I did a very bad thing... (zap!)

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Alucard1983

Alucard1983

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Ok so here I am building my kegerator.. Drilled holes cut the bar fridge.. Get everything installed and plugged her in... Went to make sure the tower was secure... BAD IDEA!!!! Ok so I grab the tower and put my hand in the fridge. ZAP!!!! Got myself off it, start to black out. Down I go broke thru the coffee table falling on a figureen. Blacked out for 2 hours. SWMBO comes home and finds me it cold. She calls 911. I wake up in the hospital. Spend 5 hours doing tests. Find out im fine. Come home, take the tower off and start carving the foam. Found the broken wires, solder them, tape them and rearrange them. Filled bottom home with tape and re fill the hole with expanding foam to strengthen the top. Gonna carve the foam Tommrow and re install everything.

Moral of the story

Electricity hurts very bad.
When workin on a project take you time and do it right.
short cuts will kill you or a guest.
 
Glad you're alive, man! Scary story but good to have a happy ending.
You'll never pull a beer without thinking of it either!
 
Oh man, glad you're safe now!
Post some pics of the (almost) killing machine!!!
 
Glad to hear your OK!

Alucard1983 said:
Come home, take the tower off and start carving the foam. Found the broken wires, solder them, tape them and rearrange them. Filled bottom home with tape and re fill the hole with expanding foam to strengthen the top. Gonna carve the foam Tommrow and re install everything.
Click to expand...

Was this your controller that caused the problem?
 
Thanks for sharing this story. I have lots of projects planned today... working on the brutus and the kegerator. I will be extra careful today.
 
Damn thats scary, glad my tower is PVC and non conductive, Im deathly afraid of electricity because was shocked by a cow prod for hours by my brothers when i was growing up. Glad your ok, im working on my kegerator so going to be extra careful now.
 
Close call there dude. Glad your OK, but wait till the bill get there. You will probably have to slow down a bit brewing till that gets paid off. Glad you survived and brew on!!!
Bob
 
Glad to see you're still with us, but on a more serious note. You have several typos in your orgional post, which could be a sign of a stroke underway!!!!

You should ask someone at home if you're behaving ok right NOW!!! If anything seems wierd, it likely is.

There are pre stroke signs that people always notice AFTER it's too late.

TonyC
 
Even though I know I've wired up my eHLT correctly, its grounded, and its run on a proper GFCI that gets tested pretty regularly, I sill get scared when I go to touch the pot for the first time.

Glad you are okay. Let this be a lesson for us brewers (and everyone really) to not be complacent when dealing with potentially dangerous or deadly activities.

...now I have to open my garage door a little wider, got a full propane boil going in the garage. Damnit its cold outside.
 
Dude glad you are OK take your time you don't want someone else drinking your brew.
 
An electrocution from a kegerator and not an electric brewery...who would of thought?

Sounds like a killer theft deterrent if you could rig up an on/off switch.
-'where's bill?'
-'oh he tried to steal a beer and is unconscious on the floor'
 
Bernie Brewer said:
It is not the voltage, but the amperage that does the damage. 5 milliamps can kill you if it hits you in the right spot. That is why GFCIs have a toleranc of 3 milliamps.
Click to expand...

Oh I know, but practically speaking, it's pretty hard to get a low enough resistance to pass enough current for 110 to do much more than leave you cursing. At least that's my experience having been hit by 110 more times than I can count.
 
Wet hands perhaps? I was wondering about the resistance too. Could also be that he connected with a lead from the startup capacitor on the compressor if there is one. I've been hit by about 750V off of a big cap on a power supply. Got lucky.

Glad you are safe, OP.

Edit: On that note: For those testing circuits or working with them energized, follow the "right hand rule". Keep your left hand in contact with your body at all times and only use your right hand to work with the circuit if at all possible. This will prevent any parallel circuits being created from hand to hand, and keep the electrons from flowing through your heart.
 
The reason there are typos are because I'm usin a iPhone to post and Also no bill gotta love Canada's health care
 
Good. I'd rather hear someone was posting from their phone than, we didn't notice he was stroking out until it was too late.
 
Electricity is nothing to mess with, I have had my share of mishaps, I cooked myself while changing an outlet, hit the breaker that apparently controlled all the outlets in that room but one.... I was working on that one....

