You never see it coming

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K.O. SWINGER

K.O. SWINGER

Meeting in the alley since 1976
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it amazes me that when something traumatic happens quickly that even though you know what to do you can freeze. for example I went to visit my painter as he was working on my 340 swinger this week to check on the progress and take him some parts. as he was finishing up on some body welding he decided to take a break and chat with me. as he reached down and unplugged his welder he was in a half bent-over position looking right at me saying pull it apart pull it apart it took me a second to realize he was being electrocuted. I knew not to touch him and knew I had to unplug it at the source. At first I thought he was just screwing with me,, he managed to break free but it really shook him up up.
 
K.O. SWINGER said:
it amazes me that when something traumatic happens quickly that even though you know what to do you can freeze. for example I went to visit my painter as he was working on my 340 swinger this week to check on the progress and take him some parts. as he was finishing up on some body welding he decided to take a break and chat with me. as he reached down and unplugged his welder he was in a half bent-over position looking right at me saying pull it apart pull it apart it took me a second to realize he was being electrocuted. I knew not to touch him and knew I had to unplug it at the source. At first I thought he was just screwing with me,, he managed to break free but it really shook him up up.
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As a learning experience, what was he doing wrong?
 
he just over reached the insulated part of the plug and got his fingers into the metal prongs
 
That's easy to do, especially on the larger 240 plugs.
 
gregcon said:
That's easy to do, especially on the larger 240 plugs.
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yes it is. I repaired appliances as a Young Man and was always very careful with dryer cords for that exact reason. It's a mistake I doubt a person would make twice
 
Jesus. That sounds close. I hope he got checked out. A bad shock like that can show up later with heartbeat problems

I would have kicked that plug/ connector HARD
 
67Dart273 said:
Jesus. That sounds close. I hope he got checked out. A bad shock like that can show up later with heartbeat problems

I would have kicked that plug/ connector HARD
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luckily he's a young man, I told him it probably would have done me in, maybe LOL
 
Young fellow on a farm yard here got a pretty good jolt doing the same thing. Cant remember what the voltage was, but three phase. Had some nasty burns on his hand. He got lucky. So did your painter.
 
Electricity is sneaky ****. Even when you're careful it can get you. Glad it turned out well for you both.

15 years ago my 15 year old son was helping me work on my Jeep. I had a battery charger plugged up and was looking for a drain on the battery. I was doing a thorough visual inspection of the wiring when I hear a gurgling sound...I look up and his arms are in the air and he's shaking and gurgling. I ran inside the house where the extension cord was plugged in and pulled it.

When I got back outside he was lying on the concrete floor unconscious. .ran to the neighbors house to call 9-1-1 since our phone was not working correctly. When I got back I checked for a pulse and breathing. Thankfully both good.

He was being electrocuted and when I pulled the plug he fell, hit his head, and knocked himself out. He came too after medical arrived.

The hospital checked his lactic acid level and kept pumping saline solution into him to get it down. He ended up staying the night at the hospital.

I threw the charger away. Then exploring around the house I found the ground from the power meter dangling from a water pipe. I put a 6' ground rod into the ground and connected the ground to it.

Son is now 30 years old and healthy. Scared the crap out of dad though!!
 
I've had my share of close calls. Used to do service work on HVAC and some install work. After that I worked for Motorola for awhile installing E911 radio/ telco gear, and did some tower climbing.

One time we were pulling out an electric furnace used as aux heat for a heat pump. We were installing a high efficiency gas furnace, leaving the heat pump on AC only. The panel was not marked, daylight basement off the garage, where the panel was located. Found all the 220 breakers for the furnace, no problem, pulled them loose. There was a condensate pump hard wired into a J box. Did not know which breaker. Pulled the lid off, stuck a beeper into the black hot wire, and went out and played easter egg. Beeper quit on one breaker, it was a single breaker. Went back in, pulled the wire nuts off, pulled the nut off the box clamp and pulled the (BX) cable out of the box. KER BLAMB OH White wire was hot. The breaker for IT was about 6 breakers down the row from the black one--IT WAS A 220 PUMP

