Re: from whence electrical-conduit locknuts?

In article <Xns9A1E7C30CE4FCzoodlewurdle@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Lostgallifreyan
<no-one@xxxxxxxxxxx> scribeth thus
websurf1@xxxxxxx wrote in news:72dfedce-8258-4174-a000-
30c68847d772@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:

On one of my long-ago jobs while in college, I once used a standard
Craftsman screwdriver to tighten a LIVE but loose 480 3-phase
connection.

I survived. But only later did I stop to realize that the plastic was
probably not rated for any kind of voltage, much less anything in that
range. I get nervous just remembering. Methinks God protects
fools....


The plastic might have been enough actually, but I'd have been anxious
about a sudden lowering of resistance in that connection while working it,
if there was much current flowing. It might have melted explosively at you.
I once tried to reconnect a 240V 100A AC line (with no accessible upstream
switch) not realising that immediately downstream there was a full short
circuit caused by an earlier accident. There shouldn't have been, a pair of
100A terminal blocks takes a LOT to melt down and fuse together that badly,
but so it was, and on applying the connection, it swore at me the way only
a high energy short can (people several rooms away heard it shout), and it
sputtered my eyeballs and the skin of my face with a nice copper vapour
deposition that took days to grow out entirely, and itched fiercely most of
the time. For the first tem minutes I was totally flash blinded, and I was
in nervous shock (not electrical, I took care to at least get that right)
for several hours. Had to attend a science project that evening too, that
was no fun, it should have been, but all I wanted was a dark and quiet
place to rest for a while.

And the weirdest thing of all was that I did it TWICE. The nervous shock
set in instantly, I was so confused I pushed the cable in again as if it
would have worked right the second time. You have been warned! The nervous
shock alone will scramble your system so badly you'll do something wrong
again before you react sanely enough to start doing the right thing. I was
lucky enough to remain on my feet, on a chair I was standing on without
falling against the wall or worse, and had no permanent injury, but I think
fate gives us single warnings on stuff like that. We have to heed them.


You were very lucky you didn't get a belt from it as well ..I had one
many years ago when I couldn't let go, and it was fortunate that someone
was nearby who did notice and realise what was going on..

I still remember every microsecond of it, the pain was excruciating I
couldn't move anything just this loud humming and my body violently
shaking:((
--
Tony Sayer


.

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