Safety is SO important - we are supporting Safe4September. Keep an eye out for all the great content that will be shared using the hashtags #Safe4September & #fifty2zero this month. We strongly encourage you to watch the harrowing story of Michael in the following video: ruclips.net/video/OwlxHwcw-VY/видео.html @SparkyNinja has also created a full Safe Isolation Training Video Playlist on his youtube channel which is a very valuable watch here: ruclips.net/p/PLg1OV4f2xHzW3V8jOHSN6i4FP8zsxxhz-
As an electrician in Australia, I am embarrassed that we are very very very rarely trained to understand and go to these lengths of testing. It's amazing to see the passion in what you guys are doing and it really motivates me to go the extra mile and do the job properly.
Our sparkies here in the US aren't trained to test at this level either. A fair portion here are just glorified wire-changers that carry a Fluke. I do low-voltage, radio and light here in the US for a large telecomm and I was working alongside an residential electrician and he was astounded by the amount of testing we perform for just a standard job. Low voltage and radio are fickle, we don't have a choice. Only guys I've seen testing like this here in the states are HV commercial sparkies.
here in Denmark, you're not required to test this thoroughly. If there's a fault you only test the part that's faulty, and only go on from there if there's indication the fault is caused by something else. If you do wire anything yourself or touch the mainboard (both are illegal here), you can and must request an electrician to inspect what you've done, but otherwise we simply don't test circuits this way here
Two common themes to receiving an electric shock 1, Not paying attention to what YOU are doing 2, Relying on someone else to do their job properly. How to combat this, Pay attention don't assume check and double check with a contact tester and never never trust anyone else IT IS YOUR LIFE at risk
Worse shock I got was an electronics one: a capacitor from a flash unit in a DSLR that I stupidly forgot to discharge before picking up the PCB bare hands and touching both legs with my index finger. Got 2 small holes in the finger, a reminder that today I still get when repairing stuff but at least I didn't let the camera body fall on the floor.
Great to see you guys supporting safe for September. Especially after one of the creators dug you out a little bit last year. Classy as always. EICRs are always finding that balance between not dismantling what is a working system but also getting enough inspection and test data. Sometimes no need for any R1+R2 testing at all. This is when people confuse initial verification and inspection and testing. Nice video!
The worst shock I've ever had was similar to John's... reversed polarity plus not testing correctly. I switched off a kitchen light during a tearout of an old kitchen (just my colleague and I in the work area, so no danger of someone turning it back on) and client was still using the lights in another room. Old wylex 3036 board so no rcd. Turned light off, it went off, climbed up and tested L-E with test lamps, nothing. Disconnected the fluoro batten, removed it, fed the L and N wires into a round 5A JB temporarily. Was gripping the box awkwardly so the ball of my right thumb was on the terminal for the black wire (supposed neutral). Went to bend the earth wire in with my left hand, and instantly exceeded the let-go threshold, the world went slow, painful, and vibratey. I had enough time to notice my eyeballs were vibrating :O ... and to think 'this is it'.... Fortunately my legs gave way and i fell off the steps and into the corner. I still have the imprint of that hexagonal terminal burned into my right thumb. DIYer had managed to reverse polarity somewhere back along the circuit, but the red wire was still switched. I've become obsessed with proving dead since then. Familiarity breeds contempt
worst shock i ever had was at collage when i was doing a tv servicing course! it was a practical session and we were in the back of live crt tv's testing for faults... i shorted the ht lines by accident... 25kv shock, threw me back onto the table behind and (thankfully!) tripped the rooms breakers! my shirt was a bit singed, i got a small burn and couldnt move for 10 mins! i was back walking round after that but i was shaking so much i couldnt do the session that afternoon!
Got a bad shock from a neutral on a lighting circuit when I split it .was only an apprentice at the time learned the hard way .I try from now on to safely isolate supplies and check again especially when dealing with people that carry out DIY electric’s.
Multiple shocks in my career, its not OK to have them and when practicable all work should be dead, but also we shouldn't be ignorant to the fact it is an occupational hazard we have as a trade. Top 3 are: 400v between 2 phases, C50 board. 800v DC on a neg earthed GM PV site, + to array, across the chest. Most dangerous was a call out to a house who had a bathroom fitter cut the neutral short on the Dwn lts so used the CPC instead, 16th edition DB and no RCD on 1st flr lts. Client stated they were getting a shock on the DIY replaced new metal clad switches. Loose CPC acting as the return path, kept touching it not believing it could be live. A green mistake early on. Nice stories to tell over a pint, but I've known people who have has less of a shock and end up with life changing injuries, so never get over complacent.
The good old Wylex fuseboard. Many, many years ago, I was involved in an investigation as to how a man working in his own house had been electrocuted. What he had been doing was 'upgrading' his Wylex fuseboard, changing rewireable fuses over to MCB's. With the Wylex MCB, the MCB shield wasn't so deep, so it had to be swapped out. Unfortunately this man didn't turn the board off. As he undid the shield, his screwdriver slipped off the securing screw, going straight on through the bottom hole in the shield and made contact with the busbar. Worse, there was a gas meter directly behind him. You could see where the skin on his fingers had bubbled up on the screwdriver. He was discovered by his wife. Tragic. As to shocks, again many years ago, I was changing an heating element on a storage radiator which unknown to to anyone had a thermostat in the circuit. Definitely the worse shock I have ever felt. Fortunately my reaction was enough to pull me away and off the element. Stay safe. Isolate.
Biggest shock I ever got was in a student accommodation block. Pulling a cable down from the plant room I was in a riser. When I put my hand on metal trucking I got stuck to it and could feel the electricity flowing through me for a few seconds. Only way I got off it was shifting my weight off the ladder and falling. Students all over the building could hear me screaming.
Working on a private cable for a Street Lighting circuit, halfway through the joint and extend some twit (not the words i used at the time) ripped off the lock out kit and switched the circuit on. Company tried sweeping it under the carpet, i come out on top and it's fair to say i no longer work there!
Had worse, but recently stayed in a hotel in which the metal shower house was live. Quite the shocker. We were even asked to check in late as the room had previously been having power problems... (Electric shower)
I’m a commercial electrician and got a 415v shock off of a panel voltmeter which was mounted on the equipment door which shut onto my forearm. Luckily or unluckily the distance between 3 phases on the meter was only 20mm apart in a triangle so I didn’t get a shock I could feel but i did get a burn
My worst shock was about 35 years ago...240VAC (US) with a 60A breaker...I did end up tripping the breaker...and it did hurt...a lot...but no lasting effects. Made me way more cautious about testing before touching...and not trusting labels.
In the 70s my parent's living room in Sheffield had brass round pin sockets and one was tucked down by an armchair. I reached down to turn the hi-fi on (probably to listen to my War of the Worlds album) and got a lovely kick up my right arm. Felt (as an 11 year old) like my molecules were being reorganised. Horrible. The place was rewired and the round pins went away for good soon(ish) afterwards.
I’ve had quite a few local shocks which are always a bit scary but the worst was quite recent. Swapping a drywall box for a double socket and I popped the wrong breaker, only noticed when the socket was off and I went to straighten _all_ the cables at once, with both hands. Shock right across my torso and I thought my heart was going to stop. Knowing that the heart can be damaged with late onset of symptoms I spent the rest of the day by my wife’s side, nowhere near any electrics!
Worse shock I had was when I was 6 or 7 years old in my bedroom which I shared with my younger brother. Was a bedside lamp. Which had 2 transparent wires that had split and as my brother ran into the bedroom is foot went in-between them and snapped both wires. I decided to repair the lamp without unplugging it from the wall. Using my teeth, I bared the wires then connect one pair when I grabbed the 2nd pair, I was unable to let go there was no RCD in those days' year was 1969-70 my heart stopped I remember nothing until my grandmother resuscitated me but never sent me to the hospital. She gave me a cup of sweet tea sent me back to bed a little while later I came downstairs as I went into shock. My mum phoned for an Ambulance when I got to hospital, they gave me an injection to calm me down. Both my thumbs & index fingers were burned and still have the scares today. But could have been a different story.
Not an electrician, I work in IT. My worst shock was relatively minor but I did get one hell of a zap replacing a faulty UPS battery once... I swear I could feel that spicy tingling for days afterwards!
