Electric shocks due to stupitidty... I hate them a lot.

Not really a rant but I got a right belt earlier from a shaver socket while tiling a bathroom.

Before anyone says anything I know working live is dangerous but sometimes you have little option. Working in a bathroom with no window and the shaver socket was wired into the lighting ring, I am normally good with working live but was pretty tired.

I cut the tile and fixed it but when I went to put the shaver socket back in when the tile adhesive had gone off it would not go back it right.

I was really rather tired and when I had a look there was a bare bit of copper wire sticking out of a badly wired red wire and I thought "oh there's the problem" and tried to poke it in with my finger...

Working tired and distracted can always be dangerous, getting a bloody great jolt and having to admit that you did something stupid is also a horrible thing to have to do.

I feel like a right muppet and my left arm is still numb.

I threw up afterwards as a nasty jolt always makes you feel like crap.

My sympathies. I did the same thing. I changed out a 120 volt duplex outlet without turning the power off--just because I could. Zapped me three times. It was a terribly macho thing to do and I deserved the shocks! It's just some electricity. What could possibly go wrong?

a reply to: nonspecific

That's pretty scary! I've had one or two biggies and I always think how easily you could die.
It always leaves me in a bit of a state of shock, if you'll excuse the pun.

My turntables earthed through my amp at the moment and if I'm touching the amp with my hand and using that deck I sometimes get a little static jab. Gets me every time and I end up getting really nervous for a while afterwards.

Take more care!

originally posted by: nonspecific

I was really rather tired and when I had a look there was a bare bit of copper wire sticking out of a badly wired red wire and I thought "oh there's the problem" and tried to poke it in with my finger...

I'm sorry - I know I shouldn't but



"and tried to poke it in with my finger" Oh, Lord...

Heh, when I was a kid I was helping untangle and test out the strings of lights that were supposed to go on the Christmas tree. I didn't notice when I went to plug one in that the backing on the plug had fallen off and I succeeded in plugging myself in along with the string.

Fun Times!

Yeah, you're right. Those accidental jolts are never cool.

a reply to: berenike

Its perfectly OK to stick your finger in things.
You only have to worry if someone passes you a half drunk can of beer to hold and says "hey...watch this....."

a reply to: nonspecific
a reply to: schuyler

I wished you two recorded this.

Accidental electrocution ranks right up there with firing the nail gun through your foot.

originally posted by: Tulpa
a reply to: berenike

Its perfectly OK to stick your finger in things.
You only have to worry if someone passes you a half drunk can of beer to hold and says "hey...watch this....."

Or if it's a live copper wire sticking out

I gotta go, laughing again...


PS - I've done something similar myself, except inadvertently.

a reply to: nonspecific

hahahaha. . . hope you feel better, truly. Been there, done that.

Was fixing an outlet at my elderly parents home a while back.

"Dad, do you have the breaker off?", I asked from the kitchen.

"Yes", came the shout from the basement.

*pow*

'Dad!"

(from the basement), "Ooops, wrong one. Now I have it!"

*pow*

"Dad!"

(from the basement) "Ooops, this time I really have it!"

*pow*

"Dammit DAD!"

"Oops. Which one is the breaker?"


hahahahahahaha, good times.

Well, if you had an infection, you killed all the critters off. I'd rather do it by holding a spark plug wire on a lawnmower myself. Great antibiotic

Once put my finger on a CRT monitor circuit board capacitor or transfomer. Never quite sure what it was, but it just felt like something trying to grab my hand. A chewed up disposable camera has similar high-voltage capacitors for the flash light. Put my finger on one and it felt like lightning going up my lower arm.

Friend of mine and I used to fix motorcycles. He had a test box. One of his favorite tricks was to load up a capacitor (used in the distributor to send electricity through the points to the plugs), then toss it to me and say, "Here, catch!" which, of course, I did instinctively. It would go off and zap me as he was laughing hysterically like the turd he was.

Not much amperage, so there wasn't enough to hurt you, but the volts were right up there e3nough to make you scream. I should not speak ill of the dead, and I suppose hes still laughing, wherever he is now.

