A Warning

[Toni]

I went to repair a Whiteknight Tumbler this morning with the heater gone.
I unplugged what I assumed was the drier from a socket in the cupboard next to the machine and proceded with the repair. When I pulled the wires from the heater I got the most almighty electric shock I have ever had (I thought I was really gone this time). It held me there for what seemed like ages although proberbly just a few seconds. Luckily the house had a trip switch which took out the power otherwise I dread to think.
I was told to go to A&E just to check everything was OK, apparently a shock of this kind can disrupt the rythem of your heartbeat, but everything is fine appart from burns on my fingers (Not bad ones)
Everyone please always double check the supply is off and dont assume you have pulled the right plug out as I did. 😳 (The correct one in this case was behind some pots and pans further away)
The doctor told me to take a couple of days off just in case, No problem 😆

Regards

Toni (Thankfull to still be here :conf: )

[wilf]

Re: A Warning

this only goes to show how easily we can all get complacent. one mistake could be your last one. personally its the hard wired ones that worry me most as you are in danger even trying to check for voltage at the mains input before you start work. it seems that every other one of these machines is connected via the switch the other side of the wall or is maked up as boiler, outside light or some other unconnected item.

get well soon

wilf

[Simon46]

Re: A Warning

And when doing a cooker repair i always switch off at consumer unit. Reversed live and neutral 1 pole welded on cooker switch.
Hope all is well Toni

Regards
Simon

[SWERV]

Re: A Warning

I made that mistake once , but never again I hope. I was working on a built under D/ oven, switched the power off and the clock went off, so I thought that was it. Had my hand in the back of the cooker and got an almighty shock. It turned out, the wiring to the back of the cooker was dodgy, although that wasn’t the fault I was there to rectify. It was just pure coincidence that the clock went off when I turned a switch off.
Merv

[welsh__boy]

Re: A Warning

I was working in a commercial kitchen years ago on a hard-wired 30Amp machine, asked the customer which fuse was for the machine (as none were marked) and he said bugger it, turn the whole lot off, so I turn the main switch off thereby knocking off power to the kitchen ahem!!

Put my hand in the machine and had a little shock, capacitor maybe? Tried again, another tingle, nothing bad, like a little static shock, then BANG. Touched something that knocked me backwards, I turned white and the customer looked at me daft. After a lot of cursing and scratching of head, tested machine and it still had power, told customer and he said ‘Oh yeah, there’s another fuse box in the restaurant, could that help?’. More swearing and cursing under my breath, but was very lucky.

Just goes to show, you should always check with a meter as well. Only has to happen once.

[funkyboogy]

Re: A Warning

buy a volt stick..and get into the habit of testing the any wires that your are going to be working with…not full proof , but better than nothing..
british gas engineer killed last year, working on an old servis w/m…
same situ…plug in cupboard…next to dishwasher plug …you know the rest

thanks for starting this post..as it highlights just how easy a life can be taken…we all get complacent,and i dont think there is a trade member who can say they have never had a shock big or small…

once again thanks for reminding us of the dangers we all know is there,
but tend to put to the back of our minds whilst going about our busy lifes…

ps …cant we all get together and make a guide for ukw members on electrical safety, i was privaliged to have received very good training from brit/gas, and would gladly pass on anything to avoid putting ukw members at risk.

pps sorry for heavy post…ally…

[whitevanman]

Re: A Warning

Why do we get electric shocks is it that we all feel immune to electric or Rushing to get more work done , I would sooner arrive home safely than leaving a few extra pence to dependant.

Any thoughts !

Wayne

[eastlmark]

Re: A Warning

Complacency! that is the problem. Its the sort of error we would never make when starting out but it gets to a stage when you think you know it all and all the risks. We have all done it and it is a wake up call. Toni has been brave enough to admit this when a lot of us, me included, would have kept quiet about that.
Always check with a volt stick first and check the volt stick on a known live source before that even.
Never trust customers to know which is the correct spur switch!
Dont trust cooker or spur switches, i have had a cooker switch that felt perfect but some bod had wired only the N contacts and I have had a spur switch turn itself back on a few seconds after I had turned it of, again the feel of the switch was normal, luckily I heard it click back on.

[Toni]

Re: A Warning

Thanks for the support lads, luckely I have come away relatively unscaved (apart from a sore shoulder ❓ and burnt fingers). I wont be making that mistake again in a hurry.
Back to work tomorrow, I have been bored stiff since friday am, under orders from she who must be obeyed not to do anything

Toni

[DDSDDS]

Re: A Warning

i remember once connecting an electric cooker in a high rise flats in sheffield i remember finding the fuse box and tripping the lot.
thwn uncovered the cooker box, loosened the wires and yanked out the cable from the old cooker came to put the new one in stripped down the wires and just put them in place bzzzzzzz it grabbed me for what seemed like ages the lad i was with pushed at me and then i was ok.
it turns out that the flats had been rewired the previous week and there was ##(known to the tennant) another elctric box in the flat i didnt go to casualty though but didnt half feel rough for the rest of the day.
i always check now before i touch takes 2 seconds and can save your life we all know the horrer stories of dead engineers it is so easy to become that story yourself 🙁

[expertcat]

I think the best one was when i went to fit a new cooker.

You think ah cooker switch so you turn it off.

As you had to be a stick insect to get around back of cooker i decide pliers cut the 6mm cable and with that an almighty bang i even managed to blown electricity board fuse. Then found out oap diy installer had wired it in to a unfused spur not the cooker outlet so it was wired into ring main.

Now I check dead is dead.

[fk]

Re: A Warning

😆 We have had three in a month !
1 Cooker switch live contact welded
2 Commercial washer three machines connected to a booster pump when the pump cut in for one of the other machines this backfed to the cable I was holding
3 A switch fitted upside down.
When I started out in the electrical business I was told always to short the live to earth then neutral when you thought you had isolated that supply.
the funny thing is people treat it as a joke saying things like its good for your hart

[Martin]

Re: A Warning

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j54EgxUtT-I

[funkyboogy]

Re: A Warning

thanks martin..
ive just spent 2 hours on you-tube….
ally

[paulpaddison]

Re: A Warning

I remember working in a BT phone exchange on a hot summers day hands were very sweaty and I kept getting shocks of everything I touched only 50v but with sweaty hands it was really peeing me off just glad nobody rang the lines I was working on or the voltage goes to 70v
had a few shocks off outher things too but the BT one was just anoying 👿

[Author]

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