I blew the ends off a pair of multimeter probes when fault finding on a vacuum cleaner motor/controller a while back at 240V. Bridged/touched something in the wrong way despite being damn careful. Big flash. Smoke. Nope. Chucked the vacuum cleaner in the bin, grabbed a beer and bought a new vacuum cleaner the next day. That told me enough about mains voltage to give up on it TBH (well, until next time).
Mains electricity - shocks
- Thread starter Orion21
- Start date
It has sod all to do with volts, I can take thousands at a time and still live.
Its the AMPS you need to worry about, this is the engine of electricity that will kill you dead.
Static discharge is in the 1000`s of volts but about 0.005 amps, you feel a tingle or jolt but nothing serious.
Now take 12 volt car battery with say 800 amps that is going to hurt real bad.
Its the force or AMPS so to say and not the charge that kills you.
Anything over 13amp you have to be very careful that's for sure.
Its the AMPS you need to worry about, this is the engine of electricity that will kill you dead.
Static discharge is in the 1000`s of volts but about 0.005 amps, you feel a tingle or jolt but nothing serious.
Now take 12 volt car battery with say 800 amps that is going to hurt real bad.
Its the force or AMPS so to say and not the charge that kills you.
Anything over 13amp you have to be very careful that's for sure.
Soldato
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- Southampton, hopefully not too hot, or too cold
I wouldn't want to test out this theory using an electric hob/oven, lots of Amps compared to common household equipment!
I've had a sparky claim the RCD would trip before a fatal shock, I'm not going to try and prove him wrong with a demonstration on myself, until I'm senile (hopefully at 80+).
I've had a sparky claim the RCD would trip before a fatal shock, I'm not going to try and prove him wrong with a demonstration on myself, until I'm senile (hopefully at 80+).
Volts is a flowing water in a straw so to say,(straw is amps) no matter how much water/volts you push through it will never really hurt.
Now lets make the straw the size of 12 inch pipe, see you on the floor.
Make it the size of a tunnel you dead.
Same amount of water just a bigger through put = AMPS!
House main set up is
5 amps for lights
15 amps for mains
45 amps for cooker
Still 240v. Lights will give me a tingle and shock, cooker will kill me.
Now lets make the straw the size of 12 inch pipe, see you on the floor.
Make it the size of a tunnel you dead.
Same amount of water just a bigger through put = AMPS!
House main set up is
5 amps for lights
15 amps for mains
45 amps for cooker
Still 240v. Lights will give me a tingle and shock, cooker will kill me.
Still 240v. Lights will give me a tingle and shock, cooker will kill me.
A few tens of milliamps will kill you?
You don't have a greater or lessor chance of dying simply dependant on the MCB rating for that circuit, because in practice the RCD will trip first.
Not a particularly wise assumption to make, I mean, how do we know how many houses really have modern RCD units?
Itchy's posts are plainly wrong and it is ignorantly dangerous to suggest the above.
240V is sufficient to create a fatal current in a human regardless of the circuit it comes from. An AC current over 30mA has the potential to kill you.
240V is sufficient to create a fatal current in a human regardless of the circuit it comes from. An AC current over 30mA has the potential to kill you.
I would say the large majority of properties do. Any new installation comes under the 17th edition regs which require RCD protection. Those that don't are probably privately owned and would not pass an electrical safety test.
Nothing wrong with my assumption, as I would expect anyone who had need to do work of an electrical nature would likely call an electrician. Only an idiot would mess about with the electrics without doing any research or checking that a modern consumer unit was fitted.
I worked briefly as a domestic electrician but mainly I've worked in industry on the maintenance side.
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That's my understanding too.
That's a very silly and irresponsible assumption to make - particularly if as you say you've worked/work as an electrician!
Of course. Anyone who's ever changed a light fitting or swapped a socket faceplate in a property with an old wire-type fusebox is an "idiot"
This is very inaccurate... I believe it only take 10-15mA (that's 0.015 Amps) to cause muscle spasm and remove your ability of letting go of the item shocking you. 15mA ish+ you are in real trouble. 30mA and it's game over. Lots of people have different ideas on these figures though... I was taught 3-5mA for muscle spasms.
If you are working anywhere where there is a exposed live the safest way to help yourself stay alive is to put one hand behind your back. This removes the possibility of leaning on something slightly conductive with your other arm and sending the current straight across your heart.
Our humble mains supply is absolutely lethal given the right circumstances, never mess with it without a full understanding of the possible dangers
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Soldato
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240 Volts is for girls. Real men electrocute themselves with 415 Volts and knock one out while they're still twitching.
I can't speak for everyone, and the OP was asking a question and not intending to carry out any work on his property. So my assumption was simply a way of speaking for the majority of properties.
Of course. Anyone who's ever changed a light fitting or swapped a socket faceplate in a property with an old wire-type fusebox is an "idiot"
I wasn't meaning trivial things like that. I was saying that, in reference to someone, unqualified, intending to carry out work which only a certified electrician should carry out.
I've had the pleasure of wiring up 3 Phase switch gear to live bus bars... we spent a good hour double insulating some of our tools with self amalg tape. There was no health and safety back then in the day
Then just pray you don't get a shock across the phases
Only if you short live-earth. If you get yourself between live-neutral you're going to have a really unpleasant time regardless of any RCD
It has sod all to do with volts, I can take thousands at a time and still live.
Its the AMPS you need to worry about, this is the engine of electricity that will kill you dead.
Static discharge is in the 1000`s of volts but about 0.005 amps, you feel a tingle or jolt but nothing serious.
Now take 12 volt car battery with say 800 amps that is going to hurt real bad.
Its the force or AMPS so to say and not the charge that kills you.
Anything over 13amp you have to be very careful that's for sure.
Electricity doesn't work that way mate. Yes, it's the current that causes the fatal disruption of your nervous system which can kill you, but remember that V=IxR (or I=V/R). You can have a power source which can supply as many millions of amperes as you like, but if the voltage isn't high enough when divided by the resistance to allow enough current to flow, nothing's going to happen.
Case in point - you can happily touch each terminal with a car battery with each hand and literally feel nothing at all, as the resistance between your two hands is in the mega-Ohm range, and 12v/2,500,000Ω is 4.8x10^-6 A, which several orders of magnitude less than what you can feel.
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I've had a 415 belt. It certainly perks you up. I was working on a machine with an isolator. The isolator was faulty and in the off position, but it wasn't off it was on. Instead of going in with my meter to check for a supply, which is what I should have done, I just went in with my tools and started work. Then zap !