Whats Your Worst Shock Ever?

SonoranShocker

Sorry guys, I'm bored. I am still stuck working in an office 4 days a week until my business kicks off, so I have a lot of time on my hands...

So back when I was a young apprentice, I was doing track homes in central cali for a med sized company. My j-man had just taught me how to do my first panel a week prior, so I was excited to do another on the day in question. To go a little further, he let me do the panel and the AC disconnect.

So I am doing the panel, its the hottest part of summer, and I am sweating my 's off. I get done with the panel about the same time the carpet guys show up. Everything inside is complete except the panel and AC, but we havent hot-checked the house yet. Anyways, I turn on only the washer recept for contractor power, and I return to my truck to grab a disconnect from the truck. I go to the side of the house, put down my materials and grab my large wire cutters to cut the 6/3 that is stubbed out of the wall. I see a large white flash and the next thing I know my j-man's above me slapping me in the face to wake me up. I immediately get up (well sort of, more like stumble-crawled) and go to the panel to see that everything in the panel is turned on!

At this point im pretty pissed, (btw I wasnt a large guy by any means. I think I weighed about 145 soaken wet, and was about 5'8") so I storm into the house screaming "who in the F*!# turned on all of the breakers?!". The foreman of the carpeteers stands up and is a 6'5" 280lb corn-fed guy that slightly resembles the black guy from the green mile. (I once watched him pick up a new roll of carpet and put it into his truck, to give you an idea of his size...) So in my little tantrum I get nose to nose with him...well nose to sternum anyway, and start chewing his ass about turning on breakers without checking the house or asking permission first using lets just say language that would make a sailor blush. I do remember distinctly that there was a voice in the back of my head saying..."um dude? what the hell are you doing?" Luckily he was cool about the whole thing, and offered to drive me to the ER if I needed it. I settled with going out to his truck and having a beer instead. The whole time I was shaking like a leaf, but to this day Im not sure if it was the shock, or the fact that I just escaped a royal ass kicking....

Hope you enjoyed this, and please share your experiences...

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woodmagman

What is my worst shock ever…can’t say I really remember, but I know a electrician that was directing a sail boat into a cottage driveway with the metal mast up and when he leaned on the boat to release the hitch from the trailer, the current was so great coming from the overhead wire that was just touching the mast, it blew his arms off at the shoulders…..does that count?

mickeyco

Old girlfriend tells me she's pregnant, turns out she was just late.











Reverse polarity dishwasher, while laying in a puddle of water from the drain, it hurt, really badly.



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Some people climb mountains. I take out the trash. But we both do it for the same reason.

220/221

Ahh...carpet guys. I was only a few weeks into the trade, trimming out a brand new house. I puled some wires out of a JB, stripped them and got stung. WTF?

The carpet guys had put jumpers in the empty, glassed over meter socket.


Ahh...sailboats. One of our reidential customers lost their young daughter in a sailboat incident.

There was a high voltage power line running over part of a lake here in AZ. The lake (resivouir actually) had been modified/expanded recently and as the water line moved up, the power lines became closer to the water. The mast came in contact and disaster struck. Nery sad.


Personally, the one that hurt the most was from a 12K volt neon transformer. Momentary but painful.

Second was the first and only time I felt 277V and I got it twice in the same JB. Cramped quarters above a grid in the dark. Made me cuss.

What should have been my worst didn't actually hurt. I was doing a resi overhead service change and POCO wasn't there to disconnect. I had done my own (illegal) disconnect/reconnects probably a hundred times in the past so I figured I would just proceed with the job.

Normally the transformers are mounted well above the secondary service drops. This was the one out a million that was mounted below th 7K volt primary.

I cut and taped the triplex, and held the metal attachment device in my hand as I climbed down the ladder. I was just about to lay the end of the drop on the ground when the bare grounded conductor came into contact with the fuse link on top of the pole mounted transformer.

I had a very light grip at ths point and was bent over, a half second sway from release when a huge green flash and that very distinctive pop came from above. The hair on my nech stood straight up and I felt the buszz thru my entire body. I was literally a second away from electrocution.

The grounding/bonding helped me out but the fact that I was just releasing it was the reason I am here today.

Yeah...it was stupid.....beyond stupid. I finished my job, pulled the drop back into place and called the POCO. The place was crawling with suits from the power company and I took my share of admonishment that day and, occaisionally, to this day when I run into someone who was involved.

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Just because it's within code doesn't make it safe.

Just because it's against code doesn't make it unsafe.

threaderman

1]Recently did a gas pressure test,when I put my air chuck to the gauge ,which was attached to 1-1/4" black-iron,I got a helluva zap.Had it bein raining it would have bein lights out for good I believe.
2]Trimming out a sink,bare wires coming out of wall,I'm on my back sweating like a pig and my cheek touched a wire.Zapped in the face,what a bummer.
3]Daily storm in clearwater fl,I pull up to a gate and punch in the code to enter,lightening strikes 100 ft away at the same time I'm punching in the code and went through the key pad somehow and got me good.Walked off that job till the next day.I was in my van,luckily..
4]Vegas remodel,breaker box locked,240v wires disconnected from the elec. htr. but very close to the work in tight quarters.Pouring sweat and inadvertantly bumped the wires with my arm,what a jolt.

