Electric Shock but Mains Off?

[cervezaman]

monoloco said:

Did pretty much the same myself a few years back -effectively put myself in series with a 60W light bulb. Still gave me enough of a kick that my arm shot back and the screwdriver I had in my hand ended up embedded in the wall on the opposite side of the room like a circus knife thrower. Turned out one of the previous occupants of the place was either an utter bodge artist or a thief (or both!) and had hooked up one of the lighting circuits in a way that bypassed the electric meter -and the fuse box unit so it wasn't even fused. 'kin crazy.

Result is I would NEVER touch any electrics without using a mains tester as recommended above. They're cheap as chips and could just save your life.

(PS the embarrassing bit is I'm a full member of the IET which makes me a Chartered Electrical Engineer so I really should have know better!)

Yep, I have a mains tester in my UK tool box but not here! Will get one ASAP!

[cervezaman]

Spare tyre said:

My first test would be to turn the light on and see what happens when the circuit is off via the breaker

Just done that and the light goes off when I flip the breaker down.....

[PH5121]

Any fluorescent lights in the circuit? Some have capacitors in them which could have discharged to give you a belt.

[rossw46]

Exactly how many cervezas were consumed prior to this undertaking?

[cervezaman]

rossw46 said:

Exactly how many cervezas were consumed prior to this undertaking?

All of them :-)

[Richard-D]

Spanish electrics, all bets are off. It's as likely to be wired up with a length of safety pins as T+E.

[james0]

Spanish electric s are notoriously st. Nothing else to add really.

[Wagonwheel555]

I am a fairly competent DIYer but at this point I would be calling in an experienced electrician to work out what is going on.