Nelstomlinson
New member
On the electricity-in-the-shelter angle, here's my best guess:
If a live wire touches the outside of a metal box with you inside it, you should be fine. If the box is mostly buried, the current flowing through the box to ground might cause problems, like melting a hole in the box, but you shouldn't get in trouble. There was an incident a few years back, somewhere, in which a crane touched a 38kV line and was electrified. The way I heard the story, the operator was quite safe sitting in the crane cab. He didn't die until he panicked and jumped off the crane. The arc cooked him in mid air. Stay in the box until the electricity is shut off!
If the metal box is wired inside, and you are inside and touch the live wire and the metal box at the same time, you get shocked, just as if you were in your house and touched a live wire and a plumbing pipe at the same time. Same old familiar hazard.
If a live wire touches the outside of a metal box with you inside it, you should be fine. If the box is mostly buried, the current flowing through the box to ground might cause problems, like melting a hole in the box, but you shouldn't get in trouble. There was an incident a few years back, somewhere, in which a crane touched a 38kV line and was electrified. The way I heard the story, the operator was quite safe sitting in the crane cab. He didn't die until he panicked and jumped off the crane. The arc cooked him in mid air. Stay in the box until the electricity is shut off!
If the metal box is wired inside, and you are inside and touch the live wire and the metal box at the same time, you get shocked, just as if you were in your house and touched a live wire and a plumbing pipe at the same time. Same old familiar hazard.