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Joe ---International Code Council Member

Your plumbing & gas specialist proudly serving Oklahoma City OK, Moore, Warr-acres, Norman, Midwest City, Edmond, Bethany, Forest Park

SonoranShocker

Youch to all...220 You are friggin lucky you survived! So now if any one from the POCO here ever talks about that I can say hey I know him!...lol


Real quick 220, do you charge a special attic access fee in the summer? i know a company in central cali i worked for would charge in the summer, and I figure as hot as it gets here, it would be beneficial...What do you think?

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Friendship is like peeing on yourself: everyone can see it, but only you get the warm feeling that it brings

Celtic

Induced voltage from a 25kv catenary ; about 20 - 30' above grade.

I'm lucky to be here in more ways than one.

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MALCO.New.York

Please tell me the name of the Lake. There was a Lake with a new Dam that was growing day-by-day when I left in 1994 and I can not remember the name.

I am thinking Roosevelt or is it Saguaro?


My worst shock came from my pool filter Power Switch. Your typical Intermatic rotary timer box that had no "paper" shield over the connections which are directly below the dial and switch. Imagine that at 8 years old dripping wet from swimming!!!!

One of these!


http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA280_.gif

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Something to One may be Nothing to another!

Ultimate Wisdom---------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW-cnizLDEE

woodchuck2

Hmmm, many moons ago when working for another electrician i had to redrill a hole on the floor of a room for a circuit. The boss had already drilled the hole the wrong size and i had taken a recepticle apart to jump power from. He meanwhile was waiting in the basement for me to push the wire down through. I reached over to the opened "still live" rec. "didnt want to waste time getting a lead cord from the truck" and plugged the drill into it. Problem was one of my fingers slipped over to the line side and i couldnt let go. I hung on until the 20 amp circuit breaker tripped. My boss was like, whats going on up there? Why did the breaker trip? Needless to say no more short cuts!!! I felt like crap for a good half hour.

jazzbone

I was checking out some pool lights one day and was in a concrete deck j box and of course the concrete was wet anyway it was a 3 phase system the circuit i was working on was off yes but the other 2 were on and when i took the neutrals apart I ended up about 5 feet away from where I was working with welded pliers another 5 feet away ha good times

Magnettica

Hungover hanging a ceiling-mounted exit/ emergency light at 277 volts. Wired it like a knucklehead by making the connections in the metal supply box first, then making an additional hookup within the fixture, and all the while I was balancing myself by holding onto the metal box. Boom!! Threw me off the ladder about 8' and I went crashing in to a cubicle divider. That was my worst ever. I had about 3 years in the trade at the time.

Forry

I was 8 and thought I'd plug a single Christmas light bulb (you know, the little ones with two wires poking out) into an outlet. White flash and I was against the opposite wall. Don't remember it hurting, but scared me good.

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now i am scared for my future
i've got all ten
smashed a lot of them stupidly before
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Bubbles

This will be hard to believe...but...i've been zapped by 120, 240, 277, but the worst I got was I was down in a trench in a puddle , barefoot , and I reached down and grabbed a damn 16V Phone line. I swear. couldnt believe it shocked the **** out of me. Everyone was laughing there ass off and didnt' believe me. Figure that one out you formula nerds O resistance and 16 V . Maybe I was hallucinating though

MALCO.New.York

Phone is typically 48vdc and 90vac "superimposed" whence ringing. Was this a "System"?

__________________
Something to One may be Nothing to another!

Ultimate Wisdom---------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW-cnizLDEE

Magnettica

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1-8kKtCGrA

MALCO.New.York

That first part had BETTER have ended in a Lawsuit!

__________________
Something to One may be Nothing to another!

Ultimate Wisdom---------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW-cnizLDEE

MSSI

480 line to line on the palm of my hand..It was on the lugs of a control panels main disconnectd. I dont know how I wasnt grounded but I was lucky it just blew a nickle size hole in my hand.

Or

This is a wierd one..I GOT IT IN THE MOUTH ONCE. I Was doing an install in Singapore. While tying in 100V 50hz control bundles I USED TO size up the length trim the wire and kind of hold it in my mouth while I pulled the wire # marker of the trimmed piece to reapply. (now you see where im going with this) any way i asked one of the natives to make sure the disconnect was off for me before I started this. After I got plowed in the mouth. I said what the I thought you said the disconnect was off.. He said YES its off while making an upward motion with his hand..Apperently UP is OFF over there or at least to him it was.
Ever wonder what the difference between 50hz and 60hz is? well let me tell ya, you can feel every pulse very distinctly...

TrblShooter

Hmm where do I start? lol

1st off imo any shock from a neutral hurts more. I think because you least expect it (usually)lmao

While removing a ceiling tile in a hospital..here comes an unboxed, non wire nutted M'c cable splice...277v Right to the Forehead...yeah I was holding the grid in my other hand.

In PA we always do POCO connections...in Philly a lot are in basements in steel boxes...anyhow while stripping the wires and showing an apprentice...I tell her..Yes I am hot right now, but as long as I do not touch anything other then one wire at a time..Im ok"...She didn't believe me and after (what I thought) to be a very informative conversation where maybe, just maybe I was able to teach someone something...she touched my elbox with a lead from her volt-con....the other lead was on the steel box.
After a lot of ranting and raving and threats...she sheepishly said..I'm sorry, I just wanted to "test" you to see if you were joking


The worse one I remember was while working on a simple 110volt closet light door switch. I was still kindof green but "Knew enough" lol...Guess I didnt know with the door open the switch is ON huh...that one hurt

TrblShooter

Ummm why?
Do what you're told by law enforcement and you wont ever have to worry about that happening lol

Celtic

+ YouTube Video

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