# My first electrical shock - MAN, am I dumb.



## Leah Frances

No burns, no harm, no foul? While trying to force a rec box back into its opening I touched the contacts of the single pole switch. 

ZZZZZZZZap. 

Tonight I am forcing myself to write on the whiteboard fifty times:
DO NOT DO *ANY *WORK ON ENERGIZED CIRCUITS


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## jbfan

Did you forget to put the note up in front of the panel?

Glad to hear you are ok.


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## nap

did you just add your sig line or was it a prophetic statement from before?


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## Leah Frances

Sig line's been there for months - since the last time I did something stupid.

I DO have my panel box tagged out. I even cut the power when I drilled a hole in wall that I thought some wires might run through (and they did). 

Low blood sugar moment? I need some excuse.


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## mwpiper

Repetition can do that too. I was doing dielectric test on a series of big line capacitors. Like 24" long by 12" high and rated at 1,200 V. Megger tested with 500 V. The process was a) remove bus bars, b) test capacitor, c) discharge 500 V charge with a resistor, d) reinstall bus bars.

a, b, c, d
a, b, c, d
.
.
.
a, b, c, d
a, b, d

All I remember is that one moment I was hunched over inside the big piece of equipment getting ready to re-install the bus bar, the next thing I knew I was halfway across the factory going, "What happened?" There was no passage of time between those two points. It definitely got my attention.


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## Joe F

Experience is a tough teacher, you get the test first, then the lesson. 
Glad you're OK.


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## DangerMouse

mwpiper said:


> c) discharge 500 V charge with a resistor


yup, i think c) would be a REAL important thing to not forget! *yeowch*
glad yer still with us!

DM


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## DUDE!

not to encourage you, but I've seen and done myself, run electrical tape around the recepticle before placeing in the box, of course turning off the power first is best.


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## Leah Frances

I've been on the fence about wrapping contacts on recs and switches with electrical tape. I have been known to use it if I was really cramming things in a gang box to make sure nothing shorted side to side. But I don't do it as a rule with a singleton because, well, I HATE it when I open up an old box with a switch wrapped in some gummy tape.

I WILL NOT WORK ON ENERGIZED CIRCUITS...
I WILL NOT WORK ON ENERGIZED CIRCUITS...
I WILL NOT WORK ON ENERGIZED CIRCUITS...
I WILL NOT WORK ON ENERGIZED CIRCUITS...
I WILL NOT WORK ON ENERGIZED CIRCUITS...
I WILL NOT WORK ON ENERGIZED CIRCUITS...
I WILL NOT WORK ON ENERGIZED CIRCUITS...
I WILL NOT WORK ON ENERGIZED CIRCUITS...


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## Ultrarunner2017

I have been wrapping all receptacles and switches with tape since forever. I am always leary of the screws holding the recep into the box coming loose. Of course using non-metallic boxes would solve that problem, but not the problem of a misplaced finger.

BTW, how do you "tag out" a residential panel? Do you mean just placing a note on the panel, or a piece of tape over the breaker or what?
I know these cannot be locked out.

FW


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## md2lgyk

My goodness, I got my first shock when I was maybe 12 years old (and many more in the intervening 50 years). 

I see you are in Easton. So was I until recently. I still own my house there.


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## Ultrarunner2017

I've gotten amazingly few shocks, considering my history of working and playing with electricity.
I am 53 years old and can probably haven't received more than a dozen shocks, most of them on the light side.

The worst ones we used to get as kids were from a defective refrigerator, right across the chest when we touched a steam pipe at the same time as the fridge handle.
Not knowing anything about electricity, my parents didn't realize there was anything wrong with the fridge, so they just taped the handle with electrical tape.

This was no leakage current. It was the full 115V. I recall once having to push a friend off when she got hung. We were very lucky no one was seriously hurt or died!

If there had been GFCI in those days, none of that would have happened. We would have understood that there was a problem because the GFCI would have kept tripping, and called an electrician, who would have told us to get a new refrigerator.
I guess my mom or dad should have called an electrician anyway.

