I almost blew up today.

I was workin' with 277 volts rather than the more frequent 120 volts, just puttin' up a fixture.

Somewhere in between yesterday and today I managed to lose my "ticker", it's a little voltage detector that beeps loud when you put it to live voltage. Well, I wasn't sure whether or not the circuit I was workin' on was hot. I had seen someone touch the hot (black wire), to the neutral (white) as means to see if it was hot.

Looking back, they were testing between low voltage...but I wasn't thinking that hard about it so I carefully stripped back the sheathing on both, flipped the switch on, then touched them together. What I was looking for was an arc, when the electricity jumps from one wire to the other. Well, it didn't so much arc as it did explode in my face.

There was a loud CRACK! And a blinding flash. I tripped one of the main breakers. Fortunately, I did not get hit with anything but a "welder's flash". I've heard about people getting hit with 277, and it if doesn't kill you, it'll at least knock you out, and I was up on a ladder.

Made me worry a little about my lack of insurance.

f-ck that sounds dodgy.

holy shit frizzzzzz be careful!!!

you need insurance. if something were to happen to you at work you would be F%U*C~KED.

yes especially because the US medical system is so DRACONIAN. I kid, I kid, I kid.

this is no joke. people here are going to mexico for medical and dental care.

i don't have health insurace either.

F that...I would quit that job yesterday! I'm petrified of electricity.

I had a job at pet er clinic and one of my jobs was to fill the smaller oxygen tank with oxygen for the patients. Well the tanks haven't passed inspection for a while and THEY wanted me to fill them up but they were too afraid to do it themselves. I tried but was ALWAYS nervous. I dropped it once by accident and it really messed me up psychologically. I heard it can go through concrete. Anyways, a patient really needed it done one night and I'm alone and attempted but failed to work the tank correctly to administer it to patient. I called supervisor and said that unless she comes and do it herself a patient is going to die! Pissed my off that they wanted me to sacrifice my life or health or whatever for their f*ed up tanks. I heard people lost their limbs and life messing with poorly made tanks. I later quit after getting injured doing something else...but I really left job b/c it was temp until I got to grad school.

Sorry for the digression, I'm so glad you are okay. It takes courage to work with electricity. I have story about two guys shocking themselves. One immediately got burned in fingers and the other fired their insides.:surprised

i would have a tight butthole all the time if i did either of those jobs!

It's good this happened the way it did. Hopefully now you're scared shitless of electricity and you'll treat it with absurd amounts of respect here on out.

Had some annoying encounters with electricity while monitoring an electric fence designed to protect villages from elephants.

They were weaker than intended , around 4000 volts, got shocked twice while walking alongside it with wires mixing with the vegetation but basically it's like having someone hit you moderately with a bat, the first time I thought some large twig had fallen down on me after the initial touch so I didnt avoid it until it happened again two seconds later.

But the worst was when we had crawled under a fence to avoid what we suspected to be a lone elephant up ahead, and when getting back to the other side we used one of the fence posts to balance and jump across. It was slippery, and if I wouldn't have made it, well, I'd be lying on the ground with 5 of the wires touching me simultaneously. Zap zap.

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Originally Posted by Gribble [Dear Guest/Member you have to reply to see the link.click here to register]

It's good this happened the way it did. Hopefully now you're scared shitless of electricity and you'll treat it with absurd amounts of respect here on out.

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Scared shitless?

Nah, working on hot wires is nothing new, but 277 is.

I'll just be more careful.

Man Fras be careful and take all the precautions you can. Is there anything else you can be doing within some amount of reason to protect yourself?

Don't you work with rubber gloves to insulate the voltage?

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Originally Posted by Lipp [Dear Guest/Member you have to reply to see the link.click here to register]

Had some annoying encounters with electricity while monitoring an electric fence designed to protect villages from elephants.

They were weaker than intended , around 4000 volts, got shocked twice while walking alongside it with wires mixing with the vegetation but basically it's like having someone hit you moderately with a bat, the first time I thought some large twig had fallen down on me after the initial touch so I didnt avoid it until it happened again two seconds later.

But the worst was when we had crawled under a fence to avoid what we suspected to be a lone elephant up ahead, and when getting back to the other side we used one of the fence posts to balance and jump across. It was slippery, and if I wouldn't have made it, well, I'd be lying on the ground with 5 of the wires touching me simultaneously. Zap zap.

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Wow, very interesting story. Kind of scary and excitiing at the same time....a story to tell the grandkids, hehe.

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Originally Posted by lesa [Dear Guest/Member you have to reply to see the link.click here to register]

Wow, very interesting story. Kind of scary and excitiing at the same time....

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I think you have managed to arouse lesa, Lipp. I am jealous

I can't believe your employer doesn't provide insurance, Frasbee.

That's a weird fixture, Fras. Why isn't the voltage a multiple of 110/120?

Amps is what kills you, tho you know this. That's why Lipps comment about 4000V isn't necessarily a big deal. Its the current that matters. 100mA will kill you dead.

We had our electrical service upgraded to 200 A. The hydro guy that came to restart our service somehow connected across the main power line at the pole (20000V or so). I was outside watching him work from the cherry picker. Damn huge flash & a good puff of smoke, it was impressive. Dude was well insulated, so he was okay, but he got a good scare (his buddy too).

