Oooops - discovered that the depth stop on my circular saw needs to be done up really tight today.
Found this out after very carefully setting the depth and cutting a floor board with water pipes underneath. Holding a running circular saw as a 1
foot fountain appears is an interesting (hopefully not to be repeated) experience. Finding out 20 minutes later that the next pipe was a gas pipe
that the gas fitter hadn't removed when he moved the boiler was a little scary.
Spent the rest of the evening mopping up and sorting out the pipes. Due to having a dripping light fitting i removed the light in the kitchen (after
turning the electrics off). Spaced out the wires and turned on the lights again so the g/f could see. Forgot i'd turned the electrics on so the
misses could see and .....
well .........
turns out if you electrocute yourself whilst putting a light back, and your insulated from ground, and your girlfriend is grounded, and she's
holding a metal fitting, that she's handing to you .........
She doesn't find it funny that she got electrocuted
She also doesn't find it funny that you're laughing your head off saying things like "wowsers, that was a shock, haven't done that
since i was about ten"
Note to self - always check the electrics are off before tampering
PMSL
Wowser! SApeaking as a qualified electrician, you have both had an extremely lucky escape. A good friend of mine tried to change a light bulb in her
kitchen. She could not remember if light switch was on or off and she got a shock that made her grip the light fitting harder and harder as the fuse
didnt blow. She eventually shook herself free of the metal step ladder she was standing on and fell some distance to the floor. Some time later she
was found laid on the concrete kitchen floor by her teenage daughter. She had been unable to get o her feet as she had a very bad compound fractures
to both her tibia and fibia. It was so bad that the first surgeon that saw her considered amputating her leg below the knee. It was only looked at
again because one of the nurses pointed out that she was infact a theatre nurse at the same hospital.
Please, please, please make sure you switch off at the main switch before working on live circuits. And remember, pulling out a fuse or switching off
a circuit breaker only stops the live/phase and we do have AC power in the UK !
Glad you are both ok and can you see the funny side of this.
I'm normally very good with switching things off. I deliberately have a cooker switch with a power socket so i can power down the whole house
apart from one isolated socket.
Unfortunately i've only been living with someone a few months and aren't used to having to take them into account (and have some power on).
With the kitchen being dark i forgot the lights had power. One thing that does surprise me now looking back was that the RCD didn't trip (new CU
installed 2 weeks ago so only had RCD's for a couple of weeks!)
Hmmm. PC mouse has been playing around recently so went and bought another tonight. Took over an hour for the software to load (2nd time after an
error message during loading). Haven't been able to get new mouse/keyboard working but old mouse now works fine. (£30 wasted).
Missus killed the shower this evening, so just ordered another (for £280).
Lightswitch in living room knackered (dimmer, no knob) using a screwdriver in hole, got shock. so need some of them.
And I spent about £95 on diesel before all this started.
And the (Anglian Windows) front door has no adjustment on hinges (and was last adjusted by them when they fitted it), and it's dropped. More to
the point they want £104 for a callout. Anglian Windows won't be invited to work on this house again. to55ers
At least the oil leak on toy car only turned out to be loose pump cover screws!
Cheap night!
ATB
Simon
[Edited on 11/8/10 by Simon]
quote:
Originally posted by slingshot2000
Please, please, please make sure you switch off at the main switch before working on live circuits. And remember, pulling out a fuse or switching off a circuit breaker only stops the live/phase and we do have AC power in the UK !
Glad you are both ok and can you see the funny side of this.
Seriously, YES!
In the Uk we use "alternating current" to transmit power; IE- it goes 240volt positive to 240volt negative ! You fuse is on the live side of
the circuit, while it is live! Switch this off and the "neutral" is sat there; waiting to alternate !
Most electrical 'faults' in the UK are neutral/earth faults, and thay are connected together(same voltage) back at the power-station, but at
your house(240volts) can and will kill you.
Switch it off!
I use a voltage detector that can sense upto 600volts to mkae sure a circuit is dead, before I work on said circuit, I then make sure the circuit
tester is still working - using a battery powered 'verifying -unit' !
NEVER WORK LIVE !
quote:
Originally posted by slingshot2000
In the Uk we use "alternating current" to transmit power; IE- it goes 240volt positive to 240volt negative
actually it goes up to about 350V each way, the 240v is a root mean squared value.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_mean_square
" Electrocuted " means killed by electricity - from American electric chair, electricity + executed.
Are you having a joint funeral ?
if i mess up again probably
Thank you.......I have just read out your post to the whole sales team, who haven't stopped laughing, nothing like some one elses misfortune to
brighten up the day. (Sorry....I know it could have been much more serious and prob not a laughing matter.)
Anyway I'll see you at the next meet, i'll def buy you a drink for such an entertaining story!!! Hopfully I'll have some build updates
too.
Pete.
[Edited on 12/8/10 by peteday_uk@btinternet.com]
quote:
Originally posted by Grimsdale
actually it goes up to about 350V each way, the 240v is a root mean squared value.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_mean_square
quote:
Originally posted by slingshot2000
Seriously, YES!