We learn from our mistakes, as long as our mistakes don't kill us!

FW


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## md2lgyk

It's actually been quite a while since my last shocking experience (well, with electricity anyway). I've been doing everything from electronics to house wiring since I was a kid so I guess I'm getting better at working hot.

The worst shock I ever got was when I was in the Navy. While troubleshooting a transmitter problem I got my hand across 2300 volts. Made a nice little hole going in and going out.


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## drtbk4ever

I learned to be scared of electricity as a kid. I got my first shock when I was plugging in something and the prongs were bent. So I took my finger and squeezed the prongs to fit in the outlet and inserted the plug. Zzzaaapp! I remember that lesson everytime I plug something into an outlet.


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## cabinetman

I've welded screw drivers to panels, got zapped by 110V, 220V and 3PH. The worst shock I ever got was when I was a kid and got the juice off a running lawnmower from the little shutoff lever to the sparkplug. Oh wait, there was a time I got whammed by a coil wire off my car, and an AC capacitor. I guess it's a toss up. My arm is just tingling thinking about it.


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## KHouse75

I'd get shocked all the time when I was a kid.

Got indirectly struck by lightning when I was 17. That was the worst. Traveled up through the aluminum siding and windows while I was watching a storm. Had 5 star shaped marks on my forearm where the electricity existed into the sill. Kept waking up in the middle of the night with my hand cramped up into a fist.

Shocked the crap out of myself a few days ago on my tile cutter. I'm not sure why it was energized but later found the ground prong was missing from one of the extension cords.

When I fall asleep driving and my head tilts forward, I get a nerve shock up my side and back that wakes me up. First time it happened, I thought I got struck by lightning again! I don't think that one counts though  I'm glad I don't make those 14 hour drives up and down the coast anymore.


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## Ultrarunner2017

KHouse75 said:


> Shocked the crap out of myself a few days ago on my tile cutter. I'm not sure why it was energized but later found the ground prong was missing from one of the extension cords.


Even without the ground, the equipment should never become energized.
You need to take a good look at it, and perhaps it's time for a new one.
Also, plugging into a GFCI would be a good choice.

FW


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## thehandyhusband

I guess I was fortunate to grab ahold of an electric fence as I was climbing over it when I was a kid growing up on a Minnesota farm. My arm tingled for a while but it could have been a lot worse. One of the townies who thought he was smarter than he was peed on one. Some lessons are certainly worth remembering.
Anyway, I've been pretty careful in the intervening 50 years and have only been shocked once when an electrician mismarked the circuit breaker in a brand new condo. I now check the connections and wires with a meter after turning off the breaker to make sure it's really dead. 
I also always wrap the receptacles and switches with tape before putting them into the box. I'm not into pain and I'd rather peel off old electric tape than get zapped. I prefer my tingly feelings to come from love.


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## Leah Frances

My 'tag out' is taped over the door to my breaker box - so you can't open the breaker box without ripping the tape.

It says:
DO NOT OPEN BREAKER BOX OR ATTEMPT TO TURN BREAKER ON OR OFF WITHOUT TALKING TO LEAH - [then it has my cell phone number].

My contractor chuckles every time he walks by it, because he knows it's primarily to keep My *Dear* Brings-Home-The-Paycheck-So-I-Can-Spend-It-Remodeling-Our-House *Husband* from monkeying something up.

I watched a kid get shocked on an electric fence once - it caused his hands to grasp the fence, and it didn't stop shocking him until he passed out, fell over, and ripped out that part of the fence and sparks flew out of his hands. But, I guess DC to a bank of car batteries will do that to ya. (just cause I know someone will ask, it was in Zimbabwe and it was to keep the baboons out of the chicken coop. A farm boy more used to AC cow fencing dared him to grab it.)