When I was a kid I used to collect the 3ply string from our shops bacon slicer, one day I found a 15amp round pin plug( it was before everywhere went to 13amp plugs n sockets) i decided to "wire up" some string and plugged it in the the lounge with it stretched out across the room. Clearly it went back blowing the socket out of the wall and putting a massive black burn across the carpet plus blacking out the shop!!! Luckily I was not electrocuted but I got a thrashing afterwards.
'in the real world'....the cooker circuit r1r2 reading could of been high because of loose or worn connections. In your example it was very small variance on the live test, but I've found lighting circuit variances of over 1 ohm ,worth checking connections .
MANY years ago as a young engineer working on mains powered telephone extension bell in factory. Aluminium ladder against steel partition, insulated handle screwdriver but not insulated shaft in those days. Somebody rang phone!! As I later learned on fire training hands grip when electric shock so could not let go until phone ring stopped. Fortunately intermittent ring but I could not climb back down for seversl minutes.
The worst one i Had was back inthe 80's when, as a newbie, the decorator in the house said to me "I've diconnected eveything". I was hung onto the metal conduit whilest ciuuting through the braided wires with a Stanly knife. I was left vibrating on the circuit and the knife flew out of my hand and imbedded itself into the wall just as my girlfriend walked into the room. I couldn't yell out but was just uttering a gutteral noise for what seemed like ages, very painful, burns to my fingers and kness! Lesson learn't NEVER trust someone else to isolate a circuuit you are working on.
One of my friends bought an ex-council house in a shabby condition. After spending all day removing wet lino from the rotting floorboards in the toilet (not from water), he needed a well deserved bath. As he lay soaking in the bath, he noticed a hole in one of the ceramic tiles at the end of the bath, with something inside of it. He sat up in the bath and was just about to stick his finger in the hole to investigate when he noticed some red and black PVC. Yep, someone had chopped off the electric shower flush with the tiles and left the live cables exposed!
I was the lucky recipient of 240V @63A straight out of a service pillar,I was pairing back some 2.5mm when my knuckle hit the busbar,it threw me straight back into a wall,of the neighbouring property, I didn't receive any burns & the only reason I didn't die was because it went through my right hand & down my right side to earth,the best way to describe what it felt like;it felt like my head was going to explode,it was the most horrendous thing I have ever experienced,I now suffer from palpations🤯⚡
About 30 years ago I was working on a large occupied office block and I was footing a ladder for another electrician who was trying to unplug a light fitting while the circuit was still live , it was connected via an old 5 amp round pin plug and socket which was fitted to the side of a metal trucking. He was holding the trunking with one hand and struggling to pull the plug with the other hand when he touched the live pin with his fingers, the shock went through him and into me making the ladder drop and he fell pulling half the suspended ceiling down and broke his arm ,we were both doubled up with laughter for about 10 mins lol
Mine has to be climbing over an electric fence in the wet. One hand on a post, inside leg touches the wire I am thrown back and wonder what the hell happened. Turns out there was a bull in the field and the farmer didnt turn it off. Made worse that it wasnt battery powered so there was no voltage or current drop when I was connected to it adding a load add in that it wasnt pulsed like others normally are. 4kV which is why it managed to get though my trousers and water proofs not sure of the max current though...
Many in the days when H&S was low priority, but worst one was putting live cable in my mouth while working on a commercial DB. Saw just white light and thrown back off my steps… fortunately landed on the apprentice!
One of the worst I had was when I was wiring an additional circuit in to a consumer unit above a metal garage door and was using a neon screwdriver and touched the garage door with my elbow - bang I have a really nice scar on my elbow
thought as per guidance note 3 inspection and testing there is a seqence tobe followed 1st inspection 2nd dead testing then live tests which can be carried out with fusebox cover on so no risk of touching busbar
My worst shock, During a solar PV installation, the roofers decided to connect the pannel array before checking with me in the loft. I was feeding the 2 DC cables through the stuffing gland of the DC isolator and the ends both touched my first finger of my lefthand. Pulled my hand away and smashed the back of my hand on a roof truss. There was a smell of pork in the air. 5 mins later one of the roofers popped his head in the loft to let me know the pannels were all connected.
I had a shock in a building (commercial) where there had been a rip out of electrical units, put my hand into a box of wires and got a 400v shock-they'd had the rip out while stuff was still live! My fault-should have checked first.
funny, i just had the aussie equivalent of an EICR and we failed. board need replacing ( very old and looks like spagetti inside), the shed got power completely cut off due to no earth. as well as a few other small things. id love to send you guys the pics of the board. its a shocker.
I understand about 10% of the talk and logic of the dangerous board. My dad is an electrical engineer and I basically actively avoided any lessons as a child he was trying to teach me.
Only had a couple of memorable packets & I intend to keep it that way. Worst one was foolishly grasping the end of a 4core flex on a 6a lighting cct which I was assured was dead.....wrong! The muscles clenched in my arm & my fingers would not let go, I had the time to think to myself “this is it” whilst I emitted a blood curdling scream, so I was told. I blacked out & fell off the steps I was on, which saved me, I woke up on the floor a couple of minutes later. That was a life changing experience. The fact I blacked out meant the shock affected my heart & the blood pressure went immediately. The most painful shock was when I was an apprentice, instructed to change a light whilst the lazy bastard I was working with had told me the power was off, which it was.....but.......ever heard of a borrowed neutral? That fker hurt, big time!!! I don’t mess around doing that sort of stuff in occupied buildings anymore unless I lock off & at least have a reliable volt stick with me. Be careful out there, fellas 👍👍
As an electronics engineer - I am used to repairing household goods - biggest shock I ever got was from the back of an old tube TV - felt like I blew my arm off 😅 - fortunately all ok
I presume when you had your picture taken for your eye test they can scale the size of the card (which are a standard size) and use the scale to measure your pupil. Probably?
When I was a kid my dad bought a second hand electric lawn mower complete with extension lead. A friend and I had just finished cutting the grass and he went to unplug it from the extension lead. The lead had been wired up the wrong way with a plug on the live side and a socket on the lawn mower side. My friend got the pins of the plug across the palm of his hand. He was OK but with a bad burn on his hand. He wasn't allowed to our house again. I phoned him some 20 years later and asked if he remembered me. He replied 'I still have the scars on my hand.'
Although NOT an Electrician - the worst shock I ever had was off a TV set 30 years ago when I was working as an IT Technician for the local Schools Authority. We'd had a batch of faulty TV's from the supplier that needed a "chip" upgrade, and myself and my colleague (and boss), were working our way around the local area "upgrading" the TV's (as they'd work for an hour or so, then shut off for an hour)... We'd got to the local Catholic school and were in the process of doing their TV in the classroom, and when we got in there my colleague remembered he'd forgotten to bring in the new "chips", and dashed back to the car to fetch them, leaving me with explaining to the teacher - how I'd have to unplug the TV for about 10 mins, change the chip and then plug it back in. The teacher then asked if it was OK, if she plugged the Tape recorder in so they could listen to some tapes.... I said "fine" - and proceeded to unplug the TV and take the back off... Unbeknown to me, whilst my back was turned and I was removing the "defective" chip with the supplied tool (basically 2 screwdrivers with a plate on the bottom, and a lifting mechanism) - the teacher accidentally plugged the TV back in........ There was a hell of a bang, and a bolt of lightning across the two screwdrivers that I was holding about the width of your thumb.... I jumped in the air - and let off a torrent of swear words !!!!!! I think the Catholic Children in class learned some new words that day... The teacher DID apologise afterwards - and after a cup of sweet tea, we had a good laugh about it...
It occured to me as I watched you liven up that old CU trying not to touch the bus bar, if you had a plastic tool that slipped over the main switch you could operate it with your fingers well away from any live parts. I dont know if there is such a rool but you are welcome to the idea.
I have had a few shocks over the years nothing sever, the closest I got to having a major accident was wiring in a large copier machine to a 20A DP switch (I never liked them) I asked the resident Electrician if the juice was off he said yes you are fine I have the fuse in my pocket. I proceeded to start unscrewing the terminals and "Bang" I couldnt see for a few seconds and lost 1/4 inch off the end of my screw driver. When I got hold of the sparks he found some "Hero" had wired this new circuit to the other side of the main bus bar 200A supply. (rool=tool)
This is a warning more than a story! Was up a ladder set up on wet grass. Put my hand over an old metar photocell who's casing was live. Frozen to the spot and luckily my hand just fell off the photocell....
