DIY disastersI just can't do power tools. They always fly out of control and end up embedded somewhere they shouldn't. I've no idea how I've still got all the appendages I was born with.
Add to that the fact that nothing ends up square, able to support weight or free of sticking-out sharp bits and you can see why I try to avoid DIY.
Tell us of your own DIY disasters.
(
chthonic, Thu 3 Apr 2008, 17:19)
« Go Back
"Single phase won't kill you"This was the immortal phrase my father in law uttered after being electrocuted.
I came home to find the FIL sitting on the sofa looking bemused.
We'd just finished redecorating the living room, and the last thing was the ceiling light. FIL offered to do it, as it was a bit tricky. He used be an electrician's mate in the steelworks, and he was absolutely top at woodturning, metalwork etc. What could go wrong?
He didn't bother turning off the lighting circuit. He was on a metal ladder. Wearing leather shoes. The shock threw him 6 feet, and if the sofa hadn't caught him he'd have snapped his neck on the windowsill.
Apparently, they tested single phase in the works by licking a finger and brushing the metal. If it nipped, it was live. Three phase, and the currents that ran the furnaces, you used the proper kit.
He lived another 5 years, and died of something else entirely.
(, Tue 8 Apr 2008, 19:26, 2 replies)
Volts...It's not the Volts that'll kill you, it's the amps :)
(
Alex Save a Tree, Eat a Beaver!, Wed 9 Apr 2008, 0:20,
closed)
^^Yes, but for a given resistance (i.e. human skin) the current is proportional to the voltage. So the higher the voltage, the higher the current and the greater chance you have of being zapped. Stick your tongue on a 9V battery and it tingles. Try it on a 240V mains cable and see what happens...
(
K2k6 has a proper job these days, Wed 9 Apr 2008, 8:18,
closed)
« Go Back