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## Yoyizit

Leah Frances said:


> No burns, no harm, no foul? While trying to force a rec box back into its opening I touched the contacts of the single pole switch.
> 
> ZZZZZZZZap.
> 
> Tonight I am forcing myself to write on the whiteboard fifty times:
> DO NOT DO *ANY *WORK ON ENERGIZED CIRCUITS


If the current only went through your fingers not accompanied by a burning smell you're good to go. 

But if this experience causes you to mutate into a superhuman I can always use help fighting the Forces of Evil (I pay minimum wage).


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## Gary_602z

New Burglar System 

We have the standard 6 ft. fence in the backyard, and a few months ago, I heard about burglaries increasing dramatically in the entire city. To make sure this never happened to me, I got an electric fence and ran a single wire along the top of the fence.

Actually, I got the biggest cattle charger Tractor Supply had, made for 26 miles of fence. I then used an 8 ft. long ground rod, and drove it 7.5 feet into the ground. The ground rod is the key, with the more you have in the ground, the better the fence works.

One day I'm mowing the back yard with my cheapo Wal-Mart 6 hp big wheel push mower. The hot wire is broken and laying out in the yard. I knew for a fact that I unplugged the charger. I pushed the mower around the wireand reached down to grab it, to throw it out of the way.

It seems as though I hadn't remembered to unplug it after all.

Now I'm standing there, I've got the running lawnmower in my right hand and the 1.7 giga-volt fence wire in the other hand. Keep in mind the charger is about the size of a marine battery and has a picture of an upside down cow onfire on the cover.

Time stood still.

The first thing I notice is my pecker trying to climb up the front side of my body. My ears curled downwards and I could feel the lawnmower ignition firing in the backside of my brain. Every time that Briggs & Stratton rolled over, I could feel the spark in my head. I was literally at one with the engine.

It seems as though the fence charger and the piece of **** lawnmower were fighting over who would control my electrical impulses.

Science says you cannot crap, pee, and vomit at the same time. I beg to differ. Not only did I do all three at once, but my bowels emptied 3 different times in less than half of a second. It was a Matrix kind of bowel movement, where time is creeping along and you're all leaned back and BAM BAM BAM you just crap your pants 3 times. It seemed like there were minutes in between but in reality it was so close together it was like exhaust pulses from a big block Chevy turning 8 grand.

At this point I'm about 30 minutes (maybe 2 seconds) into holding onto the fence wire. My hand is wrapped around the wire palm down so I can't let go. I grew up on a farm so I know all about electric fences.....but Dad always had those pieces of **** chargers made by International or whoever that were like 9 volts and just kinda tickled. This one I could not let go of. The 8 foot long ground rod is now accepting signals from me through the permadamp Ark-La-Tex river bottom soil. At this point I'm thinking I'm going to have to just man up and take it, until the lawnmower runs out of gas.

'Damn!,' I think, as I remember I just filled the tank!

Now the lawnmower is starting to run rough. It has settled into a loping run pattern as if it had some kind of big lawnmower race cam in it. Covered in poop, pee, and withmy vomit on my chest I think 'Oh God please die... Pleeeeaze die'. But nooooo, it settles into the rough lumpy cam idle nicely and remains there, like a big bore roller cam EFI motor waiting for the go command from its owner's right foot.

So here I am in the middle of July, 104 degrees, 80% humidity, standing in my own backyard, begging God to kill me. God did not take me that day.....he left me there covered in my own fluids to writhe in the misery my own stupidity had created.

I honestly don't know how I got loose from the wire...I woke up laying on the ground hours later. The lawnmower was beside me, out of gas. It was later on in the day and I was sunburned.

There were two large dead grass spots where I had been standing, and then another long skinny dead spot where the wire had laid while I was on the ground still holding on to it. I assume I finally had a seizure and in the resulting thrashing had somehow let go of the wire.

Upon waking from my electrically induced sleep I realized a few things:

1- Three of my teeth seem to have melted.

2- I now have cramps in the bottoms of my feet and my right butt cheek (not the left, just the right).