In the Uk we use "alternating current" to transmit power; IE- it goes 240volt positive to 240volt negative ! You fuse is on the live side of the circuit, while it is live! Switch this off and the "neutral" is sat there; waiting to alternate!
Neutral is earthed at the local sub-station, IIRC.
This means that it can have a significant voltage induced from the live wire if the sub-station is far away.
The end result is:
Live - obviously, loads of volts
Neutral - floating somewhere between earth and live.
Earth - should be local earth - but may not be if you're busy chasing a fault in the wiring.
[Edited on 12/8/10 by David Jenkins]
i guess ive got another bit of uck with the substation being about 200 meters away.
As for the stop cock, i always have it an eigth of a turn off full on so there is less chance of it seizing on. Boiler people had it only just on. I
hit fully closed within a turn,mild panic thinking ive turned it the wrong way, turned the tap the other way, all the way to fully on, more anxiety,
turned the tap off - finally.
quote:
Originally posted by slingshot2000
Seriously, YES!
In the Uk we use "alternating current" to transmit power; IE- it goes 240volt positive to 240volt negative ! You fuse is on the live side of the circuit, while it is live! Switch this off and the "neutral" is sat there; waiting to alternate !
Most electrical 'faults' in the UK are neutral/earth faults, and thay are connected together(same voltage) back at the power-station, but at your house(240volts) can and will kill you.
Switch it off!
I use a voltage detector that can sense upto 600volts to mkae sure a circuit is dead, before I work on said circuit, I then make sure the circuit tester is still working - using a battery powered 'verifying -unit' !
NEVER WORK LIVE !
good post there liam, i was going to mention similar about the neutral thing but didnt want to get into a row over it.
quote:
Originally posted by JoelP
good post there liam, i was going to mention similar about the neutral thing but didnt want to get into a row over it.
Liam - thanks for the post .........
I got a good tingle / zap in my hand and I moved it instantly going wowsers. G/f got a funny sensation and achy / tingly foot.
You've got me worried about the RCD as the whole lot was changed, it was tested (well one socket a room was & he got the count of sockets
wrong!)
Problem i've now got is i'm really not happy with the work the gas company did (they subcontracted the spark). I've had them back twice
to fix faults and i'm still fixing things (like floor boards). The spark wasn't impressive either.
Is there a simple way to safely DIY test an RCD? (should they just pull out like old style fuses as well?)
quote:
Originally posted by Liam
quote:
Originally posted by JoelP
good post there liam, i was going to mention similar about the neutral thing but didnt want to get into a row over it.
Lol thanks! I dont want to get into any rows - just dispel myths and misunderstandings . Maybe lately I'm suffering a little from 'someone-is-wrong-on-the-internet-raaaaaa' syndrome?
I have been stupid enough to trip an RCD before and it was more like being hit than tingled, so it is possible the fault current was just too low to
operate the RCD. The only way to be sure is to test it properly though. You should have an EIC and on it should be a page of test results, and on that
should be tripping times in ms for the RCDs.
Are you sure your lighting circuit is on an RCD? As David says they traditionally wouldn't be, but the latest regs concerning protecting cables
concealed in walls (i.e. your switch drops, for example) effectively impose RCD requirements on all circuits in a domestic install. So it's most
likely all your circuits were (or should have been) put on two or more RCDs during the CU swap. Photo of CU would help.
The RCDs are DIN rail mounted and wont just pull out, not that that would aid you in testing one anyway. The test button only tests the internal
mechanism of the RCD itself - that it isn't stuck for example. It does not confirm that a circuit connected to the RCD will operate it in the
event of a fault. You can't really test one fully without a proper RCD tester. I mean you could always deliberately wire up a neutral/earth fault
then turn the circuit on - that will trip the RCD without much drama, but I dont recommend that at all. And even if you did that and verified the RCD
tripped, you wouldn't know if it tripped within the required time and at the required current level. A proper tester can do various tests and
will time how long the RCD takes to trip and also measure at what current it tripped. As above, you should have at least the trip times @ 1xrated
current on your EIC if they've been tested.
I'd still phone the company and tell them you recieved a shock that didn't trip an RCD and that you would like it testing/sorting.
a n-e fault wont always trip the rcd anyway, because if there is no current being drawn elsewhere in the house then the neutral and earth conductors
will be at the same potential.
You would need a proper test device.
Do you have two rcds in your new board? Would have to be less than a year old really to have the lights on the RCD.
The board was brand new 2 weeks ago. Its got two separated RCCB's (i think thats the term) rated at 80 amps. One covers the 3 RCD's that do
central heating, oven, downstairs lights, the other covers the 3 RCD's that do ring main, upstairs lights and shower.
It hasn't got any lights on it (that i can see - so they're not lit normally).
[Edited on 13/8/10 by MikeR]
my bad grammar, i meant the lighting circuit on the rcd, which you seem to have.
I cant see how you got a shock tbh, unless you were insulated from earth (whats your step ladder made of?) and were yourself part of a l-n circuit, in
which case the RCD would not trip, as no current would be lost to earth.
Do you have certificates from the spark who swapped the board?