Low voltage shocks

Adirondack case guy · Mar 25, 2019

There was a post the other day about getting shock when touching steel jacket power tools. Yesterday, it seamed that every time I touched my Harman pellet stove or the drill press or bench sander in my cellar shop, I got a tingle. My well pit floods this time of year, so I thought perhaps as someone said the well pump wiring was causing this. HOWever when I went out into the driveway to get something out of our car, I got bit bad when I reached for the door handle. The Car was not plugged into anything.
Loren

Charles in Aus. · Mar 25, 2019

Synthetic clothes will do that , especially when coupled with certain types of boot soles .
There was a case in Warrnambool , Victoria , where a fellow developed a static charge numbering tens of thousands of volts .

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2005-09-16/man-builds-up-30000-volts-of-static-electricity/2104828

Makes you want to make sure you don't wear nylon underwear

K Effective · Mar 25, 2019

My new Skechers composite toe work shoes are light and comfortable, but must be extra-static inducing. Yesterday I got shocked twice by a laptop, once by the coffee cup cabinet and four or five times from the tool box. Guess I should have spent more time out in the plant and less in the office.

JayinNY · Mar 25, 2019

Steve capprizzo said on the news tonight there's 0 dew point, so that means static electricity, when you touch metal, you get zapped, I put a pan of water on top of my wood stove to add moisture back in to the house as the wood heat makes the air so dry, you know who he is right?

JF in MI · Mar 25, 2019

This happens in the winter all the time when the humidity is low. When I'm working in the basement, every time I get up from the cloth chair I'm sitting in and go to the gun vault I get zapped. When I'm upstairs and get off the sofa to fold away the TV (it's on a wall mount) I get zapped and the TV blinks off for a second. Don't get anything off the machines in the shop 'cause I don't have any cloth chairs in there. It's irritating but eventually ends as the spring and summer humidity move in.

old bc · Mar 25, 2019

I found out there is a down side to plastic toilet seats.
I get zapped every time I touch the water faucet after I get done.

MarkB_MI · Mar 26, 2019

You can usually tell the difference between a static shock and one caused by line voltage. Your body's static charge is discharged when you touch a grounded object (or any object with a different charge voltage). But a "tingle" from leaking line voltage doesn't get discharged and you'll feel it when you touch the object a second time. If it's the latter case, you need to find the source of the problem before it kills somebody.

Stephen Newell · Mar 26, 2019

I think I must have gotten a 220v shock one time as a result of a metal case circular saw. I was working for hours bent over with a hand held circular saw and about the time I was done I was near a table saw that someone was running and reached over to grab the metal rail on the saw to stand up. Then zap I was frozen to it. I had to tell myself over and over to let go to get loose from it. I think I must have gotten one leg from the circular saw and one from the table saw. I didn't have the tools then to do any testing so I never found out what happened. I never used that circular saw again. I turned it in to the boss and told him I was nearly electrocuted.

Adirondack case guy · Mar 26, 2019

I have a unique (I guess) ability to just reach up and touch florescent bulbs that are flickering and they brighten rite up. Others have tried that also and didn't work for them. It got to be a joke in the break room at a job I worked. They said "hey sparky, fix the light"
Loren

showcrop · Mar 26, 2019

Twice this winter I reached for the out-door door handle in the living room with only a low wattage light on. I saw a bright blue arc jump 3/8 of an inch.

sms · Mar 26, 2019

Are there any power lines near the car? A charge can be induced to the metal objects under some atmospheric conditions. Friends do excavation for power company sometimes at substations, you have to be careful what and how you touch some machines. Just a thought. And everyone is the thinking the car is isolated by the rubber tires but with all the salt NYS uses everything becomes a conductor.

Oregon Tractor Jack · Mar 26, 2019

When the humidity is real low, like in the winter usually, you will have more static charge build up. When there is more moisture in the air, the charge will naturally discharge its self. I see a real difference when I am running the wood stove for example. The dog really doesn't want me to scratch his nose as I walk by...

OTJ

Billy Shafer · Mar 26, 2019

There is also a thing called stray voltage. Around power lines. It is rare but does happen. Can leave you with some nasty shocks.

Steve@Advance · Mar 26, 2019

Stephen, that is quite possible.

It would have required both tools to have been faulty.

The 208-220 volt range is what gets people caught up, the muscles contract, the major muscles over ride the weaker ones, and you can't let go!

When I was a teen, I was helping my dad replace the floor in the office at his workplace. He had an ancient aluminum Skill saw. The switch was bad, so when you were ready to use it, plug it in and go. There was no guard, so no sitting it down.

We had just put a new blade on, one that I had begged to get because the old one was completely burned up.

The first time I plugged it in, it went to shocking me! I dropped it, still running, on the concrete...

It went to spinning around, trying to run over my feet while I was frantically trying to get it unplugged.

Dad saw no humor in it, because I had ruined his new blade.

I got a thorough cussing, he got to finish the floor by himself, with the new saw he went and bought!

buickanddeere · Mar 26, 2019

Are we talking static charges ,induced voltage or tingle voltage caused by VD on the neutrals and bonds to the electrical service ground system ?
0.3 to 0.5V causes great discomfort and stress to livestock .

Billy NY · Mar 26, 2019

I experienced that with 220, someone left a unit heater thermostat cover off in our shop at the tractor dealership. That building was of the '47 vintage, thermostat hardwired with full voltage. It was on a steel column, I was locked to the column while the 3 exposed wires were burning my skin, I still have the 3 scars on the underside of my right wrist. 2 people pulled me off the column. All I had done was reach up to get a lens for a welding hood, caught those wires..... seemed like an eternity before it stopped.

pete 23 · Mar 26, 2019

For the static electricity part of this conversation, I have a grounding button near my desktop and cordless phone. I don't like high voltage static electricity discharging onto the computer. Also, I always touch the lamp near house thermostat to discharge my self before setting the thermostat.

If I happen to pick up the phone when I am charged up, it sometimes knocks the phone crazy noisy. Then I have to unplug the power to phone for a few seconds to restore normal operation. I got tired of crawling under the computer desk to unplug it so I put the power module right by the phone with a switch to turn it off and on.

A few years ago, I guess I was really charged up as I set off the carbon monoxide detector also. I was opening doors and wondering what was going on for a while.

Geo-TH,In · Mar 26, 2019

Static electricity in the winter is usually caused by dry air.

Stephen Newell · Mar 26, 2019

It was just a good thing I was young and stronger then. I was probably 24 then,.

Your story reminds me of another incident at the same shop. The company had purchased a new Rockwell Delta 12" radial arm saw which had a design problem. The carriage bearings which suspended the saw would break and allow the saw to drop off the arm. Twice it dropped off the arm and when it hit the table it spun to the right away from me. The first time I thought it was just a fluke but after the second time I refused to run the saw anymore so the boss started using it. When it happened to him the saw left the building that day. Come to find out the company recalled that model saw for that reason. I never heard of any one else having that problem with any radial arm saw.

coshoo · Mar 30, 2019

I had hi-voltage power line through my first place. I got tired of getting zapped, and finally got to carrying a piece of wire with an alligator clip on one end and a spike on the other, to ground out the fence before I touched it.

Low voltage shocks

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