3- Poop, pee, and vomit when all mixed together, do not smell as bad as you might think.

4- My left eye will not open.

5- My right eye will not close.

6- The lawnmower runs like a sum***** now. Seriously! I think our little session cleared out some carbon fouling or something, because it was better than new after that.

7- My nuts are still smaller than average yet they are almost a foot long.

8- I can turn on the TV in the game room by farting while thinking of the number 4 (still don't understand this???)..

That day changed my life. I now have a new found respect for things.. I appreciate the little things more, and now I always triple check to make sure the fence is unplugged before I mow.

The good news, is that if a burglar does try to come over the fence, I can clearly visualize what my security system will do to him, and THAT gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling all over, which also reminds me to triple check before I mow.


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## Leah Frances

Gary - for your sake I hope your story wasn't entirely true. But, in the case that it was, you brilliantly captured the moments in sparkling and humorous prose that made me laugh out loud. Is that a consolation for foot long balls?


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## Willie T

Just be glad you aren't this guy. Turn your sound on.

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/80647819/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTkkvPk68Lc


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## Yoyizit

Mr. 602z, I look forward to your next post. Something along these lines, I hope
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliad


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## spark plug

*feeling the pain of electrified fence!*

Reading the horror story of the electrified fence and lawn mower, my hands froze on the keyboard and wouldn't let go! I got the chills and felt hot at the same time. I felt my blood get cold (this part really happened to me but not while performing electrical work, but driving a bus). I woke up with my head bowed in front of the screen, hearing the following ominous words. "Go to sleep, it's already Two hours past midnight......zzzzzzzzzzz:yes::no::drink:


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## Gary_602z

Yoyizit said:


> Mr. 602z, I look forward to your next post. Something along these lines, I hope
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliad


Here is one I wrote for my Fathers funeral Wednesday.

Questions Unanswered
By: Gary Studt

Why?
Why now?
Why did you love us so much?


Where?
We know Where you are.
Where will we be in two years or ten or twenty?

What?
What were your eyes telling us?
What could we have done to help you?

Were?
Were you in pain?
Were you aware we loved you so much?

Will?
Was it God’s Will?
Will our pain go away?

When?
When will we see you again?
Did you know When we kissed you?

How?
How did the time pass so fast?​


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## Kap

Willie T said:


> Just be glad you aren't this guy. Turn your sound on.
> 
> http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/80647819/


I seen that happen first hand. Not the Indian guy, but a friend. 

We were working on a metal roof after a hurricane. He pulled a section of eave flashing, stood and turned with it, and the end hit the power lines near the roof.

He managed to take two steps and say "Help me". He was dead before he even hit the deck.


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## nap

Gary_602z said:


> New Burglar System


I do not know how much was literary license and how much was 100% factual but that is the best laugh I have had in quite awhile.

I do hope you have recovered Gary. Unless you do, it couldn't happen again and the the thought of you having another go with the fence and telling us the story just keeps me going. Not like you were going :whistling2: but you know, waking up each day and just keepin' on keepin' on.:thumbsup:


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## Chemist1961

OMG , I think I went through half those symptoms laughing... now I need to rest. Thank You Gary


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## spark plug

*scared of energized circuits*



Leah Frances said:


> No burns, no harm, no foul? While trying to force a rec box back into its opening I touched the contacts of the single pole switch.
> 
> ZZZZZZZZap.
> 
> Tonight I am forcing myself to write on the whiteboard fifty times:
> DO NOT DO *ANY *WORK ON ENERGIZED CIRCUITS


I know some people who call the Power Company to request an OUTAGE before they change a light bulb or ask for a shutdown of an entire block before they will feel secure to replace a switch! :laughing::no::drinkon't Drink and Drive!!!


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## gma2rjc

........ :laughing:


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## Yoyizit

mwpiper said:


> There was no passage of time between those two points.


That's because your brain was in the 'reset' mode during this 1/4th of a second.

