Welding safety: electrical shocks

[accordionman]

hello to all,
many years ago there was a man who was going to weld something
under his truck. the ground was damp from a rain, and he pushed the
stinger under the truck, and crawled under, as he did this, he rolled
onto the stinger, he was killed.
be careful this could happen to you!!!
accordionman
william l. brown
wright city, mo.

 

[CJDave]

/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif Having spent a good deal of time on service trucks and making field repairs under, well...... less-than-ideal..... conditions; what it really gets down to is "managing the ground path". If you work it right, you can usually fix it so that everything except YOU is a "better" path to ground. If you just "think ground path", it will become apparent very quickly what your best setup will be.......the setup that keeps you out of "THE LOOP" as much as possible.

 

[TonyC]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I can just picture someone somewhere with a pair of Mom's sewing needles and a battery from their flashlight swilling down their tenth beer shouting "Hey, y'all! Watch this..." )</font>

That reminds me of the old joke about "What are the last four words a redneck says before he dies".

"Hey man, watch this!" /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[RonR]

Thought it was SIX words?????????

"Hold my beer and Watch this!"

Happy weekend.
Ron

 

[enbloc]

Re: Thought it was SIX words?????????

My 5 year old nephew recently came up to me with his stuffed bear, and wanting to go play in the surf, handed it to me and said "Hold my bear." It was all I could do to keep from rolling on the ground laughing.

 

[BB_TX]

The amps are what kills. However, it requires the volts to push the amps. You could weld (briefly) with a car battery, but the voltage is not enough to hurt you. There appears to be no standard on welder open circuit voltage. I have seen specs. from under 30 volts to over 70 volts. Under 30 probably would not hurt anyone. Over 70 probably would. The lethal point would vary per individual. We use to use 48VDC in our control systems. Touching that would give more of a tingle than a shock. But I don't even like tingles. An electrical engineer and I hate electricity. Go figure. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[EagleEye]

Harv, remind me to never take a job working with/for you /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[EagleEye]

BB_TX, I minored in electrical engineering (was a computer science major), you beat me to the punch on current being the culprit, AND I am also one who highly respects, even reveres... and yes, darn well fears the dangers of electricity.

I was pondering something one of the earlier guys stated about having different people responding differently to electricity. I really do wonder if factors like a) the thickness of your skin b) the current water content (well hydrated vs. dehydrated) of your body and c) your body's own electrical system establish various levels of resistance and conduction to facilitate either protection or electricution. It's been nearly 20 years since I studied and I'm a non-technical person now... interesting to ponder though /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[bgott]

My step dad was definitely a different person. He would only sweat on half his body, draw a centerline down his nose and one side would be soaked and the other dry. Stick a dial type watch on him and it would just spin in a week. He could work on electrical circuits hot, he didn't feel 110, 220 would just tickle him. He had had lots of operations, abdominal problems, I don't know if they cut nerves or what. My little brothers didn't inherit his resistance to shock, you can throw them a wrapped roll of romex and they'll act like they were hit by lightning. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Taylortractornut]

Harv, I think the worst I ever saw a fella get zapped was my neighbors one when we were 16, He came in the little shed i welded out of and sat down on my running welder a little 150 225 ACDC welder and had wet shorts on from wading a creek in his atv. I asked him to get up and not touch anything and sure enough he touched the stinger. He stayed gon a few days with a hurt pride. There was a new welder here that had taken a welding course and bought an old starfire Miller AC portable welder. He went up on a billboard to weld and got a stray current and didnt have his lanyard or safety harness on. He survived the fall but barely. I think nxt time he'll read the AC warning and have a harness.