1973. A year before the HASAWA Apprentice. No testing kit back then, just a neon screwdriver. I was sat, in a wet floor in a cellar - so my bum was wet. I was instructed to connect a temp lead up. The supply was a 1920s cast iron fuse box. Single wired fuse and a side switch that cut the live side only. The cable in and out were VIRs. Unknown to me, the sparky in the 1920s had wired the fuse and switch into the neutral conductor. It was isolated (as far as i knew). I cut into the black neutral conductor. UNBELIEVABLE PAIN. I woke up about 10mins later at the other side of the cellar ... Not a good day
Old man got a nasty Shock repairing and old CRT TV. Those vacuum TVs can be really nasty as the capacitors and Fly back transformers carry around 11KV at some times to create the picture on the TV !!
One of the most insidious things with CRTs is that it's the tube itself which acts as a large capacitor for the HV. I still hear stories of people trying to discharge the tube by connecting a wire from the Anode cap to "mains earth". sigh. lol Not to mention the whole "hot chassis" thing used in older CRT TVs, especially in arcade monitors and older TVs in 110V land. I do a lot of projects involving retro gaming, so CRT TVs are a commidity, and still very popular. In more recent years, more people have been learning about modding a CRT TV for RGB input, as many of the older TVs in the US only had Composite or just RF. But there are still a lot of those TVs which use a "hot chassis", where the whole main board is floating at mains potential, and only a simple bridge rectifier and voltage reg separate the mains from the board. Those TVs usually have no exposed metal parts on the outside of the case, aside from the RF connector which has an insulator block between the outer connector and the RF tuner. The scary thing is, if somebody were to fit extra connectors to RGB mod such a TV, they might not even realize there's a problem until they go to plug the cable into something else which is grounded to mains earth, or they touch the cable/plug and something like an earthed radiator or other equipment. :o I was *told* on a YT comment before that "you don't see many hot chassis CRTs any more". But this is *retro*, so obviously a lot of people are on the lookout for CRT TVs now, and many 80s and early-90s TVs still used a hot chassis.
@@electronash Live chassis made our whole tv aerial install live when i swapped the isolating co-ax socket for a normal co-ax socket because it was broken...
@@TheChipmunk2008 Yikes! lol I never thought about that possibility, making the whole antenna live. I know there can be some issues as well with milder shocks between mains earth and the ground of a Cable TV connection, but that's not even close to as bad as a hot chassis TV. I don't think the hot chassis thing is as common in 230V land, because at that point, using a linear voltage regulator becomes expensive, so more 230V TVs tend to use a full SMPS with proper galvanic isolation. That is at least since the days of vacuum tube TVs. Some of those were scary. Oh, and of course a lot of white goods like coffee machines often use a capacitive dropper instead of a small SMPS, so those would have plastic buttons etc. I found out the hard way a few times, about assuming the "low voltage" PCB really is at a low voltage potential. lol
@@electronash Live chassis persisted well into the late 80s on some brands in 240v land, even with switchmode! (cheaper to make the transformer that way) But it died out in the 90s when mass production made it easier to get proper isolation
@@TheChipmunk2008 Yeah, after about 1993, it started to become far less common, as everything started moving to full SMPS with an isolated trafo. MOSFETs and SMPS chips became a lot cheaper, too, so that helped. I actually forgot you could have a SMPS and STILL have a hot chassis. I guess in some cases, they would basically just have the "negative" side of the bridge rec hooked up to the "ground" of the main board / low-voltage side? (Since the secondary side of the transformer is isolated from the primary anyway, it wouldn't short the bridge rec. It probably also made the feedback circuit simpler and cheaper.) That's slightly more scary in some ways, because some people have said that "As long as it has a SMPS with a transformer, it's probably not a hot chassis TV." Which is of course *not* always true in the earlier days.
I've had a shock off one of those wylex consumer units when wiring a new circuit, I had my hand in the back when I caught the busbar so my hand was trapped. This is before using lock out kits, I don't know if I had switched the main switch the wrong way or just had moved it with my arm.
Worst shock after replacing 3 40a solid state relays in a panel putting plastic trunking lid on and using hand to tap it in place slipped and went across terminals. Threw me across floor,sick and cramp in arm for 2 days and burnt hand not good.
Finished my apprenticeship in 1979 so have had a few 240 belts over the years however the worst electric shock I have ever had is when twisting/ breaking open a disposable camera by hand and came into contact with the flash circuit the most painful electric shock I have ever had I couldn't use my hand properly for a week.😂
I had a mains shock that made my calf muscle tense so hard that my knee dislocated for about 3 seconds and then popped back in again. Very painful at the time and the knee joint was swollen for about three weeks.
When an apprentice got a real belt whilst attempting to drill into an RSJ with a large metal cased electric drill. When I picked the drill up I felt nothing due to my DM work boots. What I didn't know was that the ext. lead had been damaged by a fork lift driving over it. As soon as I walked up the wooden step ladder and grabbed the RSJ I felt pain that I will never forget. c
Biggest shock was when I was on building site (private house) and contractors made a short on a construction switchboard, after few minutes I found the culprit, a 3phase concrete mixer (plug). I clearly remember that I switched off main switch and few breakers on the board. In the middle of disassembling 3p 32a plug one of the workers flipped main switch, and I got shocked from 2 phases, I couldn't speak for half and hour. Apparently they wanted to make some tea/coffee and forgot that I was still there...
My friend did something like that to me i had isolated the fuse board and was working on exposed wires in bathroom. He turned on the fuseboard knowing i was working but I was ok as i had removed all the cartridge fuses from his old fuse board to prevent any circuits being live. He hadnt noticed i had removed them all put them in my pocket and put the cartriges back empty. He was very surprised i wasnt electrocuted but working with a cretin in house you have to think of everything. I even removed the spare fuses just in case he saw the empty fuses abd tried to replace them.
Worst was JW Matola Ass Hall build !! Connecting 50mm tails onto standby generator and wonderful Portuguese missonary decided english lockout signs didn't apply to him and bypassed the locks ! Fortunately, the hairs ( pays to have hairy arms !! ) stood up on my arms while I was using heavy duty sockets on the lugs on the busbar and immediately knew something was wrong ! Saw my life flash past me and very lucky to have such a close shave !
Doing a rewire pulled the lighting rewireable. Silly didn't check the cable cut it .It was on a rewireable with the sockets .Cut it in half and it was still live .
I've had two memorable belts! One was a full 240v whack after isolating the wrong circuit - except instead of a usual (more gentle) 240 to ground shock (through the floor) that we've all had at least once - in this case my thumb was resting on the exposed cpc and my finger (same hand) touched the line. HOLY SHIT was all I could think about for a split second before the RCD tripped. All I can say is THANK GOD the additional protection was there! It was a TN supply as well with a true path to earth - I could have been really badly hurt otherwise. My 2nd one was working on a petrol car - doing a drop down test pulling the HT leads while the car was running. Unfortunately the insulation wasn't perfect and I had an allmighty belt while resting my other hand on the car body. Ached for days after that one!
The worst shock, is when you cant get off or let go, thats usually happens with neutrals on load and separated with you between them. In my experience, neutrals are the most dangerous.Saw an electrician getting a shock through neutrals, with his hands in the air still stuck and himself on his knees, luckly we were able to switch off the mains close by. -Live wires wake you up and make you not be so blase about electricity!! Unless your dealing with 415v, then its a bit more serious. Yes I've had one of those! It used to be common practice years ago in the commercial world, that only one electrical company be on a site at a time, nowdays, you could have two or three on commercial sites, safety becomes more problematical. Had a guy slip between top panels on a switch panel, and down onto the huge 3phase bus bars-he died. Cause, was another electrical contractor, who had not refixed the panels on top. The commercial world is far less forgiving
I've had a few shock shocks but the worse has to be actually from a car. I had a Mk2 Vauxhall Astra which had a HT coil fault and would charge the car bodywork
Worst shock I ever had was pushing some cables out of a surface socket back box that was in free air on a free bit of twin and earth that was being replaced. I thought it was dead but it wasn't and pushing on the ends of the Live and neutral conductors to try and force the cable out through the grommet, it burnt holes in my hand as the current tracked from one conductor to the other. I also once got a DC shock from, a PCB. The outline of the tracks were seared into my finger, two perfectly formed yellow pcb track imprints.
