Electrical Safety
WHILE EXTREME CARE HAS BEEN IMPLEMENTED IN THE PREPARATION OF THIS
SELF-HELP DOCUMENT, THE AUTHOR AND/OR PROVIDERS OF THIS DOCUMENT ASSUMES
NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ERRORS OR OMISSIONS, NOR IS ANY LIABILITY ASSUMED
FROM THE USE OF THE INFORMATION, CONTAINED IN THIS DOCUMENT, BY THE
AUTHOR and / OR PROVIDER.
Read the legal disclaimer page - click the
legal link in the menu above
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Working with
Electricity Safely |
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This first part will be repeated in the
legal article on this website...
The information on this website is to
provide you with the knowledge & understandings of how to work with
electricity in the home, and to keep your family safe at the same this
information is not intended on being a replacement for professional
advice and help. As a founder of this website and author of these self
help documents it was done with the intention of saving lives through
education and knowledge and not intended as a way to put electricians out
of business.
Rather
the profession likes / approves it or not, every day home owners do
some of their own electrical work, I am not here to promote the
practice, I only acknowledge the practice is happening all the time. I
have had comments before from people in the profession that people like
me are putting electricians out of business, I would like to reply to
those questions that people like me are saving lives, and giving people
the knowledge that will help those you would try and do at least some
of their own electrical rather this website existed or not, these types
of websites at least lessens the chance that they will do something
that could harm or prove fatal to them or their families.
Next I would like everyone considering
doing any of their own electrical themselves to evaluate their own
comfort level and their knowledge level before starting any electrical
project. As with me their are things I will not touch, one of those
things are gas pipes which I would use someone who is an expert
in that field to perform those tasks in the home, please know your
abilities and limitations; do not tackle beyond those comfort limitations
that we all have. Some people do really well if they are able to gain
some direction and knowledge, others no matter how much knowledge is out
there from places such as this website they will still not comprehend it
fully that is not something that diminishes you as a person as everyone
has their weakness and strengths, we just have it in different areas.
Electricians have to go through formal classroom training as well as
years of on the job training and experience before obtaining a full
electricians license.
I am not afraid of electricity to a
point, as a homeowner the utility power meter is off limits, and the
main master breaker cut off (likely a 200 amp main breaker if you have
200 amp service) at the service panel is off limits to me, as that is a direct connection
to the utility company that I cannot shut down on both sides of this, the power lines coming from the utility to the
home is also off limits.
I would like to point out I am not a licensed
electrician, but still maintain a broad range of knowledge on electrical
subjects, I have previously co produced and sold websites on electrical
subjects, my co producer of those websites was an electrical & building
inspector in the United States (I live in Canada), unfortunately he became deceased, during the many years that I worked with him
building electrical websites I benefited from increasing even more my
knowledge on electrical subjects. I hold a amateur radio license, and
consider myself highly technically minded, I have done some electronic
repairs myself but I am not an electronics technician and work in
operations side of broadcast television.
The poorer section of the population,
young families that are starting out do not have a great deal of money
and are therefore more inclined to do their on work including electrical
because when it comes down to it living pay to pay, and barely making it
to the next payday, feeding and meeting the day to day needs of their
family as well as paying the utilities and mortgage is always at the
priority and little money is left to cover the cost of bringing in a
professional.
Self Help websites do not exist to take away the livelihoods of
professionals, I hope that some knowledge gained on this website and
others like it that we will help families live a longer life and keep
them safe.
Working with Electricity
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There is no such thing as an innocent
friendly electrical shock, never purposely set up anyone to
receive a shock as a joke. Electricity is a necessity in
today's life but it must be respected and never let your
guard down with working with it. It can Kill. |
So what can kill and what is safe, when it comes to
any electrical current there is no iron clad number, you would
expect a 10,000 volt power line will likely kill if gets a return
path through a person, but voltages of a lot less less than 100
volts can also kill, DC (direct current) can be as dangerous as AC
(alternating current). Resistance to electrical flow on a person can
also vary depending on a number of factors including if the skin is
perfectly dry, damp, wet, sweating. The path in which the
electricity takes, the current level that passes through you, there
are so many factors that can come into play that can decide rather
you live or die. A shock of just a few milliamps can cause sustained
muscle contraction that you cannot get yourself free from the
electrical item giving your the shock, it can literally burn the
flesh, paralyze the lungs which stops breathing, and stop the heart
from pumping. Yes doctors can restart a heart with a electrical
shock but electrical shock can also stop a beating heart. In
my view there is no safe level of electricity, period.
