Cold War Posted February 14, 2018 Share Posted February 14, 2018 Had some close calls where I just stood their in shock at how close I came to being killed or seriously injured.. Happens when you get tired and lazy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motonoggin Posted February 14, 2018 Share Posted February 14, 2018 Yikes! Glad you're alright man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sledderj Posted February 14, 2018 Share Posted February 14, 2018 11 hours ago, Rod Johnson said: Why are you working on live 480? We have 600 here and I won’t go near it lt live with tools 120 is fine 240 I’ll kill first too Farmers shouldn't be going near 600V period. Glad to hear you are OK Ben. I hate hearing stories like that, to close for comfort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Contributing Member Highmark Posted February 14, 2018 Platinum Contributing Member Share Posted February 14, 2018 13 hours ago, f7ben said: Working in a drive cabinet my last shift on friday at about 5am. Was done trouble shooting and reached down into the bottom of the cabinet to grab the drive cover that I set down there and got belted hard. It got my left hand and arm and thankfully I wasnt touching anything with my right hand or it could have been bad. I stepped back and collected myself and saw that there was what appeared to be two wires twisted together sticking up bare at the bottom of the cabinet. I knew I got belted hard but wanted to know by what voltage to ascertain what my immediate future risk was. I got my meter back out and when I went to check the wire to ground it blew up in my face. Full arc flash...me blind and my meter blown out of my hand. Turns out it was two legs of a 480V circuit that had melted their tape off and melted the wire to the point where they werent touching but were very close. I caught both legs with my hand and then when I put my meter on them I shorted them out. I ended up going to the emergency room mostly as a precaution where they ran a of of blood and urine work etc.....my labs showed elevated levels of muscle damage so I have to have two liters of fluids through IV to flush my kidneys. I had a nasty burn on my finger This was the 2nd worst shock I have received and it highlights the danger of working industrial electricity. All of the cabinets on the cranes that are similar were inspected afterwards and the same two wires were found hot and taped in several of them. A drive upgrade was done and the old drives had a 480v feed to a fan transformer that the new drives didnt have and these wires were somehow just taped up and overlooked. One minute you are minding your own business and the next you could be laying on your ass wondering what the fuck just happened. Mind your P's and Q's boys Whoa.....glad to hear you are ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odot1 Posted February 14, 2018 Share Posted February 14, 2018 Shitty.. glad to hear you are ok!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XC.Morrison Posted February 14, 2018 Share Posted February 14, 2018 Glad to hear you're okay Ben. Sounds like a lot of us here have worked in or around similar stuff. I've had my hands in plenty of VFD's for air handling and pump equipment. I'm just in there to sort out the 24V control wiring but it's always a little nerve wracking working just a few inches away from the high voltage wires. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomas. Posted February 14, 2018 Share Posted February 14, 2018 Glad to hear you made out ok! I work at a structural steel and metal fabrication shop as a millwright apprentice and we have lots of units running 480-600v. The running joke with my boss and I is, always insulate one's self from any electrical circuit via an electrician and never touch said electrician. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SVT MXZ XRS Posted February 14, 2018 Share Posted February 14, 2018 2 hours ago, Tomas. said: Glad to hear you made out ok! I work at a structural steel and metal fabrication shop as a millwright apprentice and we have lots of units running 480-600v. The running joke with my boss and I is, always insulate one's self from any electrical circuit via an electrician and never touch said electrician. How long have you been on the apprenticeship? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodtick Posted February 15, 2018 Share Posted February 15, 2018 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stealth bomber Posted February 15, 2018 Share Posted February 15, 2018 Glad you're ok Ben. My close call story was fixing a leaky drain pipe between the floor joists in my basement. Standing on a chair inside a closet, reaching up into the floor, cutting the ABS pipe with a hacksaw. Cutting towards myself because that's the angle that gave the most room. What I didn't know was the 240v line was stapled to the joist behind the pipe. I cut right into it and got one hell of a light show, but never felt a thing. Copper burned onto the hacksaw blade though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomas. Posted February 15, 2018 Share Posted February 15, 2018 1 hour ago, SVT Renegade XRS said: How long have you been on the apprenticeship? 