Watching my grandson this weekend.
Fished out a fax machine from the dumpster.
After finding no useable parts inside, I proceeded to save the cord by cutting it off.
Unknownst to me, he had plugged it in.
Fireworks show and wire cutter transformed in a wire stripper.
Breaker never tripped. Is that normal?
Anyone know if there is a way to hide the burn spot on the carpet?
Fished out a fax machine from the dumpster.
After finding no useable parts inside, I proceeded to save the cord by cutting it off.
Unknownst to me, he had plugged it in.
Fireworks show and wire cutter transformed in a wire stripper.
Breaker never tripped. Is that normal?
Anyone know if there is a way to hide the burn spot on the carpet?
In my experiance, the breaker should have tripped! I usually ground out the hot wire to trip the "correct" breaker (don't try this at home!) You do get a nice light show and if you use lineman pliers to do the deed, yes you get a homemade pair of wire strippers ;) You could have a faulty breaker....
Set the kid on the burned spot. Claim he f@rted. :)
Best,
Frank
P.S. Glad you're both okay!
Best,
Frank
P.S. Glad you're both okay!
Most breakers trip at about 15 amps. It takes about 1 amp to stop a heart. What you need is a GFCI outlet/module, that trips when there's a difference between current flowing across the two hot wires (e.g. when there is electricity flowing through your body into the ground, instead of back into the circuit). That's what will save your ass. The breakers are to prevent the in-wall wires from overheating.
Safety switches still take at least one full cycle to kick in, and that one cycle is still enough to stall your heart. Wear rubber boots when working with mains power devices, and perform idiot checks!
I've been working around 600Amp continuous (not peak!) gear lately and I take *Nothing* for granted ;)
I've been working around 600Amp continuous (not peak!) gear lately and I take *Nothing* for granted ;)
It takes about 1 amp to stop a heart.
Perhaps, with a low voltage DC circuit.
Assuming a 110-240 volt AC circuit, anything from 1mA up can induce vfib, depending on all of the variables. It doesn't take much more than a couple hundred mA's to seize the heart muscles altogether.
It takes about 1 amp to stop a heart.
Yeah but that's not very dangerous.
DC current will more likely contract a muscle (and it will do that at MUCH lower amperage than 1A, like, 1000 times lower.). So it will stop the heart for a moment. Very weak hearts won't start again, but in most healthy humans the hearts will start again. This is precisely how defibrilators work.
AC current, OTOH, is far more dangerous. At even lower amperages it may cause internal nerve signals to go crazy. A condition known as fibrillaton (in fact t there are many different types of fibrillations, depending on how exactly the desynchronized heart wroks). The heart, in fact, works, but is completely desynchronized and therefore does not pump the blood, AND/OR pumps it backwards (very lethal), AND/OR some of its parts may, literally, explode due to increasing internal pressure, AND/OR it may infarct.
Stopping a heart for a moment is not a big deal in most sutuations. Desynchronizing it is very lethal. Defibrillators stop a desynchronized heart for a moment so it may resynchronize itself.
In my experiance, the breaker should have tripped! I usually ground out the hot wire to trip the "correct" breaker (don't try this at home!) You do get a nice light show and if you use lineman pliers to do the deed, yes you get a homemade pair of wire strippers ;) You could have a faulty breaker....
I think you're right.
The G.E. breaker box was made in the 80's
It was a 20 amp breaker and my unintended "welding job" had to pulling way more than that.
Look at the bright side - at least its AC, you've got a 50 percent chance of being thrown in the right direction ;)