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There is no such thing as accident; it is fate misnamed.
Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte
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Loring in Katy, TX USA
If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to treat all problems as if they were nails.
BT3 FAQ - https://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/di...sked-questions -
Hmmm, are you saying that this event was an attempt at fratricide, Lee??
Blessings,
Chiz
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For the Marine Corps. side of the decision. How loud was the pop? Did the tractor operator have all of the proper licenses?
CapncarlComment
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Gee Guys,
I wonder how long this post would be if some was electrocuted??
And all this angst over a pair of pliers?
I guess everyone has way too much time on their hands. Are we turning into the "Judge Judy" show?
Bruce,
I'm getting really bored with some of these threads!"Western civilization didn't make all men equal,
Samuel Colt did"
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Now just let me say, that the guy that re-energized the line, knowing it was exposed, and knowing it was damaged needs to be held to account for leaving something like that dangerously exposed. What would be happening now if say some neighbors kid tried picking that line up by the exposed end out of childish curiousity? Chances are there would be severe legal charges.
To the issue at hand though. The person, ANY person presuming to take a pair of cutters and slice into a wire to work on it should make 100% dang sure that the line they are about to cut into is NOT energized. Their own safety is their responsibility.
Now if say the person doing the energizing was you, and the person doing the cutting was a friend or family member of yours, helping you out. Do the decent thing, replace the pliers, buy them a beer, have a good laugh about it and be glad that you can bicker over a stupid pair of pliers instead of having to fit either one of yall for a box.
And no I am not immune to electrical stupidity. One of my best friends was helping me swap out an electric water heater years ago, we thought the breaker was off. It wasn't, he got bit... BTW. He requested we make DANG sure the circuits were better marked when I had the new box put in...Please like and subscribe to my YouTube channel. Please check out and subscribe to my Workshop Blog.Comment
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I'm not an electrician, but I frequently pretend I am one. I have an old pair of cutting pliers that a real electrician gave me. They have really thick rubber grips and lots of notches on the cutters. They always make the first cut! If you turned off the wrong breaker the pliers will turn off the right one for you. I have never tried this on anything larger than 12/2 romex. I also have an old screwdriver that checks for "still hot in the box" after the power has been switched off.
That said, my rule of thumb is: He who can get hurt is responsible for seeing to it that things are safe to work on.
Bill
on the left coastComment
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I think a general consensus has been reached.
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Buying a proximity aka non-contact tester and using it solves the ooops factor too.Comment
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Sure, why not.
So, I was the cutter. The house is one of my brother's places, and I went over there to fix the line that was damaged (it was going to be replaced anyway, since it was being run through a garden hose previously).
I knew it was damaged by the back hoe, and assumed that there was no way someone would turn the power back on to a line that was damaged and open (even though it was partially re-buried when they filled in around the foundation again).
Initially my take was it was his (or whomever turned the power on- it may have been a renter) fault, because it's so incredibly stupid and irresponsible. But his point was it was my fault, as I should have checked.
And, I realize now his position was correct (it kills me to admit that).Comment
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I voted that the majority of fault was yours, but it was still dumb for someone to turn the power back on.....regardless, if my brother did that trying to help me, there's no way I'd even suggest that he replace my cutters.Happiness is sort of like wetting your pants....everyone can see it, but only you can feel the warmth.
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The best way to survive working with electric is using a non-contact tester to CYA.
But, I also get annoyed when one of my maint techs uses one and claims something has power and it really doesn't have the full 120/240 or whatever it should have. Too lazy to get the meter out.
I work on 3phase stuff at work with the large HVAC units or chillers and you better pay attention or you are going to have a problem. I only had one big ooops working on a large trane unit. I turned a unit off, did some troubleshooting and found the small control fuse was bad. I walked downstairs to the control room and picked up a new fuse, walked back upstairs and stuck the fuse in barehanded since it is a small glass fuse. Someone turned the power back on in the 3 minutes I was gone and I got a big surprise when it touched the fuse holder. I dropped the fuse and it broke. So I almost had to clean my shorts and walk back downstairs for a new fuse. Want to bet I checked it was off this time?Comment
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Hello?
how does this thread keep getting pushed back to the top with no apparent posts? It was about beat to death. Maybe it is the marines that monitor my email re-triggering it?
capncarlComment
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