DC shock from emergency lighting voltage leak down cpc in a commercial building as an apprentice, fishing a new cable out the metal trunking. The original installers had paxilined between the trunking and boards to stop cable chaffing but never bothered to bond it figuring the 1mm single cpc's on the lighting system would be a lower resistance drain path.
very similar story, but i didn't get a very severe shock from it.... 240v DC emergency lighting feed to a 30w linear filament lamp inside a fluoro fitting, the battery was supposed to be floating (no earth at all) but there was a fault in the charger, meaning when on charge, the positive pole was earthed, so I got 240DC off the negative (unfused) lead. I actually got praised for reporting it (I was a 16yr old yts kid), because it was a potentially dangerous fault from a fire perspective, no fuse other than the dual 60A fuses in the battery!
I worked with a guy years ago that had a skin condition so he didn’t produce the oil on his skin He’s party trick was to hold two phases with nothing happened to him . Still don’t know how that worked
My biggest shock was my grandmothers Russel Hobbs K2 kettle, they have a big old round plug you pull to unplug it, so you can fill it up. But the plug shell was cracked, so I grab it and pull, the plug shell pulls away from the kettle exposing the live contacts inside, my thumb contacts both live and neutral instantly. So I have one hand with a death grip contacting live wires the other on the stainless steel kettle and I'm touching a stainless steel bench top that's bonded to ground. The shock made me rip the power lead from the wall socket, afterwards I staggered into the lounge, everybody knew something bad had happened because I was white as a ghost.
Many years ago I was a TV repair man. One day stood on a rain soaked porch waiting for the door to be answered I wondered if the lantern lamp was plastic or metal, I touched it. The lady opened the door as I bounced off the wall 'calling on the Lord'. I explained the thing was live. She said he husband had 'installed' but it had never worked. The lead to it was crudely connected to the hall light switch. She allowed me to disconnect it. I became less curious from then on!
on a serious note my worse shock was many a year back in the 1970s where I decided to strip a switch drop for a switch. touched both wires and completed the circuit, light came on and I was in the circuit !! stupid know it all 17 year old. but lived to tell the tale well before any form of rcd etc!
When connecting mcb lcn for example msome mcb when "open" the circuit some MCBs keeping open little more N so it can protect the divice against neutral cut,if someone connect lines unproperly it can be fatal ~240 v its not a game... That's why,must check with multimeter every line 2 or even 3 times before you start one home you don't know, and never touching metal with your hands,only with 1000v tools.
The worst shock I got is as a student at Grateley House School in Hampshire, a student flooded another students bedroom & when the power was still live with water coming out of the light switch the student that flooded the other students bedroom proceeded to turn the hallway light on, i reached round the wall whilst stood on dry carpet & turned the light switch off, in the process of turning the light switch off I got shocked with 230v, the end result I got from the shock was heart palpitations but I was lucky not to have a worse shock.
i was taking out was a old transformer for a old doorbell in my late mum and my dads garage i started to unscrew the cables and im guessing my late nan went into the kitchen next to the garage and switched the kitchen lights on which in turn caused a bang a blew the screwdriver in my hand across the garage and left a tingle in my hand
My Biggest shock- working on a strip light in an older lift, tombstone holders baked up wouldn't turn to remove lamp, no access to isolate, tried to spring out lamp, wire came out of holder, touched finger other hand on earthed trim, arm to arm shock, it held me, thought I don't know how I'm getting out of this, next thing I'm crouched on floor of lift spark's as wire blew out circuit, hospital advised 2nd degree burn and did ECG. Still have scar on finger. I was very Lucky that day.
Not a shock in the sense we're talking about, but I once forgot my multimeter was in current mode and tried to measure the voltage across the Live and Neutral terminals on a Switchin power supply. Blew the fuse in the plug and the fuse in the meter, and also nearly gave my self a heart attack when the inevitable bang came.
Ive shorted my finger between live and neutral in the socket when trying to find the holes using my finger, pushing in the plug when my fingers were still there 😅 done it twice in my younger years 😅 and twice had my hand on live animal fence jesus it hurts!
Worst shock I've had was working at a mechanics work shop fitting some new lights , turned it off at the board, climbed up the three times extension ladders , was holding live and neutral both at the same time because I was flattening the cables out before stripping them back, and bang some idiot turned the breaker on, you could say I should have been competent enough to put a lock on the board but what idiot who's been working along side an electrician all week and had explained he's turning the lights off today does that ? Safe to say he got more of a bollocking of his manager than I would have give him 🤣
and that's why we always lock out the breaker and then test the circuit is dead in case of cross wiring or incorrect labels. The idiot who turned them on, yes was an idiot, but also sometimes lay people are conditioned to turn breakers on like it's nothing...especially if the breaker is doubling as the light switch (is that a problem you have in Europe? In the US, it's way too common for breakers to do double duty as a light switch which means people are regularly in out of the panels flipping switches). Trust is something you can't afford to give when it come to ensuring power stays off. I could be in a building full of master electricians and I'm still locking out that breaker.
It wasn't a switch it was a breaker, and was in a glorified switch room that only has two dbs and nothing else in with the door closed, he'd also been there all day and could see I was working on lights, sometimes you it would be too tedious but in future after that I will be .
@@ChristianWagner888 I should have said it's most common in commercial buildings, however it's not unheard of for garages and other auxiliary residential buildings to have things like that. Obviously that's not to code, and corrected when possible, but DIY is gonna DIY.
Ref shock as an apprentice working in a pub I got Locked On 😳 could not pull free so screamed and electrician ran and kicked me off and it was next door to the Battle Hospital in Reading 😫 funny thing was chap drinking other side of the bar never flinched and carried on with his Guinness.
Here in the USA about 20 years ago I was working in an industrial panel 460 V three phase. I was trying to place a self adhesive wire management pad on the inside of the cabinet next to the main disconnect. Well I thought I could place it without turning off the power because the machine was running production. I placed it with my finger tip Then I went to push it even harder and got my fist stuck between the lug and the cabinet. I got a 277 V shock that went through me to my shins which was resting up against the bottom of the cabinet. Gravity pulled me away from it. I did not go unconscious but the next day my chest was green. I probably should’ve gone to the hospital but I didn’t.
worst shock i got was when i was adjusting the guns on an old tv set, there was a big ass resister across the top, and my forearm touched it and threw me across the room.
Worst shock - Repairing a faulty ASKO washing machine, which had severe corrosion on the inside frame. Stupidly forgot to turn off the mains...got a massive wallop from the main control board, which had an Earth leakage, thankfully it threw me back about 5 foot and tripped the breaker. The machine died, but not me. However, my other scary story, didn't get shocked, but came close to death. Working currently as a Train Dispatcher, a Class 319 unit brought down the 25kV overhead wires at Euston on Platform 13. I was stood only about 10 metres away when the wires hit the platform and the roof of the train with a tremendous flash and BANG. Any closer I would have been struck or hit. by the residual current.
I was electrocuted by touching a metal toaster water had gotten into. Wasn't too painful but hard to let go of it. Made me appreciate earthing, I expect most of it was going down to earth, no fuse or MCB tripped.
Safety is SO important - we are supporting Safe4September. Keep an eye out for all the great content that will be shared using the hashtags #Safe4September & #fifty2zero this month.
We strongly encourage you to watch the harrowing story of Michael in the following video: ruclips.net/video/OwlxHwcw-VY/видео.html
@SparkyNinja has also created a full Safe Isolation Training Video Playlist on his youtube channel which is a very valuable watch here: ruclips.net/p/PLg1OV4f2xHzW3V8jOHSN6i4FP8zsxxhz-
Worse shock will most likely come with my next bill from eon…
pmsl
As an electrician in Australia, I am embarrassed that we are very very very rarely trained to understand and go to these lengths of testing. It's amazing to see the passion in what you guys are doing and it really motivates me to go the extra mile and do the job properly.
Our sparkies here in the US aren't trained to test at this level either.
A fair portion here are just glorified wire-changers that carry a Fluke.
I do low-voltage, radio and light here in the US for a large telecomm and I was working alongside an residential electrician and he was astounded by the amount of testing we perform for just a standard job. Low voltage and radio are fickle, we don't have a choice.
