Here is my response to why our plugs seem to be upside down in our new apartment. No more smiley faces. The reason is personal. The odds of a cord coming out, something metal contacting it and you grabbing it are probably one in a billion. However the odds of you being electrocuted if you should win that lottery are about a 100% sure bet. Please read my response below. Im sticking with the plug upside down. If a cord comes out and something like a wire coat hanger fell on it, it becomes hot. You unknowingly grab it and get electrucuted. Trust me this is not fun. Growing up with my dad being a electrical contractor, I often heard him talk of tasting copper. He also taught me to always assume a circuit was hot no matter what. I violated the second and experienced the first. I was changing out outlets using a work light as a test light. The light had worked on known powered circuits. So no light no power, right? Wrong, I disobeyed his rule, removed the outlet from box and grabbed the outlet on both sides. I quickly became energized to probably around 100 9 volt batteries (I know math doesnt add up, just felt like it). You know, test battery by touching on your tounge. Imagine ramping that up 100 fold. The only thing that saved me was the fact I was on a wooden subfloor which greatly dissipated the energy. Yes wood still conducts under the right conditions. I was able to pull free and my dad asked if I was ok. I spit and sputtered a few seconds and said something like a mumbled un hah hah or something like that. And yes I tasted copper just like my dad had warned me. You cant explain what copper tastes like to someone who has never tasted copper. You maybe wondering about the test light. Why didnt it come on with a live circuit. Simple the neutral wire that carries the current back to the fuse panel was disconnected at the panel. So no return for light circuit no light, however hot wire was still hot and just waiting for return ticket home. That day its return ticket was Joe. Years later I would joke with my dad who wanted me to take over his business. I told him electrical work was too dangerous and so I joined the Air Force and pursued a much safer discipline, I became a 462, Aircraft Armament Specialist.... I was a bomb loader... Much safer career field than being an electrician... It was years before I came to the realization that I had been electrocuted not just shocked. Yes people do survive being electrocuted. Now for my career choice afterwards I not sure that maybe the electrocution or copper diet didnt have some effect.
Posted on: Thu, 31 Jul 2014 02:52:20 +0000
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