I almost died earlier

[Skiz]

:fear:


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! :cry:

[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. :eyebrows:

[Karen DiConcet]

Mes' disappointed.

[100%]

220V is plenty to stop someone's heart. :eyebrows:

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. :eyebrows:

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.

http://www.hardwarestore.com/media/product/154161_front500.jpg

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. :unsure:

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

[tesco]

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

Yesterday I was swapping the common and one of the travellers on a three-way switch because someone (:whistling:) 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 :cry:!

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 :ermm:

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 :smilie4:

[manker]

240 volts just sort of tingles slightly :smilie4:
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? :smilie4:

[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.

http://www.hardwarestore.com/media/product/154161_front500.jpg

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? :smilie4:

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]

:fear:


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! :cry:

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.:dry:

[100%]

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

[Jagarga]

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

[frazer]

or did he :bag:

[tesco]

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

It doesn't matter how many amps the panel is because it won't affect how many will go through you the second it touches you... (takes a second to trip).
But did you actually touch both 347volt phases or just 1 of them (a 600volt service is 2 347volt phases right?)


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.
Don't kow if you know the answer to this but i'm sure someone does...

In US/canadia our power has 2 120volt phases and a neutral wire. Our outlets each have 1 120volt phase at them and a neutral, meaning plugs are 120volt.
At dryer and stove plugs and in air conditioners and baseboard heaters, the 2 120volt phases are brought together (without neutral) to make 240volt (still have the neutral there in stove and dryer for lights/electronics but that's besides the point).

So how does that work in england then? Are there 2 120volt wires at every plug or just a 240volt and a neutral?:huh:
And do you also have 480volt for stoves,etc. or everything jst uses the 240 or what?:huh:

[manker]

Duno, mate. Ask me one on sport.

Btw, the 'view first unread' link on threads doesn't work properly. Could you please fix it?

[tesco]

Btw, the 'view first unread' link on threads doesn't work properly. Could you please fix it?
Only if you can find the answer to my question. :sneaky:

[CrabGirl]

Type G (British 3-pin)

BS 1363 (British 13 A/250 V earthed and fused)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/86/G_plug.png/150px-G_plug.png

The BS 1363 plug[8], commonly known as a "13-amp plug", is a large plug that has three rectangular prongs forming a triangle. Live and neutral are 4 × 6 × 18 mm spaced 22 mm apart. 9 mm of insulation over the base of the pins prevents people from touching a bare connector while the plug is partly inserted. Earth is 4 × 8 × 23 mm.

The earth pin is required to open shutters over the live and neutral pins on most sockets to prevent children from inserting metal objects into them, and also prevents the use of plugs made to other standards. On plugs for Class II appliances that do not require an earth, the pin is often plastic.

The plug is unusual in that it has a fuse inside rather than relying on a circuit breaker in the distribution panel for protection. The fuse is required to protect the flex, as British wiring standards allow very high-current circuits to the socket. Accepted practice is to choose the smallest standard fuse (3 A, 5 A, or 13 A) that will allow the appliance to function. Using a 13 A fuse on an appliance with thin flex is considered bad practice.

BS 1363 was published in 1962 and since that time it has gradually replaced the earlier standard (type D) (BS 546). Despite being capable of carrying a maximum load of 13 A, it is considered a very safe system.

[manker]

Btw, the 'view first unread' link on threads doesn't work properly. Could you please fix it?
Only if you can find the answer to my question. :sneaky:
I did but posted under my CrabGirl ID.

Hope it still counts.

[tesco]

Didn't really answer my question but brought up a new question.
Does british electrical have electrical panels for turning off seperate circuits and proptecting to, say, 15 amps on each circuit...or is all your electrical just one big circuit with 1 mains switch then each plug you plug in has a fuse. :huh:

[tesco]

view first unread seems to work for me...

[CrabGirl]

We have one main fuse box, possibly with several circuits for each house. nowadays with circuit breakers on each. Used to be just fusewire on each circuit but thats a pain when a circuit blows. Each electrical item has a fuse in the plug, but the plug sockets are not fused (to my limited knowledge)- unless its an extension plugged into a main socket, then it is fused.

Can an electrician please tell me if I'm right?

[Proper Bo]

view first unread seems to work for me...

I've never used it, a link to the lounge seems to have magiced it's way onto my toolbar in opera, so I use that instead:unsure:

[manker]

view first unread seems to work for me...If you'd clicked it before you'd read this post, it wouldn't have brought you to it.

:ermm:

Umm.


It''s kinda difficult to explain.


In the morning, I can click it in the 20p thread and it will take me to the right place. However, after people post in it, the view first unread button takes me to the same place all day (the first unread post it took me to initially).


Edit: It worked perfectly like a week ago - and for ages previous to that, so see what altered, maybe?

Edit2: I bet RealitY broke it :dry:

[Virtualbody1234]

It doesn't matter how many amps the panel is because it won't affect how many will go through you the second it touches you... (takes a second to trip).
But did you actually touch both 347volt phases or just 1 of them (a 600volt service is 2 347volt phases right?)



It doesn't "trip" at all. They were fused at 800A so a load that would exceed that would "break" the circuit. I can assure you that my touching it didn't create enough of a load to "trip" anything. :lol:

I did touch 2 of the live lines (no neutral) and did so for quite a bit longer than a second. There definitely was power going through me. I could feel it!

[Barbarossa]

It doesn't matter how many amps the panel is because it won't affect how many will go through you the second it touches you... (takes a second to trip).
But did you actually touch both 347volt phases or just 1 of them (a 600volt service is 2 347volt phases right?)


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.
Don't kow if you know the answer to this but i'm sure someone does...

In US/canadia our power has 2 120volt phases and a neutral wire. Our outlets each have 1 120volt phase at them and a neutral, meaning plugs are 120volt.
At dryer and stove plugs and in air conditioners and baseboard heaters, the 2 120volt phases are brought together (without neutral) to make 240volt (still have the neutral there in stove and dryer for lights/electronics but that's besides the point).

So how does that work in england then? Are there 2 120volt wires at every plug or just a 240volt and a neutral?:huh:
And do you also have 480volt for stoves,etc. or everything jst uses the 240 or what?:huh:

As far as I know everything is 240 Volts. :unsure:

You usually have different circuits for the cooker, any immersion heater, the lighting, and the sockets. Sometimes, there are different circuits for upstairs and downstairs lights, and more than one ring main circuit (sockets).

These are all fused at what's called a "consumer unit". (fusebox!) Modern ones use micro-circuit breakers instead of fuses. Cooker circuit has a 30 amp fuse. Immersion heater circuit has a 15 amp fuse. Lighting circuits have a 5 amp fuse. Ring main circuits have a 30 amp fuse I think? :unsure:

[Jagarga]

my house is a cunt, when a light bulb blows so do the rest of the lights in the upper east wing.

[Barbarossa]

That must be a fairly frequent occurrence too, with there being about 60 bulbs on each chandelier :blink:

[Jagarga]

bulbs on a chandelier? are you having a laugh, only tinkers have bulbs, crystal biatch.