I almost died earlier

[manker]

240 volts just sort of tingles slightly

Yeah, but it's enough to take a couple of limp-wristed Texans out.

[Gripper]

Being stuck in a hole with lekky jumping about must make life pretty exciting though,it always pays to check that you've turned off the mains be it water,lekky or gas.
Glad you're ok though.

[Tempestv]

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

very true. my parents electric fence charger runs at 10,000 volts but extremely low amperage, so it hurts like hell, but it wouldn't do any damage

[Proper Bo]

electric fence for the burglars?

[Virtualbody1234]

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.

I agree more with 100% about this.

I have purposely touched 600V - 3 Phase - 800 Amp main supply panel for a school. I'm still alive!

I was working with a master electrician who showed me that it all depends on precisely knowing how you touch it. Knowing how the nerves of your body are made and how the electicity behaves is the trick.

[Tempestv]

electric fence for the burglars?

no- it keeps the cows and the horses where they belong- they don't like 10000 volts any more than the rest of us

[internet.news]

yeah.. I agree with the Immortal Zed too.. it would have rawked if you'd have invented welding.. so sorry you messed up in terms of when you decided to be born.. I do think that all in all when you look at the possible outcomes this is where you lost out the most with regards to this issue

[Busyman]

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!

So you shat yourself then. Good thing washing machine was close by for your underwear.

It's funny that you did that just recently. Wifey was scared I'd shock myself and I was only changing my old analog thermostat to a digital timer one.

[100%]

Your death should be more impressive.
(hence you did not die)

[Jagarga]

the volts jolt, but it's the mills (milliamps) that kills