:

I have been electrocuted many times with 110 ac and even once with 220, knocked me clear across the floor, but I'm still here hello, these are real live people answering your questions. if you want to talk to dead people, try.

I once took about 150V-200V across the chest (each hand on an electrode). I woke up about five minutes later, about four feet back from where it happened, and on my back on the ground... I got right up and the numbness when away after another five minutes and I was fine.

Yes, while taking down a wall with a crowbar,I made contact with a plug that was hidden. Threw me across a room, and for a while I felt strange, my heart was pounding, sweaty, and sort of jittery. Like a big adreneline rush, not fun...p.s. 220 volt.

YES. i was around 12 years old, I was lying in a bed and for some reason the lamp on the ceiling had an external cable which terminated with the light switch right above the bed. It wasnt working, it did not want to turn on, so me, in my infinite wisdom and high intelligence, decided to unscrew the light switch( it was a really old one, so you could unscrew it with hands). Following this, I touched with my index finger some metal plate inside the switch, and I felt the electricity like a wave inside my body, I felt it rising from my stomach upwards, and thankfuly, I disconnected my finger form the metal and sat up in my bed, my hand was in an involuntary fist. It was pretty scary, but it was not painful, just really startling and strange. At the time, I was living in a european country, so the voltage was 220, it could have killed me easily. I guess it was not my time.

I didn't die, but I sure am glad I didn't get hit with that 220V.

If I had a digital camera I'd take a pic of the screwdriver, but all I have is a cell phone cam.

[tesco]

Shitty, that will teach you to be more careful though.

Yesterday I was swapping the common and one of the travellers on a three-way switch because someone ( mixed them up when they installed it.

Because the common was backwards i made a mistake and went and thought i had only the hot wire left to cut so i went to do that carefully when all of a sudden i touched the real hot wire.
was scary cause i couldnt figure out how it happened !

Hurt a little but it was the surprise that hurt the most i think.
Anyway that's tought me to be moer careful.

[100%]

European voltage is ....

[manker]

It's alright, Skizo is being a dumbass. People get hit by lightning (a brazillion volts) and are a bit shaken, but ultimately alive in some cases. It depends on many factors - like if the shock travels thro' the chest or heart and other stuff I can't quite remember

Anyhow, I think it's the amps that do damage, not the volts.

The standard current in the UK is 240 volts. I've got a few shocks before and it hurts a bit, but nothing like as bad as a kick to the bollocks.

[Barbarossa]

240 volts just sort of tingles slightly