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Ways I almost died...

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pauleddy

Sun Oct 24 2010, 04:46AM

Registered Member #2909 Joined: Wed Jun 09 2010, 12:31AM
Location: fort belvoir, Va USA ( south of DC)
Posts: 145

I have had my fair share of hydrogen boom accidents, mostly with aluminum and HCl. but the most scary/deadly, was about five or six years ago with my first experiments with high voltage, I extracted the main board from and 80ish 40in CRT TV, and had been making arcs, lighting CFL bulbs, ect... I was getting complacent with the high voltage. one summers day after coming back from the pool I had an idea to try to make one of those ion air movers, long story short a 13ish kid bare foot on a cement garage floor (not to mention with a moderate heart murmur), playing with hv. the hv line to the ionizer got loss and streak across my right arm sending an extremely pain full shock that left my right arm and leg, before tripping the x-ray protection circuit (when it shorted to the deep freezer I was working on). My arm and leg hurt and tingly for a few minutes after words. Left me with a great respect and fear for high voltages.

rp181

Sun Oct 24 2010, 05:04PM

Registered Member #1062 Joined: Tue Oct 16 2007, 02:01AM
Location:
Posts: 1529

My worst shock was 220v mains, when construction workers decided to leave the power on in a constructing house, with wires laying all over the place.

I also have a heart murmur, but my numerous shocks put it straight :)

Mads Barnkob

Tue Oct 26 2010, 08:23PM

Registered Member #1403 Joined: Tue Mar 18 2008, 06:05PM
Location: Denmark, Odense C
Posts: 1968

Worst electric shock was shortcircuiting 3 phases + neutral in my left hand as an 8 year old, today 20 years later I still have 7 clearly visible burn scars on my left thumb and index finger.

I was knocked unconscious and was thrown back, I was found by my mother that slapped me back to consciousness.

I have gotten numerous 230V shocks and been to the hospital a couple of times to get a EKG when it was on the job I got schocked. My heart is strong and without defects according to the last one I got :)

I would also like to warn against the proximity voltage detectors, these will eventually fail on you and not detect live wires, this is how I got my last shock, I will never use those again.

Conundrum

Wed Oct 27 2010, 05:34PM

Registered Member #96 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:37PM
Location: CI, Earth
Posts: 4061

thanks for the heads up on those...
wonder why they don't include a self test button, something like a small oscillator to simulate a live wire..

-A

Arcstarter

Thu Oct 28 2010, 01:38AM

Registered Member #1225 Joined: Sat Jan 12 2008, 01:24AM
Location: Beaumont, Texas, USA
Posts: 2253

rp181 wrote ...

Not deadly, but is was bad nonetheless.

A long time back, I was messing around with electrolysis in a old mayo jar. I used sodium hydroxide, and dissolved as much as I could (110g of NaOH goes into 100g of H2O). I wanted a hydrogen flame, so I lit the output. Did this before, but the flash back arrestor failed and the jar blew up. The plastic shards were minor as it was thin plastic, but the caustic solution sprayed everywhere. Got directly around my eyes (good this I closed my eyes in time). Couldn't see, so had a time getting upstairs through the mess I made to wash my face. Was left with some pretty nasty chemical burns around my eye/ on my eyelid.

Quit anything chemistry related for a while (ok, just until the burns cured). Then I found some ammonium nitrate from an old instant cold pack....

Oh man, i had that happen to me. I had a couple bell jars, one with the flashback arrestor, and the electrolysis cell... I lit it, and the flashback arrestor exploded. The damn glass was intact O_O. But, the screw piece and the lid piece where torn to ****. I could not hear well for awhile, and my ears rang the rest of the day. Man, hydrogen sure likes to be all splody and kapow and stuff.

Thomas W

Sun Nov 07 2010, 10:19AM

Registered Member #3324 Joined: Sun Oct 17 2010, 06:57PM
Location:
Posts: 1276

one time i was doing small scale electrolysis with very thin platinum wire and dilute sulphuric acid about a year ago,
i was collecting all the gas in a testube over my electrdes, unfortunately the gas had filled up the test tubes and started going down around the electrodes - the electrodes were very hot due to a large amount of current going through thin platinum wire :S this caused a loud bang and the test tube rocketed up into the ceiling smashing and scattering all over us
thats my worst misshap so far not exactly life thretening but enough to wake me up and stop useing thin expencive wire to do electrolysis :D

Electroholic

Sun Nov 07 2010, 02:33PM

Registered Member #191 Joined: Fri Feb 17 2006, 02:01AM
Location: Esbjerg Denmark
Posts: 720

Platinum is a catalyst, and thats why it ignited the mixture.

haxor5354

Sun Nov 07 2010, 02:57PM

Registered Member #2063 Joined: Sat Apr 04 2009, 03:16PM
Location: Toronto
Posts: 352

1n5ane wrote ...

When I was about 12, I attempted to charge a 1000uf 50v lytic in a wall socket; lucky, I was smart enough to use a pair of pliers to hold the cap.

without rectricrfying?!1 but and the mains voltage is atleast 2 times above the working voltage of your cap anyways LOL did it blew up like a bomb or did the top just opened up?

Martin King

Wed Nov 10 2010, 11:03AM

Registered Member #3040 Joined: Tue Jul 27 2010, 03:15PM
Location: South of London. UK
Posts: 237

I was once melting some old lead water pipe to make a weight, it was years since the pipe had ever had any water in it BUT it had been cut up into short lengths and stored outside for a while. So there I am merrily dropping chunks of lead into the melting pot when all of a sudden the pot erupted and there was molten lead everywhere. Luckily I was wearing a full face visor and overalls but if I hadn't it could have been nasty. Of course what happened was that one of the bits of pipe had some rainwater in it which turned to steam VERY quickly.

Martin.

Arcstarter

Wed Nov 10 2010, 10:08PM

Registered Member #1225 Joined: Sat Jan 12 2008, 01:24AM
Location: Beaumont, Texas, USA
Posts: 2253

*sigh* i promised myself i would never tell anyone.

I had a couple MOTs in series with 1uf of resonant caps. Basically, one of the screws holding the MOTs to the board of wood i had it mounted on was too long, which grounded the MOT stack. It was only one MOT that had the long screw, so i got the full open load voltage across the two transformers(i did not have the cores electrically connected, i had the hv from one MOT connected to the core of another), and was happily drawing arcs.

I used 3 feet of PVC for a chicken stick, and i was holding it about 2 feet from where the electrode was. Well, the pipe had sweat from my hands all over it because of the 110 degrees Texas summers, and it may have been dirty. I was sitting down so i was grounded well. Went from my right arm to my bare legs on the cement.

That hurt really badly. Luckily i have no nerve damage or anything. Of course, luckily i am still alive, but that kind of goes without saying.

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