Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Chris Hindle]

My high school electronics teacher who burned that saying into my mind would have said "put your right hand in your pocket then."  I never was convinced that any of it was that effective myself.

Ya, it kinda is.
My Dad taught me that when I was 10 or 11, and showing a habit of digging into things i should probably not be "playing" with.
Reason being if both hands are in the box, there is a very real chance that an "accident" will send the current straight through the chest. (The heart is in the middle, but you already knew that)
With that path removed, best loop is down one side of the body, assuming your feet are closer to a ground potetial.
Not a guarantee, but at least a fighting chance.

Chris. Bit more than once, but still "vertical".

[Speed Daemon]

Ya, it kinda is.
My Dad taught me that when I was 10 or 11, and showing a habit of digging into things i should probably not be "playing" with.
Reason being if both hands are in the box, there is a very real chance that an "accident" will send the current straight through the chest. (The heart is in the middle, but you already knew that)
With that path removed, best loop is down one side of the body, assuming your feet are closer to a ground potetial.
Not a guarantee, but at least a fighting chance.

I guess it's a good simple rule for the novice.  I haven't seen any working electricians do it though.  Didn't give it much thought as most of the things I'd work on could be unplugged (a whole 'nuther protocol for dealing with energized caps) and can't solder one-handed.  Now that I'm old, less bold and have money in the bank, I hire a licensed electrician for anything that involves live wires.  My insurance company prefers it that way too.

[Mike Sokol]

My high school electronics teacher who burned that saying into my mind would have said "put your right hand in your pocket then."  I never was convinced that any of it was that effective myself.

Of course, the idea is that the worst possible type of shock is hand-to-hand since your heart is right in the middle of your body and could go into fibrillation. Most of the time we're pretty well insulated from the ground from our shoes, but that's still no excuse for grabbing onto a live wire with even one hand. However, if you do make momentary contact with one hand there's much less chance of a severe shock and possible electrocution.

Another thing an old electrician once taught me is to brush your knuckles or back of your hand across any wire you're already "sure" is dead. You never put the palm of your hand or fingertips on any "dead" conductor or even a metal ladder. That's because if there's something crazy that  that creates an electrified object, touching it with your fingers will cause your hand to clamp down on it, and you may not be able to let go. The reason for this is that you have more muscles in your hand that make a fist than open it up. So if you brush your knuckles on something "hot" your hand will jump away from it, not clamp down on it. Way safer that way.

[Stephen Swaffer]

I guess it's a good simple rule for the novice.  I haven't seen any working electricians do it though.  Didn't give it much thought as most of the things I'd work on could be unplugged (a whole 'nuther protocol for dealing with energized caps) and can't solder one-handed.  Now that I'm old, less bold and have money in the bank, I hire a licensed electrician for anything that involves live wires.  My insurance company prefers it that way too.

You may not catch me with my hand actually in my pocket-but you will rarely catch me touching a grounded object with my free hand-and not wanting people in my "personal space" while I am working in a panel is not just a quirk-there are very good reaons for it.

For that matter, how often do you actually have to actually place bare skin on something that could be energized?  If you are going to be creative in getting things done (as many people obviously are-for better of for worse), why not be creative in avoiding touch potential hazards?  I may not use OSHA approved insulated gloves if something should be de-energized-but I almost always have a pair of close fitting thin leather drivers gloves at hand.  For power wire sizes-#14 and larger-with practice you can do almost anything with them on that you can bare handed-and less chance of cuts and scrapes as a bonus.

[Stephen Swaffer]

So I just "advanced" the power situation here-same event again this year, different rides and a different location for our church service.  I had reported this problem to the local AHJ-wasn't worried about an immediate resolution, but even after the county fair has used the grounds this year there has been no change to the above listed issue.

In addition, the power for where we are having our service is questionable to say the least.  GFCI receptacles times 2.  One run with a roughly 6 foot pigtail of NM into a PVC outdoor box-strain relief is e-tape to a short piece of PVC conduit.  The other is roughly 6 ft of metal clad stuffed into a blue nail on new construction box with a standard wall plate (both laying on a concrete stage about 3 feet in from the edge of a roof-at best a damp location certainly not dry!).  This is obviously a new install-and should have been inspected.

Do I rock the boat?  I could escalate to the State Fire Marshal as Iowa mandates that if there is no local inspection to at least the minimum the state requires, the state will take over.  There was obviously no valid inspection prior to running carnival rides-part of the state requirement.  On the other hand, I really don't want to create issues and not be allowed to rent the property again.  I'm sure if they refused because we made a valid safety issue we could win a lawsuit-but this is a small town so winning like that may not really be winning-at least not for a church.  I get along pretty well with the inspector-maybe ask him if he is waiting for a fatality before taking action?  Or just let it go and mind my own business?

[Lyle Williams]

Can you present the owner with details/costs to make the facility code compliant?

[TJ (Tom) Cornish]

Can you present the owner with details/costs to make the facility code compliant?

Maybe a business opportunity for you Steve?  "You know, this thing really is dangerous. There was a recent accident at the Kansas fair where a kid died. I would really feel terrible if that happened here. I could fix this for $xxx."  I agree that being a jerk isn't a good long-term strategy in a small town where everybody knows everybody.  Maybe telling the story of the fair accident in Kansas would bring some good from that tragedy and prevent it from happening in your town.

http://forums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/topic,163830.0.html

[Cailen Waddell]

Generator = problem solved.  At some point you just have to limit your liability.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Lyle Williams]

Can you present the owner with details/costs to make the facility code compliant?

... not just as a business opportunity.  I know that managers hate having staff walk in with unanalysed problems.  Staff should bring problems to managers with potential solutions listed.

[Brian Jojade]

The receptacle you can see is a 15A version. ASSuming that the breaker protecting it (is actually there, of course) is a 20A breaker, a user could pull enough through the receptacle to destroy it/start a fire, prior to that breaker tripping. (The reason that you can use 15A outlets in a house, for example, is because it's presumed you'll be spreading the load out over different outlets, and not plugging 20A worth of load into ONE spot.) Since this is the only receptacle on that circuit breaker, it would be prudent to use a 20A rated receptacle.

-Ray

The contacts inside a 15 amp plug and a 20 amp outlet are the same size.  The only difference is that the 20 amp plug rotates one of the spades 90 degrees.  This is useful when you have something that NEEDS a 20 amp draw, it prevents you from plugging it into a 15 amp circuit.

[ProSoundWeb Community]