Always shut down the power to any circuit that you are
working on. When wiring new circuits or parts of circuits,
make certain the certain breaker / fuse on that circuit is OFF, if it is
a fuse totally remove the fuse not just screw it part way out.
Some circuit tests and trouble shooting methods must be done with the power
on, trouble shooting will be explained in the article
(on our sister website 'Wiring Done Right' - will open in new window /
tab)
'Trouble shooting problems'
When working in the breaker service panel, make sure you
are wearing insulated rubber footwear / boots; the only way to
kill the power to the main ungrounded (hot) buses is to switch off the
main circuit breaker that shuts down power to the entire home, this also
means no light in the room where the panel is located. Not all panels are
the same, in Canada most panels have a separately covered protected area
where the main breaker is located, on my panel it is all one unit but the
area where the main breaker is isolated with a separate cover over it,
so that section can be left with the protector cover on it and the
other section that has all the home distribution breakers in it has a
separate cover that can be removed, what this does to provide total
isolation and the ability to shut down the power to the entire other
section. United States panels can have the main breaker in the same
section of the service panel. See more information on main service panels
in the article
'Main Electrical Panel'
Regardless how your particular panel is designed and regardless on rather
the main breaker is on or off always work as if the panel is live, that
way you never make a mistake thinking for just one moment the panel is
dead when you actually missed a step.
If you shut down the main panel you will not have any room
lights and will have to rely on battery powered lights, and if your panel
does not have an isolated section that hoses the main breaker that in
itself could be dangerous if you do not have the inside of the panel well
lighted. I have installed new breakers with the panel being live before
to take advantage of better lighting, and that can be done safely, you
just have to understand absolutely what is in there and what to stay away
from, tests such as using a current meter clamping on to a wire cable
would have to be done with power on as there is no current to read with
the power off.
If you decide to install a new breaker with the power on,
wear insulated electricians gloves, turn OFF the new breaker before
installing, turn off the nearby breakers that sit beside where the new
breaker is located. use insulated tools, never use un-insulated tools.
Above all no children near you, if you have children in the home they
must be in a different area of the home supervised by another person. If
you where to ever make a mistake and physically cross the two ungrounded
(hot) bus
bars without insulated electricians gloves on you will get hit with 220
volts, and it would take more than 200 amps to take out the main breaker,
you would be dead before that main breaker cut off. If you are not sure
or even think you have second thoughts then get some bright battery
powered lights and shut down the main breaker. most experts will likely
tell you to shut down the main breaker when installing new breakers and
wiring a new cable in it, it is one of those things where do as I
say not as I do advice you should take seriously. Even with a complete shutdown
treat and work in the panel as if it was live.
Electricity that passes through the chest cavity is even
more dangerous, I will explain in detail about wiring in the main service
panel in the article
'Main Electrical Panel'
In summary main panel work...
a) Wear insulated electricians gloves when working in the
main service panel even if the main breaker is shut off.
b) use only insulated tools.
c) know all components of the panel and I do mean
everything before any work is performed inside the panel, understand it
fully.
d) wear insulated foot wear.
e) wear long pants not short pants, less of a chance your
legs will rub against something that could provide a path to ground.
f) As they say don't drink and drive, I will also say
don't drink and work with electricity.
If working on a circuit outside of the panel in the home,
turn off the circuit breaker to that circuit, and tell others in the home
what you are doing, so when someone discovers that their bedroom light
does not work they do not get the bright idea of resetting the breaker
while you are working on that circuit.
Written: Jan. 3 2012
Revised: June 23, 2013
Proof Read / Released: July 10, 2013
By: Donald Kerr
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