I have been on the recieving end of 2 bolts of lightning that scorched my clothes, burned my skin and threw me like a rag doll a few dozen feet. Every day I count my blessings that things went so well for me, I could have ended up in a perminant state of dead. a direct hit to my noggin, or more than a brushing of some wires. electricity has a nasty tendancy to cause muscles to contract, so you grab a hot wire (or tap tower) and you cannot let go of it. the 110 volts doesn't worry me, its the 60hz that will bless you up.
 
Wow...very glad your OK. What wires were broken? How did they charge up the tower? OR was the whole thing lite up and you got to ground when you touched the body of the unit? Just asking so I do not make the same mistake.
 
conpewter said:
wow glad you survived! Was it not properly grounded?
Click to expand...

Exactly. I always meter anything metal on my DIY projects that I will be touching in reference to ground and verify there is 0 volts.

Glad your ok! Sounds like you brushed your self off and got right back up on the proverbial horse.
 
When I used my drill to drill holes in the fridge to Bolt the tower down I hit a hot line when I put the bolts in it connected with the bolt and seem I used rubber it never grounds the tower. When I put my hand on the tower and then the stainless fridge, I made the circuit and te breaker did not trip till 2-3 min later.. Dame old apartment.
 
HOLY CARP! Sounds like you got lucky, you could have had a beer in your hand, or did you? My first experience with electricity was scary too. When I was in second grade, I think, I found a pair of my fathers wire cutters... I knew about being shocked so I turned off the lamp before I cut the cord.... amazingly I managed to cut clean through the cord and all I got was a very short light show and a butt whipping.
 
cl330b said:
Exactly. I always meter anything metal on my DIY projects that I will be touching in reference to ground and verify there is 0 volts.

Glad your ok! Sounds like you brushed your self off and got right back up on the proverbial horse.
Click to expand...

Measure the resistance between exposed metal and earth ground. Zero ohms (ish, most meters don't read zero).
 
Alucard1983 said:
When I used my drill to drill holes in the fridge to Bolt the tower down I hit a hot line when I put the bolts in it connected with the bolt and seem I used rubber it never grounds the tower. When I put my hand on the tower and then the stainless fridge, I made the circuit and te breaker did not trip till 2-3 min later.. Dame old apartment.
Click to expand...

Breakers don't typically trip in the case of electrocution. The human body won't conduct enough current to trip them. That is why:

1) ALL exposed metal needs to be connected to the earth ground conductor (so if a live wire touches the metal the breaker WILL trip), and
2) GFCI's are used in wet locations (they will trip if less greater than 0.005 Amps get shorted to earth).
 
Glay your OK. Mishaps in the home are quite dangerous. I know. Been there.
 
Wow, Glad you are OK. Like someone else said some nice insalated tap handles are in order. People will ask why while they are pouring a beer and you can tell them why then.
 
Well I finished it.. Put 12 psi on the beer and rocked it for 30 min. Nice and carbonated on full glass 2" of foam. I think I have a keeper
 
Glad your ok. I got hit last week too. I was pushing in an electrical outlet after putting up the drywall in my ferm chamber. Ground wire was in the way of the screw just a little bit. So what did I do?? Go to push it just a little very carefully with my other hand. Zap....In the right hand out the left. I'm sure my heart skipped a beat??? Luckily I was fine afterwards. Stupid me should have had the breaker off. My old man said I would probably be dead if I was in europe(220 V). Lesson learned....
 
passedpawn said:
Measure the resistance between exposed metal and earth ground. Zero ohms (ish, most meters don't read zero).
Click to expand...

This will also work but not in every case. Many years of hands on experience and a degree in electronic engineering has proven that a voltage reading is more accurate than a resistance reading for this type of application. For example.... If you meter resistance in reference to ground and the supply is coming from the secondary windings of a transformer, you will read almost a direct short to ground through the transformer winding (provided one side of the secondary is grounded). But if you power that same circuit up, you will read a voltage potential in reference to ground. Mind you, this is the same circuit you just read just measured under an ohm in reference to ground. I design elevator controllers for a living and am very comfortable with the electrical information I provide. Measuring resistance to ground can still get you electrocuted. Also reading an open to ground doesn't necessarily mean the component being me assured is energized. I still think a voltage measurement in reference to a known good ground speaks volumes.

Not wanting to start a pissing match, just would like to present my case.
 
Please tell me you don't have a name for your bar area yet:

Lightning Larry's
Sparky's Saloon

etc... ;)

Glad you're ok!
 
Sounds like a good trick to play on your teenager and his friends who steal beer out of the tap! I would turn the voltage down a little though lol.
 

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