Don't mess around with electricity.

[YALE]

As in, make sure your shit is in good working order. I just found out a very good friend of mine rode the lightning on Saturday. He was running a sump pump with a bad ground in a pond of some kind, stepped in the water, and cooked for half an hour at a nice combination of 220 volts and 40 amps. He shouldn't be alive, but he powered out of it, and was able to call 911 after dragging himself out. He got to enjoy some light organ failure due to his creatine level being between 2500 and 4000, and developed a blood infection and pneumonia. Luckily, he's hard as a coffin nail, and got out of the hospital today. He gets to do outpatient burn center stuff for a while, and he'll probably be on enough chemicals to kill the average suburban lawn, but the doctors think he'll be able to go back to work as a sheriff's deputy.

TL;DR - Don't ride the lightning if you can avoid it.

[helosailor]

Electrons do not fuck around.
I got to do the "440 shuffle" for about 5 seconds, and that was all it took to learn me. 115VAC, 3 phase, 440hz will get ya good.

[dee]

I hate getting shocked. The worst I've been hit was by a Ford coil pack which took me to the ground and it was just from a small pin hole in the boot.

[svauto-erotic855]

I hate getting shocked. The worst I've been hit was by a Ford coil pack which took me to the ground and it was just from a small pin hole in the boot.

I was feeling lazy once and pulled the coil wire off the cap to kill the engine; there was an MSD 7 series box on the coil. It knocked me off the car and made my legs & ass tingle.

[kingjason]

When I was getting ready to replace my pool light some dick wad offered to splice the wires under water and silicone them together if he couldn't get the wires out. I hired a different guy. The guy was like but I guarantee my work for the life of the light. Yeah fuck that.

[samuel642000]

I got hit with 7200v about a year ago, due to a case ground on a transformer being grounded incorrectly. That combined with complacency on my part made for a bad day.

Had quite a few people tell me how I shouldn't be alive or have all my limbs.

[jyro]

all pool lights must have a GFI

When I was getting ready to replace my pool light some dick wad offered to splice the wires under water and silicone them together if he couldn't get the wires out. I hired a different guy. The guy was like but I guarantee my work for the life of the light. Yeah fuck that.

make sure yours does.

[YALE]

I got hit with 7200v about a year ago, due to a case ground on a transformer being grounded incorrectly. That combined with complacency on my part made for a bad day.

Had quite a few people tell me how I shouldn't be alive or have all my limbs.

You really shouldn't be alive.

[samuel642000]

You really shouldn't be alive.

Yeah, think about it all the time. I twitched most the night while in the hospital.

[YALE]

Yeah, think about it all the time. I twitched most the night while in the hospital.

Fuuuuuuck. They told my buddy he had enough current in him, that if he'd have fallen face down, he'd be soup. The extra gross twist is, the pond in question was a sewage pond on a dairy, so that's fun.

[kingjason]

make sure yours does.

It does and I replaced it when I moved in. I still wasn't having no loose wires under water.

[GrayStangGT]

You got to watch yourself. We had a former employee get killed up in a bucket working for a competitor a few years ago. He was younger than me with a family and kid. Luckily
(knock on wood) we have avoided any major accidents.

[jyro]

I got shocked on a metal roof

I was working on a 1000 watt metal halide light on a metal roof. I thought the bulb was bad but wanted to check the 120v to the ballast. I was laying on the roof and took off the connection cover and used my insulated ideal strippers with a pliers jaw on the tip to grab the wires and pull them out so I could use the meter leads pushing inside the wire nuts to test it. I never got that far, the plier tips went through the silicone jacket on the wire and my index finger was past the edge of the stripper handle insulation. I was hooked up to the 120v and being shocked, I was laying on a metal roof, I had no helper, the ckt. was on a 40 amp breaker, I was fucked.

I was just jerking around for a while till I found myself sitting up in front of the light. I thought WTF. How did I get off that wire? I looked around, my cheek was bleeding and there was a few drops of blood on my shirt. I had hit my cheek on a roofing screw jerking around and gashed it some.

I was still trying to figure out how I got loose when I looked down at my right hand, it was still holding the Ideal strippers and was clamped on the wire still. My hand was still being shocked to just pasted my wrest but that was the only shock I could feel. I couldn't open my hand and release the strippers. I wasn't being shocked anywhere else but my right hand. I used my left hand to grab my arm and jerked hard to pull my right hand off the wire.

It looks like where I had contact on my index finger burnt till it had no more moisture and the current went down to a level that wasn't life threatening. I have a nice scar on that finger and it still burns sometimes.

I got more religion after that!

the bulb WAS bad.
This was on Hobarts shop on hwy67 at the flagpole light.

[JC316]

Stories like this and grabbing a live spark plug wire when I was 8 are the main reasons that I didn't become an electrician like my dad. Aside from a car falling on me or passing out into a parts washer from the fumes, being a mechanic isn't going to get me killed.

[HarrisonTX]

When I was getting ready to replace my pool light some dick wad offered to splice the wires under water and silicone them together if he couldn't get the wires out. I hired a different guy. The guy was like but I guarantee my work for the life of the light. Yeah fuck that.

Most pool lights are 12VDC. Youd be fine man.