240v electricution. Why no ouch?

[Davi]

bit confused on two things - firstly, why I'm still alive, secondly, why I'm not in any pain!

Last night I had to replace a socket that got damaged by falling masonry. Whilst there I decided to sink the box in rather than leave a surface mount box. To cut a long story short, the battery died on my drill so I had to make safe / flip CB on, use mains drill, flip CB off, test fit box and feed wire, mark up, make safe, flip CB on, use drill etc etc etc....

Somewhere in the shenanigans (and I blame having a streaming cold confuddling me) I forgot the step of "flip CB off" and grabbed hold of two wires in each hand...

A mild buzzing sensation, some rattling of the teeth and I realised my error. None of the CB's tripped (though testing them they all work fine) so how come I managed to grab a positive in one hand, negative in the other and barely felt it?!

[Mc Lovin]

takes a while to kick in, you'll be dead soon enough

[MartG]

IIRC If your skin is dry it can be high enough resistance to not get a shock

[Davi]

thanks Mcl.. [/alive]

[merc_man]

If you were electrocuted then you aren't still alive. You must be posting this from the afterlife. HTH.

[Plotloss]

Consider yourself lucky and dont do it again.

[anonymous-user]

There isn't a positive & negative with A/C Live & nuetral.

[Mc Lovin]

Where you kneeling, squatting or standing up? did you have boots on?

[MK4 Slowride]

It's beacuse your Eléktró boy.

Say hi to Elvis.

[Yuxi]

You obviously did not get a proper shock, I've had a few doing similar things and it hurts, the last one left my arm aching for few hours.

Steve

[GreenDog]

It's happened to me before whilst sinking a socket - I'd be interested to know why it'd kill some folk on not me (or you).

[Neil_H]

You are invincible!

I'd suggest testing this by starting a fight with a gorilla, and trying to jump out of a high window.


Disclaimer: Just kidding, terms & conditions apply, always read the label.

[andy-xr]

It's not volts that will kill you, its amps

[anonymous-user]

andy-xr said:

It's not volts that will kill you, its amps

Go and stick your tongue on the EHT lead of a CRT screen and tell me how you get on

[Davi]

Mc Lovin said:

Where you kneeling, squatting or standing up? did you have boots on?

kneeling, wearing nowt more than jeans a t-shirt and socks.

Plotloss said:

Consider yourself lucky and dont do it again.

Oh I do, most definitely. I'm always anal about electrical safety and more shocked that I did it than I got from it!

[whitechief]

I've had four belts off the mains over the years, none of them hurt at the time, just had a bit of an achey arm afterwards.

[Mc Lovin]

Davi said:

Mc Lovin said:

Where you kneeling, squatting or standing up? did you have boots on?

kneeling, wearing nowt more than jeans a t-shirt and socks.

Plotloss said:

Consider yourself lucky and dont do it again.

Oh I do, most definitely. I'm always anal about electrical safety and more shocked that I did it than I got from it!

Weird, you must be suitably electrically charged all ready then! I remember when my brother got a shock of a bed side lamp, a massive blue arc jumped out, i asked him if it hurt but he was too busy crying...

That did trip the CB

[speedy_thrills]

Davi said:

how come I managed to grab a positive in one hand, negative in the other and barely felt it?!

Bad contacts? Try again with wet hands.

In all seriousness though you should get a sparky to do this stuff for you or at least some live line gloves . You are a very lucky boy.

[Davi]

Mc Lovin said:

Weird, you must be suitably electrically charged all ready then! I remember when my brother got a shock of a bed side lamp, a massive blue arc jumped out, i asked him if it hurt but he was too busy crying...

That did trip the CB

I would say that the shock I received felt less than the tens machine I use for back pain - quite similar though in as much as it pulsed repeatedly.

[andy-xr]

Dave_ST220 said:

andy-xr said:

It's not volts that will kill you, its amps

Go and stick your tongue on the EHT lead of a CRT screen and tell me how you get on

I have no desire to do that! What I have done on the car is grabbed 5A open wire without any problem, but the main coil HT lead when the car was running put me in a bush