220V electricity and 110V

[TCJatko]

https://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~p616/safety/fatal_current.html

I try to explain current and voltage to the wife. She's appalled when I tell her the flyback transformers on CRTs produce 10 KV or more but the one on the TV won't kill you. I get a blank stare.

 

[k0ua]

https://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~p616/safety/fatal_current.html

I try to explain current and voltage to the wife. She's appalled when I tell her the flyback transformers on CRTs produce 10 KV or more but the one on the TV won't kill you. I get a blank stare.

I have been hit more than once with the 25,000 volts from a flyback. Not fun, but I am still here. More like a burn than a shock. I also got on a 330 volt DC line on a tuner once.. That was more concerning.. A lot more.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I have received lots of shocks through the neutral. Usually you are touching the metal box and of course the load is connected to hot. No big deal, just something to keep in mind.

Worst shock I ever got in my life was 347. I was tucking wires back into a junction box in a drop ceiling and some idiot (not me) had the wires stripped way too long for the marretts. I screamed involuntarily! That was back in the eighties when I worked as an electrician. No one ever bothered to turn off power back then.

Anyone but me ever get phantom shocks? That's what I call them anyway. It feels just like an electric shock but there is no electicity. Just the brain playing tricks, maybe in anticipation of getting a real shock.

 

[buickanddeere]

I can tell you from experience that you CAN get shocked from a properly connected neutral on a 120v system. Not as bad as getting bit by the hot side, but it's enough to wake you up.

Aaron Z

The neutral is an energized load current carrying insulated conductor . That fact seems to escape most folks who think ground and neutral are the "same".

 

[buickanddeere]

Hmmm. If it's properly connected and bonded to ground in the panel the voltage rise on the neutral should only be half of the voltage drop in your wiring (i.e. for a single phase circuit, 1/2 of the voltage drop is in the hot leg).
So let's say the voltage drop is large (5%), the voltage rise (from zero) in the neutral should be half of this, or 2.5% of 120V = 3 volts. The human body can be 1000 - 100,000 ohms depending on your skin, insulation of your shoes, what your standing on/in, the resistance of earth, etc...that forms the circuit back to the transformer's neutral there should be less than 3mA of current.

3V is more than enough to make live stock ill and die.

 

[buickanddeere]

I have received lots of shocks through the neutral. Usually you are touching the metal box and of course the load is connected to hot. No big deal, just something to keep in mind.

Worst shock I ever got in my life was 347. I was tucking wires back into a junction box in a drop ceiling and some idiot (not me) had the wires stripped way too long for the marretts. I screamed involuntarily! That was back in the eighties when I worked as an electrician. No one ever bothered to turn off power back then.

Anyone but me ever get phantom shocks? That's what I call them anyway. It feels just like an electric shock but there is no electicity. Just the brain playing tricks, maybe in anticipation of getting a real shock.

I took 240 through the chest on a 240/416 lighting system. In brief the building manager after unlocking the electrical room so I could open the breakers and he then locked the door. The building manager after the office women complained about some lights being out. He forgot about me working on lights in his desire to please the office lovelies and be a hero. He unlocked the electrical room and turned on every breaker. I could feel every heart beat and missed heart beat for an hour or more. Rarely have I ever wished so much grief upon any person.

 

[ultrarunner]

I still come across older appliances where ground is used as a substituted for neutral... it really was standard operating practice.... mostly Dryers and Ranges...

I don't have a 4 wire receptacle anywhere in the homes I take care of... the newest dates from 1960.

Some still have a secondary ground on the back that says to run a wire to a cold water pipe..

Then again... most of the building to not have grounded 120 V outlets either.

 

[TheGoose]

I didn't say I agreed with it. In fact I do not agree with it at all and I have known several people get shocked from doing it. The fact, however, remains that I see it almost daily. It's not right nor correct, but it happens. Like I said, if you have a true dedicated neutral you're good to go. I have started running everything in 12-3 w/ground to solve this problem. It costs a little more but then you have that neutral if needed.

Thanks for telling the "know nothings" and the " I don't care as long as it works" types to go ahead and run neutral current on the ground system. This is how electricians get unexpected shocks, phantom equipment operation occurs and livestock are tingle voltage shocked.

 

[TheGoose]

True story:
Some years ago I worked on a well that only had 220V but no neutral or ground (previous installation). Owner called me a few months later. He was having a softner installed and the installer was getting shocked. I went to take a look. He had connected one side of the 220V to ground just like always but since there was no ground he himself was the path and kept getting shocked. He kept telling me "I don't know anything about electricity". I informed him that if he knew nothing then he shouldn't be messing with it. It's almost kind of sad the shortcuts people take and how dangerous they can be.