"
Post-traumatic amnesia is generally due to a head injury (e.g. a fall, a knock on the head). Traumatic amnesia is often transient, but may be permanent of either anterograde, retrograde, or mixed type. The extent of the period covered by the amnesia is related to the degree of injury and may give an indication of the prognosis for recovery of other functions. Mild trauma, such as a car accident that results in no more than mild whiplash, might cause the occupant of a car to have no memory of the moments just before the accident due to a brief interruption in the short/long-term memory transfer mechanism. The sufferer may also lose knowledge of who people are, they may remember events, but will not remember faces of them
"

Here it is
". . .the current typically rises to a level of about 25 mA where muscular contractions onset. Then the person is either thrown clear of the circuit. . ."
so 500vdc/0.025 = 20,000 ohms skin/body resistance

You're lucky you weren't at 3000 or 300 ohms.


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## gdoucette

Thanks Gary. That story made my day, I haven't laughed like that in a long time.

But back to the topic, we have a family friend who is an electrician who comes over to help me with electric when I'm out of my league. I had a hack job in my kitchen where two switches (less than 18" apart) were running the same fixture, but noe as a 3way. So he pulls off the plates and starts checking the wiring. I say "Should I go throw the breaker?" and so sooner did I say the words ... he accidentally touched a hot wire to the inside of the box ... big white flash ... my wife and I jumped in surprse ... and Raymond turns around, licks his lips and says "mmm.... 120" and goes back to work. Later he told me that he rarely cuts the power in 120v circuits, it's just a waste of time ... 240v on the other hand, that's a different story!


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## canadaclub

Think electrical shock is bad? NEVER touch bare phone wires when a call comes in I used to be a phone tech and let me tell you, the electrical shocks I've gotten in all my years are nuttin compared to that:laughing:


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## nap

canadaclub said:


> Think electrical shock is bad? NEVER touch bare phone wires when a call comes in I used to be a phone tech and let me tell you, the electrical shocks I've gotten in all my years are nuttin compared to that:laughing:


I have a friend that does a lot of phone work and always tells the story about the time he was punching down a bunch of cables. He happened to be leaning on some active wires in a punch down block and about that time a phone call comes in. :yes:


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## lmccluer

I too used to do phone installs. Like you, the worst shock I ever have gotten is when holding on to the wires and a call coming in.

All I know is I was wrapping the green wire around the post and just getting ready to wrap the red, and the next thing I know, I was laying about 10 ft from the box, and had peed my pants, and my right hand was numb.

I received other smaller shocks in the following years, but nothing like that!


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## Red Squirrel

I got my first shock when I was like 10. I was always interested in electricity and would play with batteries and stuff all the time. Then one day I thought to myself it would be cool to use the christmas light bulbs, the C9's to be exact. So I made a socket out of a paper clip (this is where it gets good) and inserted it into the receptacle with the light bulb screwed in. It was basically a loop with an end sticking out. To finish the circuit I'd use a small wire to go into the other hole of the plug and then the end of the bulb, and to my amazement, it lit! So I was playing with stuff like this for a while, then my fingers slipped... youtch! When I got more brave I also got curious what a short circuit was like with 120. That was quite the surprise the first time I did that.

Within weeks I had knex and lego transmission lines going all over the basement with lights and other electrical stuff and if one slightly tipped or fell it would totally short out. My friend's dad was an electrician so we often raided his garage for "cool stuff". We were bad. :laughing:


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## kwikfishron

I got zapped when I was a teen messing around with an old (unplugged) 1000 watt tube linear I had. Threw me back across the BR and left a white callus like dot on my finger that remained there for many months.

My first lesson on capacitors.


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## Red Squirrel

Oh capacitors are fun. Out of bordom once I was playing with a small one with a battery and making it power a small motor for a few turns. Then I thought it would be cool to put it at the wall end of an adapter and send current through the output end to charge it, which essentially stepped it up. Then I put the capacitor at the output end and touched the wall end, it was being stepped up again. WHY I did this I don't know, but I will never do it again.


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