What a great way to start the week? Hope it gets better for you!

a reply to: nonspecific

Yeah I've juiced myself a couple times. The worst was maybe 7-8 winters back when the main breaker went on our breaker box at just about 9:00 PM. I ended up running out to Home Depot and buying a whole new box and wiring it by flashlight. I was putting in the last couple breakers and I'd already flipped the main on to get the heater running. Long story short, I was pushing one of the breakers in and my hand slipped and hit the bus.

That's nothing to my latest DIY injury though. I was putting in new hardwood floor in the living room a few months back and at the literal last piece — this small strip before the transition to the kitchen — and the first piece I cut was a bit too narrow. It was like 11:00 PM on a Saturday, I'd been working on it for a few days during the night and then most of Saturday and I really wanted to finish it up so I could move in the furniture. So I went back to the table saw and cut another piece. As the two halves were coming off the back, I was afraid the one piece might kick out so I went to grab the pieces and lift them off quickly and I was paying way more attention to my left hand and not enough to the right. Ended up brushing the blade with my thumb and THWACK. First thought was that it was cut off. Second thought was OMFG, I've just mangled myself for life.

I'd post the picture from the ER but I'm pretty sure it would violate T&C. I didn't really have the stomach to look at it before it was being sutured except a quick glimpse as I put a towel on it. The nurse at the reception desk looked at it though and then she called back for a room. The person on the other end of the line must have asked what my injury was and she said, "he cut his thumb with a chainsaw." That momentarily freaked me out of the haze of agony I was in and I was like "wtf, how bad is it?"

I lucked out though. Bone was untouched, no damage to tendons/ligaments, etc and the cuts (scar looks like a 7) went right around to the nail but didn't break it or cause it to come off. However, the doctor could only suture a little under half of it because there was a big chunk of tissue missing. All in all, very lucky and it's mostly functional again now if a bit chewed up looking!

Here's to all those who have given blood offerings to — or have been filled with the electrifying spirit of — the gods of DIY!

a reply to: nonspecific
I know how that feels. I took vocational school classes for electrical work while I was in high school. I was wiring an outlet that was supposed to be dead. Some idiot turned the breaker for it on while I was working. It knocked me across the room and on my ass. When the room stopped spinning you better believe he got an ass whooping.

a reply to: nonspecific
Did it knock some sense into you?

originally posted by: nonspecific
Not really a rant but I got a right belt earlier from a shaver socket while tiling a bathroom.

I've had many a shock in my time, the old round pins were crap because they never fitted right, and little fingers pulling the plug out was sure to liven things up....not sure that they affected my spelling though.

a reply to: schuyler

The US uses 120 volts. In other places they use higher voltages. But as they say, it is not the voltage that kills you but the amps. Supposedly, a solid contact with as little as 7 amps can cut off your lights for good.


As a do it yourselfer, house builder and machine tech, I've been shocked dozens of times. I'm quite serious. One time a wrongly wired 220v clothes dryer about did me in. A friend of mine put his pole saw into an overhead wire and got severe burns, knocked for a loop and one of his boots set on fire. He was in the hospital for a week. A co worker broke his back as he reached into a machine, it shocked him and his reflexes threw him back against another machine breaking his back.

It really is rare that a normal household accidental touching of a hot wire causes death. If you don't believe that, ask several people if they have ever been shocked...and lived to tell about it. You will get dozens of positive answers and not a single negative reply (from the dead ones.) Puns intended.

a reply to: nonspecific

Being tired or in a hurry is always dangerous! I know when I'm in a hurry or tired I have to remind myself to always take safety precautions when operating my power tools or doing electrical work. It's easy to say to yourself, it's only a quick cut I don't need my safety glasses, or I'll just be careful not to touch the hot wire, or you're too lazy to retrieve your safety glasses because you left them in another room or simply forgot where you placed them.

originally posted by: nonspecific
I thought "oh there's the problem"

"Here hon, hold my beer"

and tried to poke it in with my finger...