1 hour ago, SVT Renegade XRS said: I am a third year. I have only done 2 years of schooling and will be going in the spring for my third. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jet Posted February 15, 2018 Share Posted February 15, 2018 Glad your ok!! i spent all day today doing MSHA. It's amazing some of the crazy shit that happens. I used to work around high voltage all the time when I worked at the paper mill. That place was freaky bad! Especially when none of the electricians were even licensed lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f7ben Posted February 15, 2018 Author Share Posted February 15, 2018 3 minutes ago, Jet said: Glad your ok!! i spent all day today doing MSHA. It's amazing some of the crazy shit that happens. I used to work around high voltage all the time when I worked at the paper mill. That place was freaky bad! Especially when none of the electricians were even licensed lol Very few maintenance electricians are licensed in mines or steel mills..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f7ben Posted February 15, 2018 Author Share Posted February 15, 2018 So the wiring that was exposed and shocked me got removed. It used to feed a 20amp circuit breaker. It was fed off the load side of the main crane disconnect and the first upstream protection was a 2000A breaker I'd still be there cooking if I would have got hung up 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SVT MXZ XRS Posted February 15, 2018 Share Posted February 15, 2018 2 hours ago, Tomas. said: I am a third year. I have only done 2 years of schooling and will be going in the spring for my third. Nice. It will be over before you know it and well worth the effort in the end. I went on the apprenticeship 15 years ago this coming June. I was actually on the list for tool maker, hydraulic repair and die maker, but they needed more Millwrights at the time and they were asking us on the wait list if we wanted to be a MW instead. Glad I did turn it down Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old indy Posted February 15, 2018 Share Posted February 15, 2018 1 hour ago, f7ben said: So the wiring that was exposed and shocked me got removed. It used to feed a 20amp circuit breaker. It was fed off the load side of the main crane disconnect and the first upstream protection was a 2000A breaker I'd still be there cooking if I would have got hung up Nooo shit?! Who’s the sparky doing shit like THaT?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlos Danger Posted February 15, 2018 Share Posted February 15, 2018 How many times do I have to tell you Ben, you are no good to us if you are dead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frostynuts Posted February 15, 2018 Share Posted February 15, 2018 9 hours ago, f7ben said: Very few maintenance electricians are licensed in mines or steel mills..... How do they get away with that these days ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f7ben Posted February 15, 2018 Author Share Posted February 15, 2018 3 minutes ago, Frostynuts said: How do they get away with that these days ? What would a license accomplish in a mine or mill? What do licensed electricians know about controls , plcs , drives , dc motor control , svc , or even basic relay logic. The answer for most union journeyman is not much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mileage Psycho Posted February 15, 2018 Share Posted February 15, 2018 On 2/13/2018 at 9:40 PM, BOHICA said: When concerning tradesman, mostly narrowbacks.... In my apprenticeship If I recall correctly, 480 was the most deadliest of all volts as 480 can easily puncture the skin and let the killwiggles in and cross the heart.... 120 for the most part doesn't have the ability puncture skin due to resistance. Skin resistance is rather high.... Blood and nerves and muscles have no resistance. I can see 120 being deadly to the average joe cause they will do stupid shit but the average joe doesn't deal with 480 frequently. I maybe wrong though 120 kills the most because it's most common. Remember it's not voltage that kills, it amperage that kills. A shock is a shock, 9 volts on the tongue will shock, 50,000 volts on an ignition wire will shock; it's when current (amperage) passes through your body that damage occurs, anything over 100 milliamps can be lethal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NaturallyAspirated Posted February 15, 2018 Share Posted February 15, 2018 42 minutes ago, Mileage Psycho said: 120 kills the most because it's most common. Remember it's not voltage that kills, it amperage that kills. A shock is a shock, 9 volts on the tongue will shock, 50,000 volts on an ignition wire will shock; it's when current (amperage) passes through