Only guys I've seen testing like this here in the states are HV commercial sparkies.
here in Denmark, you're not required to test this thoroughly. If there's a fault you only test the part that's faulty, and only go on from there if there's indication the fault is caused by something else. If you do wire anything yourself or touch the mainboard (both are illegal here), you can and must request an electrician to inspect what you've done, but otherwise we simply don't test circuits this way here
Two common themes to receiving an electric shock 1, Not paying attention to what YOU are doing 2, Relying on someone else to do their job properly. How to combat this, Pay attention don't assume check and double check with a contact tester and never never trust anyone else IT IS YOUR LIFE at risk
Biggest shock I’ve ever had was hearing about my latest electric and gas bill 😂
Worse shock I got was an electronics one: a capacitor from a flash unit in a DSLR that I stupidly forgot to discharge before picking up the PCB bare hands and touching both legs with my index finger.
Got 2 small holes in the finger, a reminder that today I still get when repairing stuff but at least I didn't let the camera body fall on the floor.
Great to see you guys supporting safe for September. Especially after one of the creators dug you out a little bit last year. Classy as always. EICRs are always finding that balance between not dismantling what is a working system but also getting enough inspection and test data. Sometimes no need for any R1+R2 testing at all. This is when people confuse initial verification and inspection and testing. Nice video!
The worst shock I've ever had was similar to John's... reversed polarity plus not testing correctly. I switched off a kitchen light during a tearout of an old kitchen (just my colleague and I in the work area, so no danger of someone turning it back on) and client was still using the lights in another room. Old wylex 3036 board so no rcd.
Turned light off, it went off, climbed up and tested L-E with test lamps, nothing. Disconnected the fluoro batten, removed it, fed the L and N wires into a round 5A JB temporarily. Was gripping the box awkwardly so the ball of my right thumb was on the terminal for the black wire (supposed neutral). Went to bend the earth wire in with my left hand, and instantly exceeded the let-go threshold, the world went slow, painful, and vibratey.
I had enough time to notice my eyeballs were vibrating :O ... and to think 'this is it'....
Fortunately my legs gave way and i fell off the steps and into the corner. I still have the imprint of that hexagonal terminal burned into my right thumb.
DIYer had managed to reverse polarity somewhere back along the circuit, but the red wire was still switched. I've become obsessed with proving dead since then. Familiarity breeds contempt
worst shock i ever had was at collage when i was doing a tv servicing course! it was a practical session and we were in the back of live crt tv's testing for faults... i shorted the ht lines by accident... 25kv shock, threw me back onto the table behind and (thankfully!) tripped the rooms breakers! my shirt was a bit singed, i got a small burn and couldnt move for 10 mins! i was back walking round after that but i was shaking so much i couldnt do the session that afternoon!
John is a wonderful addition to the team!
Got a bad shock from a neutral on a lighting circuit when I split it .was only an apprentice at the time learned the hard way .I try from now on to safely isolate supplies and check again especially when dealing with people that carry out DIY electric’s.
I agree, about the bags, a lot of noise about nothing.
Neutral belt off a ballast. Felt like my body took a screen shot
Multiple shocks in my career, its not OK to have them and when practicable all work should be dead, but also we shouldn't be ignorant to the fact it is an occupational hazard we have as a trade. Top 3 are:
400v between 2 phases, C50 board.
800v DC on a neg earthed GM PV site, + to array, across the chest.
Most dangerous was a call out to a house who had a bathroom fitter cut the neutral short on the Dwn lts so used the CPC instead, 16th edition DB and no RCD on 1st flr lts. Client stated they were getting a shock on the DIY replaced new metal clad switches. Loose CPC acting as the return path, kept touching it not believing it could be live. A green mistake early on.
Nice stories to tell over a pint, but I've known people who have has less of a shock and end up with life changing injuries, so never get over complacent.
Indeed, you can survive amazing levels of shock, then have a tiny tingle throw you off a ladder onto a concrete patio...
The good old Wylex fuseboard. Many, many years ago, I was involved in an investigation as to how a man working in his own house had been electrocuted. What he had been doing was 'upgrading' his Wylex fuseboard, changing rewireable fuses over to MCB's. With the Wylex MCB, the MCB shield wasn't so deep, so it had to be swapped out. Unfortunately this man didn't turn the board off. As he undid the shield, his screwdriver slipped off the securing screw, going straight on through the bottom hole in the shield and made contact with the busbar. Worse, there was a gas meter directly behind him. You could see where the skin on his fingers had bubbled up on the screwdriver. He was discovered by his wife. Tragic.
As to shocks, again many years ago, I was changing an heating element on a storage radiator which unknown to to anyone had a thermostat in the circuit. Definitely the worse shock I have ever felt. Fortunately my reaction was enough to pull me away and off the element. Stay safe. Isolate.
Biggest shock I ever got was in a student accommodation block. Pulling a cable down from the plant room I was in a riser. When I put my hand on metal trucking I got stuck to it and could feel the electricity flowing through me for a few seconds. Only way I got off it was shifting my weight off the ladder and falling. Students all over the building could hear me screaming.
Working on a private cable for a Street Lighting circuit, halfway through the joint and extend some twit (not the words i used at the time) ripped off the lock out kit and switched the circuit on. Company tried sweeping it under the carpet, i come out on top and it's fair to say i no longer work there!
Tester should be called ERIC as it’s an anagram of EICR!
Now that’s a very good one!
Had worse, but recently stayed in a hotel in which the metal shower house was live. Quite the shocker. We were even asked to check in late as the room had previously been having power problems... (Electric shower)
Wow 😯
A hotel in the UK? 😳
I’m a commercial electrician and got a 415v shock off of a panel voltmeter which was mounted on the equipment door which shut onto my forearm. Luckily or unluckily the distance between 3 phases on the meter was only 20mm apart in a triangle so I didn’t get a shock I could feel but i did get a burn
My worst shock was about 35 years ago...240VAC (US) with a 60A breaker...I did end up tripping the breaker...and it did hurt...a lot...but no lasting effects.
Made me way more cautious about testing before touching...and not trusting labels.
In the 70s my parent's living room in Sheffield had brass round pin sockets and one was tucked down by an armchair. I reached down to turn the hi-fi on (probably to listen to my War of the Worlds album) and got a lovely kick up my right arm. Felt (as an 11 year old) like my molecules were being reorganised. Horrible. The place was rewired and the round pins went away for good soon(ish) afterwards.
I’ve had quite a few local shocks which are always a bit scary but the worst was quite recent. Swapping a drywall box for a double socket and I popped the wrong breaker, only noticed when the socket was off and I went to straighten _all_ the cables at once, with both hands. Shock right across my torso and I thought my heart was going to stop. Knowing that the heart can be damaged with late onset of symptoms I spent the rest of the day by my wife’s side, nowhere near any electrics!
I had a big shock when I got married an even worst shock when I got divorced a big lesson learnt.
Worse shock I had was when I was 6 or 7 years old in my bedroom which I shared with my younger brother. Was a bedside lamp. Which had 2 transparent wires that had split and as my brother ran into the bedroom is foot went in-between them and snapped both wires. I decided to repair the lamp without unplugging it from the wall. Using my teeth, I bared the wires then connect one pair when I grabbed the 2nd pair, I was unable to let go there was no RCD in those days' year was 1969-70 my heart stopped I remember nothing until my grandmother resuscitated me but never sent me to the hospital. She gave me a cup of sweet tea sent me back to bed a little while later I came downstairs as I went into shock. My mum phoned for an Ambulance when I got to hospital, they gave me an injection to calm me down. Both my thumbs & index fingers were burned and still have the scares today. But could have been a different story.
Nasty!
Not an electrician, I work in IT. My worst shock was relatively minor but I did get one hell of a zap replacing a faulty UPS battery once... I swear I could feel that spicy tingling for days afterwards!
When I was a kid I used to collect the 3ply string from our shops bacon slicer, one day I found a 15amp round pin plug( it was before everywhere went to 13amp plugs n sockets) i decided to "wire up" some string and plugged it in the the lounge with it stretched out across the room.
Clearly it went back blowing the socket out of the wall and putting a massive black burn across the carpet plus blacking out the shop!!! Luckily I was not electrocuted but I got a thrashing afterwards.
'in the real world'....the cooker circuit r1r2 reading could of been high because of loose or worn connections. In your example it was very small variance on the live test, but I've found lighting circuit variances of over 1 ohm ,worth checking connections .
MANY years ago as a young engineer working on mains powered telephone extension bell in factory. Aluminium ladder against steel partition, insulated handle screwdriver but not insulated shaft in those days. Somebody rang phone!! As I later learned on fire training hands grip when electric shock so could not let go until phone ring stopped. Fortunately intermittent ring but I could not climb back down for seversl minutes.
