Electrical Query - Burns / Electrocution

Orion21 · 15 Jun 2016 at 22:44

If you touch the metal part of a soldering iron would you just get burned or would you also get electrocuted?

I'm fairly sure you just get burned, but why is this the case?

Surely if it is metal with electricity flowing through to heat it you would be electrocuted too?

Wondering a similar thing about clothes irons too.

To clarify it is how they are designed to stop them becoming live to the touch that I curious about (i.e. what stops them essentially being a live wire)?

Caged · 15 Jun 2016 at 22:48

Because the heat comes from a heating element that is mains powered, not by just shorting the mains out onto a lump of steel.

dholdi · 15 Jun 2016 at 22:50

Seriously ?

Pho · 15 Jun 2016 at 22:50

I once pushed my forearm into a soldering iron. I was burned not electrocuted. Smelled like pork scratchings

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Caged · 15 Jun 2016 at 22:55

Do you have the same fear with electric showers

Flack88 · 15 Jun 2016 at 22:59

Pho said:
I once pushed my forearm into a soldering iron. I was burned not electrocuted. Smelled like pork scratchings .

Did that too back in school. Used to also get the hot glue on a finger, that stuff hurt like a mofo.

Whitewater · 15 Jun 2016 at 23:10

If a soldering iron were capable of electrocuting you by touching the business end it would damage electrical components as well - like every capacitor ever soldered to a circuit board (pop!) - and be pretty well unfit for purpose.

Caged · 15 Jun 2016 at 23:12

Flack88 said:
Did that too back in school. Used to also get the hot glue on a finger, that stuff hurt like a mofo.

You're meant to load up the tip of the iron with solder and then flick it down the back of the person sitting in front of you and burn loads of tiny holes in their shirt.

TheVoice · 15 Jun 2016 at 23:13

Caged said:
Do you have the same fear with electric showers

He will now.

Terminal_Boy · 15 Jun 2016 at 23:17

Orion21 said:
If you touch the metal part of a soldering iron would you just get burned or would you also get electrocuted?

I'm fairly sure you just get burned, but why is this the case?

Surely if it is metal with electricity flowing through to heat it you would be electrocuted too?

Wondering a similar thing about clothes irons too.

Please post the contact details of your career so we can have a word as we're pretty sure that you're not allowed any tool more dangerous than a pair of those orange plastic scissors with the blunt blades.

adolf hamster · 15 Jun 2016 at 23:19

Pretty sure it doesnt matter, heat, electricity or both you're going to be in a world of hurt.

Orion21 · 15 Jun 2016 at 23:22

Well surely if it was just a piece of metal connected to electricity the whole thing would be live.

So I assume it must be like the heating element in a kettle or hob which is a metal coil covered by insulating material to prevent the outer surface becoming live covered by another metal or whatever material layer.

Are soldering irons the same / similar then?

As edited into first post, I am wondering about the design that stops them becoming live.

darael · 16 Jun 2016 at 00:33

Orion21 · 16 Jun 2016 at 01:03

Thanks darael that was the kind of thing I was after illustrating how the insulation works

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Also thanks to those other replies that were trying to be helpful rather than flippant.

NoobCannon · 16 Jun 2016 at 01:27

Lol thread

Tefal · 16 Jun 2016 at 02:04

Orion21 said:
If you touch the metal part of a soldering iron would you just get burned or would you also get electrocuted?

I'm fairly sure you just get burned, but why is this the case?

Surely if it is metal with electricity flowing through to heat it you would be electrocuted too?

Wondering a similar thing about clothes irons too.

To clarify it is how they are designed to stop them becoming live to the touch that I curious about (i.e. what stops them essentially being a live wire)?

Burnes because the metal casing is insulated from the heating element (and i imagine earthed just incase thatbinsulation broke)

Kuros · 16 Jun 2016 at 08:12

RE: The earthed bit...
I've had el cheapo irons before (2-3 quid new). I remember one not even having an earth (Well, the plug prong was plastic for the earth)... Even for quick testing, I decided against plugging it in and using it.

john_s · 16 Jun 2016 at 08:17

If it's double insulated, it doesn't need to be earthed. (It should be marked with the "square in a square" symbol if it is).

SexyGreyFox · 16 Jun 2016 at 11:26

You can also shove a knife into a toaster without anything happening.

This is how we tested elements on the factory, put your fingers on the element, turn on the switch and within seconds you should be removing your fingers unless there's something wrong with you.

Rroff · 16 Jun 2016 at 12:26

Whitewater said:
If a soldering iron were capable of electrocuting you by touching the business end it would damage electrical components as well - like every capacitor ever soldered to a circuit board (pop!) - and be pretty well unfit for purpose.

Only if there was a path for the electrical charge to flow to ground. Bit of circuit board sitting on some helping hands without any connections off board you could poke components all day long with an iron sitting at (a theoretical) 240v in respect to ground and nothing should happen AFAIK.