One of stupidest mistakes I made was we were putting a horizontal LP furnace into a homeowner built home with crawl space. It was a mess, down there. Damp (winter, new house construction) bumpy and rocky and trash in it. We were trying to get the furnace all hooked up and running. There was a loose baseboard heater about 8ft long lying down there, in the road. Owner had been using it for temp heat. I tried to move it, was hooked to something. I asked owner who was looking on. "It's not hooked up." "You sure?" "I'm sure." Ruined a pair of (insulated handle) Klein nippers. I am lucky I wasn't touching the damn things metal. No10 Romex 220V
 
66fyssh said:
Electricity is sneaky ****. Even when you're careful it can get you. Glad it turned out well for you both.

15 years ago my 15 year old son was helping me work on my Jeep. I had a battery charger plugged up and was looking for a drain on the battery. I was doing a thorough visual inspection of the wiring when I hear a gurgling sound...I look up and his arms are in the air and he's shaking and gurgling. I ran inside the house where the extension cord was plugged in and pulled it.

When I got back outside he was lying on the concrete floor unconscious. .ran to the neighbors house to call 9-1-1 since our phone was not working correctly. When I got back I checked for a pulse and breathing. Thankfully both good.

He was being electrocuted and when I pulled the plug he fell, hit his head, and knocked himself out. He came too after medical arrived.

The hospital checked his lactic acid level and kept pumping saline solution into him to get it down. He ended up staying the night at the hospital.

I threw the charger away. Then exploring around the house I found the ground from the power meter dangling from a water pipe. I put a 6' ground rod into the ground and connected the ground to it.

Son is now 30 years old and healthy. Scared the crap out of dad though!!
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wow! Way too close for comfort.
 
I flip the breakers on 220's before unplugging. Had my share of jolts. Once was enough.
 
The problem with the dryer plugs is they aren't designed for daily unplugging. They're really meant to plug in the dryer once then not be touched again for many years. When you use them on a welder, they get plugged/unplugged many more times....and each time is an opportunity for a zap. I've also noticed the female receptacle in the wall doesn't hold up well to lots of use, either.
 
66fyssh said:
Electricity is sneaky ****. Even when you're careful it can get you. Glad it turned out well for you both.

15 years ago my 15 year old son was helping me work on my Jeep. I had a battery charger plugged up and was looking for a drain on the battery. I was doing a thorough visual inspection of the wiring when I hear a gurgling sound...I look up and his arms are in the air and he's shaking and gurgling. I ran inside the house where the extension cord was plugged in and pulled it.

When I got back outside he was lying on the concrete floor unconscious. .ran to the neighbors house to call 9-1-1 since our phone was not working correctly. When I got back I checked for a pulse and breathing. Thankfully both good.

He was being electrocuted and when I pulled the plug he fell, hit his head, and knocked himself out. He came too after medical arrived.

The hospital checked his lactic acid level and kept pumping saline solution into him to get it down. He ended up staying the night at the hospital.

I threw the charger away. Then exploring around the house I found the ground from the power meter dangling from a water pipe. I put a 6' ground rod into the ground and connected the ground to it.

Son is now 30 years old and healthy. Scared the crap out of dad though!!
Click to expand...
I learned not to wear a wedding ring whilst working around a car battery. Circular blister.
 
A friend of my got fried pretty bad years ago. He was working for a large company. They were going in one of those big fenced-in areas where all the power get distributed. The night before the crew was supposed to have it all shut down. Well it wasn't. From the testimony of the other workers that morning, we was walking in with the foreman. He was about 10 feet behind him. A bolt of electricity hit his foreman and then a bolt went from the foreman to him. Foreman was killed instantly. My friend doesn't remember a thing. He was in a coma for months. While in a coma they amputated one arm at the elbow and did multiple surgeries to save what was left of his other hand. He's lucky to be alive. Super nice guy also.
 
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