your body that damage occurs, anything over 100 milliamps can be lethal. It's a combination of the two, a sufficient voltage is necessary just as a sufficient current is necessary. Neal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sledderj Posted February 15, 2018 Share Posted February 15, 2018 1 hour ago, NaturallyAspirated said: It's a combination of the two, a sufficient voltage is necessary just as a sufficient current is necessary. Neal The current is the constant out of the equation. The voltage required varies greatly based on the environment the current has to travel through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XC.Morrison Posted February 15, 2018 Share Posted February 15, 2018 (edited) I am utterly shocked by this current event. Double pun score for the win! Edited February 15, 2018 by XC.Morrison Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USA Contributing Member $poorsledder$ Posted February 15, 2018 USA Contributing Member Share Posted February 15, 2018 4 hours ago, f7ben said: What would a license accomplish in a mine or mill? What do licensed electricians know about controls , plcs , drives , dc motor control , svc , or even basic relay logic. The answer for most union journeyman is not much. I tend to agree with this. I do controls wiring/ setup and am not allowed to go near anything above 120Vac because I am not a licensed electrician. I have a deal with an electrician that if it makes sense for me to wire AC in a box to a drive or through a relay then I'll do it but he needs to look it over / tug on wires and make sure he can say that he is good with it and sign it off before he connects it to the panel. I have a supervisor who thinks that a guy with an electrical license that runs cord from a panel to a disconnect to drives/ motors/ etc. is more educated that the controls guy. Not putting down electricians, they do the power stuff and there is a little more risk than the 24v stuff I do. If the motor is spinning the wrong way they do have to go back in and swipe 2 of the phases. I do agree that there is more to it on the controls end and often there are pages and pages of ladder logic to go through verses a couple pages of high voltage going through a disconnect to a couple relays, drives, etc. Hell, I'm often the one with the magic VFD cable and I end up wiring that anyway. I worked in a wire house for a while and did the electrical end as well. Never had a problem there..... were a couple times we had a cabinet opened live to troubleshoot and you could "feel" the high voltage. My 480VAC close call happened in a shallow pit, was moving some cabling around to get some controls cables into a conduit and had a flash and a pretty loud boom. Same deal, someone disconnected 480Vac, taped the ends up, coiled it up and left it with some other stuff that was coiled up. I got up and walked away, could have been real bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f7ben Posted February 15, 2018 Author Share Posted February 15, 2018 14 minutes ago, $poorsledder$ said: I tend to agree with this. I do controls wiring/ setup and am not allowed to go near anything above 120Vac because I am not a licensed electrician. I have a deal with an electrician that if it makes sense for me to wire AC in a box to a drive or through a relay then I'll do it but he needs to look it over / tug on wires and make sure he can say that he is good with it and sign it off before he connects it to the panel. I have a supervisor who thinks that a guy with an electrical license that runs cord from a panel to a disconnect to drives/ motors/ etc. is more educated that the controls guy. Not putting down electricians, they do the power stuff and there is a little more risk than the 24v stuff I do. If the motor is spinning the wrong way they do have to go back in and swipe 2 of the phases. I do agree that there is more to it on the controls end and often there are pages and pages of ladder logic to go through verses a couple pages of high voltage going through a disconnect to a couple relays, drives, etc. Hell, I'm often the one with the magic VFD cable and I end up wiring that anyway. I worked in a wire house for a while and did the electrical end as well. Never had a problem there..... were a couple times we had a cabinet opened live to troubleshoot and you could "feel" the high voltage. My 480VAC close call happened in a shallow pit, was moving some cabling around to get some controls cables into a conduit and had a flash and a pretty loud boom. Same deal, someone disconnected 480Vac, taped the ends up, coiled it up and left it with some other stuff that was coiled up. I got up and walked away, could have been real bad. I wasn't disparaging licensed electricians at all....just making the point that the maintenance trade is 100% different than what 90% of Licensed electricians have any experience with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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