The worst one i Had was back inthe 80's when, as a newbie, the decorator in the house said to me "I've diconnected eveything". I was hung onto the metal conduit whilest ciuuting through the braided wires with a Stanly knife. I was left vibrating on the circuit and the knife flew out of my hand and imbedded itself into the wall just as my girlfriend walked into the room. I couldn't yell out but was just uttering a gutteral noise for what seemed like ages, very painful, burns to my fingers and kness! Lesson learn't NEVER trust someone else to isolate a circuuit you are working on.
One of my friends bought an ex-council house in a shabby condition. After spending all day removing wet lino from the rotting floorboards in the toilet (not from water), he needed a well deserved bath. As he lay soaking in the bath, he noticed a hole in one of the ceramic tiles at the end of the bath, with something inside of it. He sat up in the bath and was just about to stick his finger in the hole to investigate when he noticed some red and black PVC. Yep, someone had chopped off the electric shower flush with the tiles and left the live cables exposed!
I was the lucky recipient of 240V @63A straight out of a service pillar,I was pairing back some 2.5mm when my knuckle hit the busbar,it threw me straight back into a wall,of the neighbouring property, I didn't receive any burns & the only reason I didn't die was because it went through my right hand & down my right side to earth,the best way to describe what it felt like;it felt like my head was going to explode,it was the most horrendous thing I have ever experienced,I now suffer from palpations🤯⚡
About 30 years ago I was working on a large occupied office block and I was footing a ladder for another electrician who was trying to unplug a light fitting while the circuit was still live , it was connected via an old 5 amp round pin plug and socket which was fitted to the side of a metal trucking. He was holding the trunking with one hand and struggling to pull the plug with the other hand when he touched the live pin with his fingers, the shock went through him and into me making the ladder drop and he fell pulling half the suspended ceiling down and broke his arm ,we were both doubled up with laughter for about 10 mins lol
Why don't you fit a low rating in-line fuse in your ground link test lead?
Mine has to be climbing over an electric fence in the wet. One hand on a post, inside leg touches the wire I am thrown back and wonder what the hell happened. Turns out there was a bull in the field and the farmer didnt turn it off. Made worse that it wasnt battery powered so there was no voltage or current drop when I was connected to it adding a load add in that it wasnt pulsed like others normally are. 4kV which is why it managed to get though my trousers and water proofs not sure of the max current though...
Many in the days when H&S was low priority, but worst one was putting live cable in my mouth while working on a commercial DB. Saw just white light and thrown back off my steps… fortunately landed on the apprentice!
My friend always called it “tickling the dragons back” always cracks me up.
One of the worst I had was when I was wiring an additional circuit in to a consumer unit above a metal garage door and was using a neon screwdriver and touched the garage door with my elbow - bang I have a really nice scar on my elbow
thought as per guidance note 3 inspection and testing there is a seqence tobe followed 1st inspection 2nd dead testing then live tests which can be carried out with fusebox cover on so no risk of touching busbar
My worst shock,
During a solar PV installation, the roofers decided to connect the pannel array before checking with me in the loft.
I was feeding the 2 DC cables through the stuffing gland of the DC isolator and the ends both touched my first finger of my lefthand.
Pulled my hand away and smashed the back of my hand on a roof truss. There was a smell of pork in the air.
5 mins later one of the roofers popped his head in the loft to let me know the pannels were all connected.
I had a shock in a building (commercial) where there had been a rip out of electrical units, put my hand into a box of wires and got a 400v shock-they'd had the rip out while stuff was still live! My fault-should have checked first.
funny, i just had the aussie equivalent of an EICR and we failed. board need replacing ( very old and looks like spagetti inside), the shed got power completely cut off due to no earth. as well as a few other small things. id love to send you guys the pics of the board. its a shocker.
I understand about 10% of the talk and logic of the dangerous board. My dad is an electrical engineer and I basically actively avoided any lessons as a child he was trying to teach me.
Only had a couple of memorable packets & I intend to keep it that way.
Worst one was foolishly grasping the end of a 4core flex on a 6a lighting cct which I was assured was dead.....wrong! The muscles clenched in my arm & my fingers would not let go, I had the time to think to myself “this is it” whilst I emitted a blood curdling scream, so I was told.
I blacked out & fell off the steps I was on, which saved me, I woke up on the floor a couple of minutes later.
That was a life changing experience.
The fact I blacked out meant the shock affected my heart & the blood pressure went immediately.
The most painful shock was when I was an apprentice, instructed to change a light whilst the lazy bastard I was working with had told me the power was off, which it was.....but.......ever heard of a borrowed neutral?
That fker hurt, big time!!!
I don’t mess around doing that sort of stuff in occupied buildings anymore unless I lock off & at least have a reliable volt stick with me.
Be careful out there, fellas 👍👍
As an electronics engineer - I am used to repairing household goods - biggest shock I ever got was from the back of an old tube TV - felt like I blew my arm off 😅 - fortunately all ok
Yeah the final anode could give you a dead arm for hours
I presume when you had your picture taken for your eye test they can scale the size of the card (which are a standard size) and use the scale to measure your pupil. Probably?
either that or they steal you credit card details...
When I was a kid my dad bought a second hand electric lawn mower complete with extension lead. A friend and I had just finished cutting the grass and he went to unplug it from the extension lead. The lead had been wired up the wrong way with a plug on the live side and a socket on the lawn mower side. My friend got the pins of the plug across the palm of his hand. He was OK but with a bad burn on his hand. He wasn't allowed to our house again. I phoned him some 20 years later and asked if he remembered me. He replied 'I still have the scars on my hand.'
Although NOT an Electrician - the worst shock I ever had was off a TV set 30 years ago when I was working as an IT Technician for the local Schools Authority.
We'd had a batch of faulty TV's from the supplier that needed a "chip" upgrade, and myself and my colleague (and boss), were working our way around the local area "upgrading" the TV's (as they'd work for an hour or so, then shut off for an hour)...
We'd got to the local Catholic school and were in the process of doing their TV in the classroom, and when we got in there my colleague remembered he'd forgotten to bring in the new "chips", and dashed back to the car to fetch them, leaving me with explaining to the teacher - how I'd have to unplug the TV for about 10 mins, change the chip and then plug it back in.
The teacher then asked if it was OK, if she plugged the Tape recorder in so they could listen to some tapes.... I said "fine" - and proceeded to unplug the TV and take the back off...
Unbeknown to me, whilst my back was turned and I was removing the "defective" chip with the supplied tool (basically 2 screwdrivers with a plate on the bottom, and a lifting mechanism) - the teacher accidentally plugged the TV back in........
There was a hell of a bang, and a bolt of lightning across the two screwdrivers that I was holding about the width of your thumb....
I jumped in the air - and let off a torrent of swear words !!!!!!
I think the Catholic Children in class learned some new words that day...
The teacher DID apologise afterwards - and after a cup of sweet tea, we had a good laugh about it...
It occured to me as I watched you liven up that old CU trying not to touch the bus bar, if you had a plastic tool that slipped over the main switch you could operate it with your fingers well away from any live parts. I dont know if there is such a rool but you are welcome to the idea.
I have had a few shocks over the years nothing sever, the closest I got to having a major accident was wiring in a large copier machine to a 20A DP switch (I never liked them) I asked the resident Electrician if the juice was off he said yes you are fine I have the fuse in my pocket. I proceeded to start unscrewing the terminals and "Bang" I couldnt see for a few seconds and lost 1/4 inch off the end of my screw driver. When I got hold of the sparks he found some "Hero" had wired this new circuit to the other side of the main bus bar 200A supply. (rool=tool)
This is a warning more than a story!
Was up a ladder set up on wet grass. Put my hand over an old metar photocell who's casing was live.
Frozen to the spot and luckily my hand just fell off the photocell....
1973. A year before the HASAWA Apprentice. No testing kit back then, just a neon screwdriver. I was sat, in a wet floor in a cellar - so my bum was wet. I was instructed to connect a temp lead up. The supply was a 1920s cast iron fuse box. Single wired fuse and a side switch that cut the live side only. The cable in and out were VIRs. Unknown to me, the sparky in the 1920s had wired the fuse and switch into the neutral conductor. It was isolated (as far as i knew). I cut into the black neutral conductor. UNBELIEVABLE PAIN. I woke up about 10mins later at the other side of the cellar ... Not a good day
Old man got a nasty Shock repairing and old CRT TV. Those vacuum TVs can be really nasty as the capacitors and Fly back transformers carry around 11KV at some times to create the picture on the TV !!