I have installed new electrical outlets in our house (only a couple) & I am *very* careful. That is the extent of my forays into the scary world of electricity, tho. Anything more & we call an electrician.

Things like that make you think about life and how much of it is left

I'm sorry but you're a dumbass.

As someone who gets paid to work with electricity you should have known better. Even if it was standard 110V you shouldn't have done that. Not only the fact that you can electrocute yourself but you can start fires. You get hurt half assing stuff by not using the right tools.

You really need yourself some insurance or to get a new job with insurance. Isn't this the second close call of you almost getting pretty badly injured? Also Indireloaded is right about the voltage and amperage. You can have a 50,000V taser shock the shit out of you, and you'll live. The reason is the amperage is what kills you.

Glad you're ok though.
Talk about a V8 moment.

When I was a kid my dad decided to alter the electricity meter because he's a thief and an asshole. Anyway, apparently there's quite a bit of power running through those things. He handed me a 2X4 and told me to hit him if he started getting electrocuted.

What a lovely childhood I had. I should have taken a swing at him for the hell of it now that I think about it.

Let me just say that it's different when you're actually doing this day in day out.

I'm sure the majority of you would pause a second if I asked you to pull out a live receptacle or switch while it was still hot. I do this almost every day multiple times a day. Though I've not frequented with voltage this high. And trust me when I say the amps are high, this is commercial work, not residential.

Lilwing: They have rubber gloves like that for working with HIGH voltage shit, like inside the panels with "500" wire. That's wire at least an inch in diameter, heavy shit. Trying to use those hefty gloves on 12 gauge wire is barely possible.

Ok, if the stuff we mentioned already was enough motivation maybe this will be.

You're not putting yourself just yourself at risk. Think about what Ames is going to have to go through if you seriously injure or kill yourself? What if you get seriously injured and you need to see a doctor or have some expensive procedure? How are you going to pay for something like that? Not only is it going to be a financial burden on yourself if you pay out of pocket, but Ames as well if she decides to stay with you through this.

I'm sorry but it's time to move on from this job and find some healthcare. Your health is not worth the amount of money you're making, that is if it's even decent money. At the very least work at a grocery store part time just for the insurance benefits.

Fras, call me naive, but why are you having to deal with live circuits? Don't you shut the power off when you are working with stuff this hot?

The young apprentice of our electrician was telling me stories about working up north on the big power transformer rigs they got up there. Tens of thousands of volts. The sort that hum when you walk under them. Said that guys die from stupid shit, but that more often than not its b/c someone else you depend on has f-cked up somehow.

As for risk. Lots of jobs have risk. I worked with radioactivity every day for several years. Enough that if I screwed up & ingested any by mistake I would have been very, very sick. One just has to know the rules and be absolutely diligent about them. Never, ever cut corners or be in a hurry. Just not worth it.

Oh and check this out. I found this very interesting:

[ame="http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=gdWGuVXlPgs&feature=related"]YouTube - Helicopter High Voltage Powerline Worker[/ame]

Aww those helicopter power line workers. That is very cool how they do that stuff.

They basically fly up in a helicopter and since the helicopter isn't grounded they need to equalize the charge differences between the helicopter and the power lines (don't know the exact terms). So basically they use a metal rod attached to the helicopter and bring it to the wires, you get a crazy arc and it eventually equalizes it out so that you can touch the wires without killing yourself. Also they wear some special suit that is like a metal woven or something that creates like a barrier.

I don't know how exactly it works. I saw it on Discovery HD a show about helicopters. It was very interesting.

True, I only knew that we were measuring the lines based on their voltage to detect where it seeped into the ground or was weakening for some other reasons (damn inquisitive elephants drop twigs on it), so no idea what the ampere would be. All I know is that from getting hit twice before I certainly wouldn't want it to happen with multiple lines and lying on the ground, probably would take 6-7 seconds to get up and away.

And the helicopter-carried repairs sure are cool, has to take a lot of concentration to maintain a hover and compensate for the gusts of wind up where the tree line wont cover as much.

If your boots are properly insulated, and nothing you're touching is grounded, yes you can hold a hot wire without feeling so much as a tingle. Electricity just wants a path to the ground.

ahhh...welder's flash... i get that on a weekly basis. lucky me.

raverboy

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Originally Posted by Illusional [Dear Guest/Member you have to reply to see the link.click here to register]

ahhh...welder's flash... i get that on a weekly basis. lucky me.

raverboy

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From welding or being under the influence?


Or both?

from welding actually... when i'm intoxicated... i have a harder time seeing clearly. damn beer goggles.

raverboy

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Originally Posted by IndiReloaded [Dear Guest/Member you have to reply to see the link.click here to register]

As for risk. Lots of jobs have risk. I worked with radioactivity every day for several years. Enough that if I screwed up & ingested any by mistake I would have been very, very sick. One just has to know the rules and be absolutely diligent about them. Never, ever cut corners or be in a hurry. Just not worth it.

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Indeed :( I should be a mad scientist superhero with all the radiation and radioactive material I've been exposed to. :(

Any why did the Russian postdoc not tell me where the stuff were located so that I can avoid them. Oh, that's right...no need for them because they are immune. :upset: jk

Lesa, if you haven't yet & you ever get the chance, do visit a nuclear reactor. Its impressive getting to see the water tanks actually glowing blue from the radiation. I was actually lucky to see one before it went online so got to look right inside the colandria (before the fuel bundles went in, of course).