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Good job I had my "lucky" old on-one beany hat on and full cycle gear as I twisted the messy live wires of a plugged in and switched on extension cable I was stipping down to shove through a tiny shed hole.
Felt all tingly - but surprisingly very rather "is that it?"
Never done such a daft thing before, but then I did choose my forum name carefully. I had always thought that touching mains had far more severe consequences.
Didn't it just trip the fuse/circuit breaker? Normally what happens when I'm messing with electrics whilst they're still on.
No, circuit breaker did not trip.
It's good for the heart.
5.10's or cleats?
Electricity causes two problems. Burns when the current heats up your flesh, and stopping your heart.
For current to flow in your body, your body's resistance needs to be low. So if your skin is wet then you are in trouble - if it's dry you might fare better. If it's hot weather, you're most likely sweating a bit more so your skin is wetter and has lower resistance.
If the current flows through your chest, then it could stop your heart. Only needs something like 120mA or something which is not much at all - the kind of current that you might use for charging a mobile or iPod or something. It has to flow across your chest tho. If you grab a live and neutral wire in one hand, it'll flow from the live to the neutral through your hand, and not kill you. It may burn your fingers depending on how damp your skin is. If you grab one wire in each hand, the current would flow up one arm, across your chest and down the other - game over (likely).
Incidentally, some people have drier skin than others and are less susceptible to being badly electrocuted IIRC.
Actually there is another way it can kill you - electricity causes muscles to contract so even if the current doesn't flow through your chest it can cause your legs or body to spasm and you fling yourself off a pylon or across a room to smack your head on something.
People survive lightening strikes because they are out in the rain, and the current flows through their wet clothes or over their skin, causing severe burns but not stopping their heart.
So, dry excema hands are helpful after all 😉 I had rubber training shoes on.
Not quite (just in case anyone was thinking of trying it). It will also depend on the voltage to earth which can often be over 100vIf you grab a live and neutral wire in one hand, it'll flow from the live to the neutral through your hand, and not kill you.
yep. That's why it can be a good habit to keep one hand behind you back at critical points when messing with this stuff.If you grab one wire in each hand
Never worked out why sometimes shocks blow you across a room and sometime just tickle. I guess you just got lucky wally
Why didn't you switch it off? FFS 😐
Maybe even a complete rubber suit?
Not quite (just in case anyone was thinking of trying it). It will also depend on the voltage to earth which can often be over 100v
Yes, that's a fair point. But most of us are wearing rubber shoes etc are we not? Barefoot in a puddle you might be in more trouble.
Suggested homework. Go read H&S guidance notes 38 safe isolation.
As far as I know he danger comes not from currents above a minimum threshold but from a very small current that confuses the signals to your heart and sets it out of whack. That's why I wouldn't trust rubber shoes and it may even be safer to strongly earth your arm to control the current but if you're going that far then just switch it off 🙂
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Stand on a newspaper, it'll isolate you.
maybe it's an unlucky hat
if you weren't wearing it, would you have been electrocuted?
leffeboy -
That's why I wouldn't trust rubber shoes
[size=20]exactly[/size]
We've got a nice set of big rubber HV gloves at work for working on iffy stuff. But the safest technique I've found is just make someone else do it instead 🙂
Been zapped a few times using a magnetic screwdriver in the back of a live TV set as an apprentice nearly 30 years ago. Always gave me a strong feeling of going to throw up for a couple of hours afterwards.
My £55 Howies one did the same.
After purchasing it I was too skint to pay the electricity bill and got cut off, thereby negating the chances of electrocution 😉