One of the most insidious things with CRTs is that it's the tube itself which acts as a large capacitor for the HV.
I still hear stories of people trying to discharge the tube by connecting a wire from the Anode cap to "mains earth". sigh. lol
Not to mention the whole "hot chassis" thing used in older CRT TVs, especially in arcade monitors and older TVs in 110V land.
I do a lot of projects involving retro gaming, so CRT TVs are a commidity, and still very popular.
In more recent years, more people have been learning about modding a CRT TV for RGB input, as many of the older TVs in the US only had Composite or just RF.
But there are still a lot of those TVs which use a "hot chassis", where the whole main board is floating at mains potential, and only a simple bridge rectifier and voltage reg separate the mains from the board.
Those TVs usually have no exposed metal parts on the outside of the case, aside from the RF connector which has an insulator block between the outer connector and the RF tuner.
The scary thing is, if somebody were to fit extra connectors to RGB mod such a TV, they might not even realize there's a problem until they go to plug the cable into something else which is grounded to mains earth, or they touch the cable/plug and something like an earthed radiator or other equipment. :o
I was *told* on a YT comment before that "you don't see many hot chassis CRTs any more".
But this is *retro*, so obviously a lot of people are on the lookout for CRT TVs now, and many 80s and early-90s TVs still used a hot chassis.
@@electronash Live chassis made our whole tv aerial install live when i swapped the isolating co-ax socket for a normal co-ax socket because it was broken...
@@TheChipmunk2008 Yikes! lol
I never thought about that possibility, making the whole antenna live.
I know there can be some issues as well with milder shocks between mains earth and the ground of a Cable TV connection, but that's not even close to as bad as a hot chassis TV.
I don't think the hot chassis thing is as common in 230V land, because at that point, using a linear voltage regulator becomes expensive, so more 230V TVs tend to use a full SMPS with proper galvanic isolation.
That is at least since the days of vacuum tube TVs. Some of those were scary.
Oh, and of course a lot of white goods like coffee machines often use a capacitive dropper instead of a small SMPS, so those would have plastic buttons etc.
I found out the hard way a few times, about assuming the "low voltage" PCB really is at a low voltage potential. lol
@@electronash Live chassis persisted well into the late 80s on some brands in 240v land, even with switchmode! (cheaper to make the transformer that way) But it died out in the 90s when mass production made it easier to get proper isolation
@@TheChipmunk2008 Yeah, after about 1993, it started to become far less common, as everything started moving to full SMPS with an isolated trafo.
MOSFETs and SMPS chips became a lot cheaper, too, so that helped.
I actually forgot you could have a SMPS and STILL have a hot chassis. I guess in some cases, they would basically just have the "negative" side of the bridge rec hooked up to the "ground" of the main board / low-voltage side?
(Since the secondary side of the transformer is isolated from the primary anyway, it wouldn't short the bridge rec. It probably also made the feedback circuit simpler and cheaper.)
That's slightly more scary in some ways, because some people have said that "As long as it has a SMPS with a transformer, it's probably not a hot chassis TV."
Which is of course *not* always true in the earlier days.
I've had a shock off one of those wylex consumer units when wiring a new circuit, I had my hand in the back when I caught the busbar so my hand was trapped.
This is before using lock out kits, I don't know if I had switched the main switch the wrong way or just had moved it with my arm.
Maggie the mega! That’s what mine is called
Worst shock after replacing 3 40a solid state relays in a panel putting plastic trunking lid on and using hand to tap it in place slipped and went across terminals. Threw me across floor,sick and cramp in arm for 2 days and burnt hand not good.
Finished my apprenticeship in 1979 so have had a few 240 belts over the years however the worst electric shock I have ever had is when twisting/ breaking open a disposable camera by hand and came into contact with the flash circuit the most painful electric shock I have ever had I couldn't use my hand properly for a week.😂
can make a canny little taser with those cameras :P
You can get gloves that reduce your conductance that can be worn when doing electrical work.
Yes, since my shock detailed elsewhere, i now use 1kv gloves when working on stuff that can't be isolated.
Happy staff, GREAT business, clearly Jordan is succeeding with this!
Thank you for your videos, much appreciated!
Regards from Thailand...
I had a mains shock that made my calf muscle tense so hard that my knee dislocated for about 3 seconds and then popped back in again. Very painful at the time and the knee joint was swollen for about three weeks.
When an apprentice got a real belt whilst attempting to drill into an RSJ with a large metal cased electric drill. When I picked the drill up I felt nothing due to my DM work boots. What I didn't know was that the ext. lead had been damaged by a fork lift driving over it. As soon as I walked up the wooden step ladder and grabbed the RSJ I felt pain that I will never forget. c
Great video guys 😎
Biggest shock was when I was on building site (private house) and contractors made a short on a construction switchboard, after few minutes I found the culprit, a 3phase concrete mixer (plug). I clearly remember that I switched off main switch and few breakers on the board. In the middle of disassembling 3p 32a plug one of the workers flipped main switch, and I got shocked from 2 phases, I couldn't speak for half and hour. Apparently they wanted to make some tea/coffee and forgot that I was still there...
My friend did something like that to me i had isolated the fuse board and was working on exposed wires in bathroom. He turned on the fuseboard knowing i was working but I was ok as i had removed all the cartridge fuses from his old fuse board to prevent any circuits being live. He hadnt noticed i had removed them all put them in my pocket and put the cartriges back empty. He was very surprised i wasnt electrocuted but working with a cretin in house you have to think of everything. I even removed the spare fuses just in case he saw the empty fuses abd tried to replace them.
Worst was JW Matola Ass Hall build !! Connecting 50mm tails onto standby generator and wonderful Portuguese missonary decided english lockout signs didn't apply to him and bypassed the locks ! Fortunately, the hairs ( pays to have hairy arms !! ) stood up on my arms while I was using heavy duty sockets on the lugs on the busbar and immediately knew something was wrong ! Saw my life flash past me and very lucky to have such a close shave !
Doing a rewire pulled the lighting rewireable. Silly didn't check the cable cut it .It was on a rewireable with the sockets .Cut it in half and it was still live .
Back feed through a nicked neutral on a fluorescent fitting, one of quite a few many moons ago 😁
I've had two memorable belts! One was a full 240v whack after isolating the wrong circuit - except instead of a usual (more gentle) 240 to ground shock (through the floor) that we've all had at least once - in this case my thumb was resting on the exposed cpc and my finger (same hand) touched the line. HOLY SHIT was all I could think about for a split second before the RCD tripped. All I can say is THANK GOD the additional protection was there! It was a TN supply as well with a true path to earth - I could have been really badly hurt otherwise. My 2nd one was working on a petrol car - doing a drop down test pulling the HT leads while the car was running. Unfortunately the insulation wasn't perfect and I had an allmighty belt while resting my other hand on the car body. Ached for days after that one!
The worst shock, is when you cant get off or let go, thats usually happens with neutrals on load and separated with you between them. In my experience, neutrals are the most dangerous.Saw an electrician getting a shock through neutrals, with his hands in the air still stuck and himself on his knees, luckly we were able to switch off the mains close by. -Live wires wake you up and make you not be so blase about electricity!! Unless your dealing with 415v, then its a bit more serious. Yes I've had one of those! It used to be common practice years ago in the commercial world, that only one electrical company be on a site at a time, nowdays, you could have two or three on commercial sites, safety becomes more problematical. Had a guy slip between top panels on a switch panel, and down onto the huge 3phase bus bars-he died. Cause, was another electrical contractor, who had not refixed the panels on top. The commercial world is far less forgiving
Worse one I got was on a borrowed netrual,
I've had a few shock shocks but the worse has to be actually from a car.
I had a Mk2 Vauxhall Astra which had a HT coil fault and would charge the car bodywork
Does reubens throat need oiling
Worst shock I ever had was pushing some cables out of a surface socket back box that was in free air on a free bit of twin and earth that was being replaced. I thought it was dead but it wasn't and pushing on the ends of the Live and neutral conductors to try and force the cable out through the grommet, it burnt holes in my hand as the current tracked from one conductor to the other. I also once got a DC shock from, a PCB. The outline of the tracks were seared into my finger, two perfectly formed yellow pcb track imprints.
