Anyone been hit by high amounts of electricity???

[DD977GM2]

As I sit here watching Mythbusters and they reitterate (sp?) the 1/2 a milliamp can potentially kill a person if they are shocked by at least that amount.

Well before I went to the oilfield I was a maintenance electrician/mechanic for a Corrugated box plant. I was shocked or hit by a motor starter connected to 480V and I forget how many amps....well over the 1/2 milliamp as this was for our sump that required a forklift(one of the bigger forklifts) to remove it to repair. The blade to create suction was well over 12" in diameter. So one night I was testing using my multimeter and slipped on live power and hit pretty solid and Im still here.

My question is why am I still kicking and even though I experienced paralyzing hold on the wire I still was able to break the connection and not roast?

Anyone else been hit with high amounts of voltage & current?

[Monky]

Damn near same..

Back when I was in corporate america. Walking around our warehouse there was a conveyor belt motor that was screwed up.. went to throw the power, grabbed the handle.. which was live because of a wire that came loose.. and I happened grab hold of a metal support post at the same time.. It was the perfect set of things that went wrong..

480V and I don't remember the amperage.. needless to say it did NOT tickle, and luckily my convulsions caused me to let go of the post... I got called sparky for a few weeks.. it was only a couple seconds but that was more than enough.

[Mtn.man]

From the posts, here I'd say most have.

[DD977GM2]

From the posts, here I'd say most have.
[LOL]

[Lochinver]

If i remember that episode correctly. I think the current mentioned is if it actually crosses over your heart.

If I'm not mistaken, I've always been told that electricity will go to ground on the quickest path with the least resistance. If your heart is not near that path. Things should be ok.

And Yep, I've been shocked by plenty of things. Not for a long time now. Job doesn't put me near that situation anymore.

[DFBrews]

hit by lightning thru a chain saw on a fire in idaho lit up with 120 a few times and I have been hit with ignition coil voltage more times than I can count. Most of the voices in my head are still on speaking terms.

[BuffCyclist]

If i remember that episode correctly. I think the current mentioned is if it actually crosses over your heart.

If I'm not mistaken, I've always been told that electricity will go to ground on the quickest path with the least resistance. If your heart is not near that path. Things should be ok.

And Yep, I've been shocked by plenty of things. Not for a long time now. Job doesn't put me near that situation anymore.

True about the heart. In my electrical engineering circuits classes, the one hand rule was drilled into us. That was to stick one hand behind your back when working with high voltage components. That way, the current wouldn't go into your left hand and come our your right hand. I still try to remember this rule often!

[Guylee]

This thread reminded me I have Taser training next monday.

Yeah not gonna get lit up again...

[spyder]

From the posts, here I'd say most have.
I'm gona have to say the man is right. However, they state that 1/2 of a milliamp could kill someone which is probably true, but people have also survived the electric chair. It is kinds like saying, you can die from drowning in 1/2" of water.... ya, you can, but not many people have done it.

[cms81586]

I was struck by lightening at Ft. Knox while training. We were moving to low ground and it struck a tree above us. We all woke up dazed on the ground and two ended up in the hospital for a few days. I had migraines for about two weeks and that was it. Luckily it wasn't a direct hit.

[JoeT]

In a previous life, I repaired commercial kitchen equipment. I was getting ready to work on a 480VAC dish machine (actually the hot water booster attached to the machine). I had just grabbed a line when someone turned the breaker back on. . . .my fault for not following lock-out/tag-out" procedures.

Scared the crap out of me. It was enough that it knocked me off the power. 1-2 minutes later I would have been pinned under the machine laying on my back. It think it could have been ugly

[Jay Kominek]

I've leaned on 120VAC and touched 48VDC with my tongue (yeah not one of my better moves). The 0.5mA thing is, as others are pointing out, a worst case.

A friend of mine who was a Navy electrician told a story about some fellow who stopped his heart with a multimeter by cutting his thumbs and then grabbing the test leads with the open wounds. Bypassed all the nice resistance the skin provides.

Maybe the Mythbusters will test that one? I'm sure not signing up for it.

[Tweety Bird]

48 V DC? That's for pussies. 120V AC? Been whacked by both 60 Hz and 400 Hz varieties numerous times. 480V AC? Kids' stuff.

September, 1981: I was working on a radio beacon (from which all safety interlocks had been removed long before I got there). They were dual-transmitter facilities and procedure was to put the good one on the air so the airplanes could still use the site. I stuck my hand into the wrong (read: LIVE) transmitter and touched the cathode of one of the high-voltage rectifier tubes.

1300V DC.

The jolt knocked me against the back wall of the radio shack. My arm was numb all the way up to my shoulder for a couple minutes. The skin on my finger was blasted open to where I could see the bone. Never hurt, never bled because the blood vessels and nerves were all cauterized.