You only get one proper shock all the rest are WARNINGS !!!!°
DC shock from emergency lighting voltage leak down cpc in a commercial building as an apprentice, fishing a new cable out the metal trunking. The original installers had paxilined between the trunking and boards to stop cable chaffing but never bothered to bond it figuring the 1mm single cpc's on the lighting system would be a lower resistance drain path.
very similar story, but i didn't get a very severe shock from it.... 240v DC emergency lighting feed to a 30w linear filament lamp inside a fluoro fitting, the battery was supposed to be floating (no earth at all) but there was a fault in the charger, meaning when on charge, the positive pole was earthed, so I got 240DC off the negative (unfused) lead. I actually got praised for reporting it (I was a 16yr old yts kid), because it was a potentially dangerous fault from a fire perspective, no fuse other than the dual 60A fuses in the battery!
Like the masks up in the loft. Can be a nightmare without one in some lofts or basements.
Also like the testing bag. Looks useful.
Interesting video -many thanks
I worked with a guy years ago that had a skin condition so he didn’t produce the oil on his skin
He’s party trick was to hold two phases with nothing happened to him . Still don’t know how that worked
My biggest shock was my grandmothers Russel Hobbs K2 kettle, they have a big old round plug you pull to unplug it, so you can fill it up. But the plug shell was cracked, so I grab it and pull, the plug shell pulls away from the kettle exposing the live contacts inside, my thumb contacts both live and neutral instantly. So I have one hand with a death grip contacting live wires the other on the stainless steel kettle and I'm touching a stainless steel bench top that's bonded to ground. The shock made me rip the power lead from the wall socket, afterwards I staggered into the lounge, everybody knew something bad had happened because I was white as a ghost.
Many years ago I was a TV repair man. One day stood on a rain soaked porch waiting for the door to be answered I wondered if the lantern lamp was plastic or metal, I touched it. The lady opened the door as I bounced off the wall 'calling on the Lord'. I explained the thing was live. She said he husband had 'installed' but it had never worked. The lead to it was crudely connected to the hall light switch. She allowed me to disconnect it. I became less curious from then on!
on a serious note my worse shock was many a year back in the 1970s where I decided to strip a switch drop for a switch. touched both wires and completed the circuit, light came on and I was in the circuit !! stupid know it all 17 year old. but lived to tell the tale well before any form of rcd etc!
When connecting mcb lcn for example msome mcb when "open" the circuit some MCBs keeping open little more N so it can protect the divice against neutral cut,if someone connect lines unproperly it can be fatal ~240 v its not a game...
That's why,must check with multimeter every line 2 or even 3 times before you start one home you don't know, and never touching metal with your hands,only with 1000v tools.
My best one was 33kv...that stung for a little bit 🤣 wasn't concentrating, slipped with my HV probe and became the probe for a few seconds...
The worst shock I got is as a student at Grateley House School in Hampshire, a student flooded another students bedroom & when the power was still live with water coming out of the light switch the student that flooded the other students bedroom proceeded to turn the hallway light on, i reached round the wall whilst stood on dry carpet & turned the light switch off, in the process of turning the light switch off I got shocked with 230v, the end result I got from the shock was heart palpitations but I was lucky not to have a worse shock.
i was taking out was a old transformer for a old doorbell in my late mum and my dads garage i started to unscrew the cables and im guessing my late nan went into the kitchen next to the garage and switched the kitchen lights on which in turn caused a bang a blew the screwdriver in my hand across the garage and left a tingle in my hand
My Biggest shock- working on a strip light in an older lift, tombstone holders baked up wouldn't turn to remove lamp, no access to isolate, tried to spring out lamp, wire came out of holder, touched finger other hand on earthed trim, arm to arm shock, it held me, thought I don't know how I'm getting out of this, next thing I'm crouched on floor of lift spark's as wire blew out circuit, hospital advised 2nd degree burn and did ECG.
Still have scar on finger.
I was very Lucky that day.
i had a shok off of my instalachion teseer one like you got my one gos up to 1000v 200 oms i tuched it it bloody hurt me
OK, 8 years old, loved taking things apart and messing with electronics. Most painful shock was from a flyback on a TV, that hurt.
Not a shock in the sense we're talking about, but I once forgot my multimeter was in current mode and tried to measure the voltage across the Live and Neutral terminals on a Switchin power supply. Blew the fuse in the plug and the fuse in the meter, and also nearly gave my self a heart attack when the inevitable bang came.
Ive shorted my finger between live and neutral in the socket when trying to find the holes using my finger, pushing in the plug when my fingers were still there 😅 done it twice in my younger years 😅 and twice had my hand on live animal fence jesus it hurts!
I know it's a pain, but I would be tempted to wear IR gloves, switching them old boards off with so much exposed live copper.
Was that a wee dig at nick with his velocity testing bag 😂😂
Worst shock I've had was working at a mechanics work shop fitting some new lights , turned it off at the board, climbed up the three times extension ladders , was holding live and neutral both at the same time because I was flattening the cables out before stripping them back, and bang some idiot turned the breaker on, you could say I should have been competent enough to put a lock on the board but what idiot who's been working along side an electrician all week and had explained he's turning the lights off today does that ?
Safe to say he got more of a bollocking of his manager than I would have give him 🤣
and that's why we always lock out the breaker and then test the circuit is dead in case of cross wiring or incorrect labels. The idiot who turned them on, yes was an idiot, but also sometimes lay people are conditioned to turn breakers on like it's nothing...especially if the breaker is doubling as the light switch (is that a problem you have in Europe? In the US, it's way too common for breakers to do double duty as a light switch which means people are regularly in out of the panels flipping switches). Trust is something you can't afford to give when it come to ensuring power stays off. I could be in a building full of master electricians and I'm still locking out that breaker.
@@notme232 In Germany, we do not use the circuit breaker as a light switch. Certainly not in residential homes. Never heard of anyone doing that.
It wasn't a switch it was a breaker, and was in a glorified switch room that only has two dbs and nothing else in with the door closed, he'd also been there all day and could see I was working on lights, sometimes you it would be too tedious but in future after that I will be .
@@ChristianWagner888 I should have said it's most common in commercial buildings, however it's not unheard of for garages and other auxiliary residential buildings to have things like that. Obviously that's not to code, and corrected when possible, but DIY is gonna DIY.
Ref shock as an apprentice working in a pub I got Locked On 😳 could not pull free so screamed and electrician ran and kicked me off and it was next door to the Battle Hospital in Reading 😫 funny thing was chap drinking other side of the bar never flinched and carried on with his Guinness.
Here in the USA about 20 years ago I was working in an industrial panel 460 V three phase. I was trying to place a self adhesive wire management pad on the inside of the cabinet next to the main disconnect. Well I thought I could place it without turning off the power because the machine was running production. I placed it with my finger tip Then I went to push it even harder and got my fist stuck between the lug and the cabinet. I got a 277 V shock that went through me to my shins which was resting up against the bottom of the cabinet. Gravity pulled me away from it. I did not go unconscious but the next day my chest was green. I probably should’ve gone to the hospital but I didn’t.
worst shock i got was when i was adjusting the guns on an old tv set, there was a big ass resister across the top, and my forearm touched it and threw me across the room.
Worst shock - Repairing a faulty ASKO washing machine, which had severe corrosion on the inside frame. Stupidly forgot to turn off the mains...got a massive wallop from the main control board, which had an Earth leakage, thankfully it threw me back about 5 foot and tripped the breaker. The machine died, but not me.
However, my other scary story, didn't get shocked, but came close to death. Working currently as a Train Dispatcher, a Class 319 unit brought down the 25kV overhead wires at Euston on Platform 13. I was stood only about 10 metres away when the wires hit the platform and the roof of the train with a tremendous flash and BANG. Any closer I would have been struck or hit. by the residual current.
Surely you've got to call the Megger, Mister Megger!
I wonder how many artisan video titles have started with 'THE WORST'😂😂
Worst shock I had was when working on a lighting circuit and got a belt from the looped neutrals 😖
When ur in college and all ur mates keep putting test probes on ur arm with volts going through it
I was electrocuted by touching a metal toaster water had gotten into. Wasn't too painful but hard to let go of it. Made me appreciate earthing, I expect most of it was going down to earth, no fuse or MCB tripped.