I spent a few hours in the ER of the Aspen hospital where I was reminded that being a one-handed electrician probably saved my life. They cleaned up the wound, bandaged me up, put me on the heart monitor for a while and threw me out.

The voices in MY head are still arguing but it didn't seem to affect me much otherwise otherwise otherwise otherwise otherwise.

[jerrymrc]

I have been bit by 75000 and 100000 V on a couple of occasions in my 30 year career working on X-ray machines. Yes it does leave a mark. Yes it does hurt. It has been almost 20 years since I made that mistake.

One of the rules working on HV is always have your left hand in your pocket. If you get bit then the most likely path is up your arm and down your side. Having HV travel from arm to arm greatly increases the risk of it stopping or sending your heart into a rhythm that will kill ya.[Coffee]

[BPTactical]

Lucky one CMS- I worked for the Forest Service right out of high school down by Rampart Range and we had T-storms come through daily. Nobody on our crew ever got hit but a crew out of Bailey had a member get hit. Watched lightning explode a tree about 50 yards away. Spooky, we had to put all of our saws and tools on the ridge or high point and we had to find the lowest spot practical and "Gook Squat" with our arms extended down towards the ground, theoretically if you got hit the bolt would travel down your arms to the ground.
Glad we never had to find out.
I have had the lightening hit so close that you can feel the current in the air. If you are ever anyplace in an electrical storm and feel "the hair on your neck stand up" hit the deck, it is actually "leaders" traveling towards the opposing current. Lightning strikes follow-think of how many pics you have seen of some clown standing on top of a mountain with their hair on end only to read that seconds later they were hit by lightening.

From what I understand 120V is more hazardous to your health than 220-440.

[DFBrews]

Lucky one CMS- I worked for the Forest Service right out of high school down by Rampart Range and we had T-storms come through daily. Nobody on our crew ever got hit but a crew out of Bailey had a member get hit. Watched lightning explode a tree about 50 yards away. Spooky, we had to put all of our saws and tools on the ridge or high point and we had to find the lowest spot practical and "Gook Squat" with our arms extended down towards the ground, theoretically if you got hit the bolt would travel down your arms to the ground.
Glad we never had to find out.
I have had the lightening hit so close that you can feel the current in the air. If you are ever anyplace in an electrical storm and feel "the hair on your neck stand up" hit the deck, it is actually "leaders" traveling towards the opposing current. Lightning strikes follow-think of how many pics you have seen of some clown standing on top of a mountain with their hair on end only to read that seconds later they were hit by lightening.

From what I understand 120V is more hazardous to your health than 220-440.


Haha good old FS protcol there was many a time did tree shrapnel land on the ugly green truck when i worked for them. the kevlar chaps saved me is what they say when the tree i was cutting got hit I had my knee up against it and it knocked me out for 10 minutes or so.

[gnihcraes]

Lightning here.

1986, Old Elitches on 38th and Tennyson. Lightning hit one of the large cotton wood trees, the lightning splintered and hit several other items in the park. I happened to be the lucky one Operating the Spider ride which was on top of the bumper cars. All mechanical metal controls I was holding on to when the lightning hit Spider and thus kicked me off the controls. Happened all in slow motion, can remember the bolt just bouncing down that metal and hitting me! People on the ride screaming, I'm laying on the ground watching them go round and round. I was a mess for a day or two afterwards.

Funny as heck afterwards, but damn I'm like a Vietnam Vet hitting the deck if any lightning hits close by now. (Not making fun of anyone that has served, but I know a little of how they feel)

[Bailey Guns]

I stuck my tongue to a battery once.

[Tweety Bird]

I stuck my tongue to a battery once.
[Beer]
Double A or D-Cell?

[BPTactical]

[Beer]
Double A or D-Cell?

24V Forklift Battery[ROFL1]

Them bastards got some amps! I welded a brand new set of Snap on crimping pliers together from one.

[streetglideok]

Electricity will go the path of least resistance, but you can get some leakage depending on the amount of pressure(aka voltage) in the circuit, etc. Thats all been proven as fact. What usually saves people is poor grounding. You can get shocked, but if you arent well grounded to complete the circuit, you wont get the full charge-see ohms law. Another thing is, electricity tends to flow across the surface of objects, even wiring. If you remember the movie, the green mile, there was the part about the wet sponge on the head to conduct the electricity into the body, and actually shutdown the nervous system, vs not doing so, and BBQing the convict. Thats based on fact, and where they still use sparky, thats how they get the juice in ya. Ive been hit with 220, 110, 12v, and various ignition system charges. Standing on the ground or touching something on the car isnt always enough to allow the full charge to hit you, more of a mist instead of a blast fire hydrant, sort of speak.

[Marlin]

Once or twice.