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

[Alucard1983]

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.

 

[tektonjp]

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!

 

[goingmad]

Oh man, glad you're safe now!
Post some pics of the (almost) killing machine!!!

 

[Balto]

Glad to hear your OK!

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.

Was this your controller that caused the problem?

 

[Clann]

Bet you will be hesatant to touch the tap. Probabily drink less.

 

[DosGatosBrewing]

Make sure you use a non-conductive tap handle! Glad to hear nothing serious happened.

 

[TomSD]

Ouch anytime you black out and have to be found by someone is a very close call. Any number of things could've turned that deadly... glad you are ok.

 

[sTiNkFiZzle]

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.

 

[Adeering]

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.

 

[microbusbrewery]

...was shocked by a cow prod for hours by my brothers when i was growing up.

That's messed up! I'm glad both of you are ok

 

[Rbeckett]

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

 

[passedpawn]

Whew!

 

[Toneus]

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

 

[kpr121]

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.

 

[biestie]

Holy crap man... 110 got you that good? (I mean bad).

 

[outside92129]

Glad you're ok!

 

[tim2akat2]

Dude glad you are OK take your time you don't want someone else drinking your brew.

 

[JaimeTheLimey]

Now you gotta brew something like Tower of Power IPA to christen that thing.

 

[Bernie Brewer]

Holy crap man... 110 got you that good? (I mean bad).

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.

 

[conpewter]

wow glad you survived! Was it not properly grounded?

 

[brewingmeister]

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'

 

[biestie]

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.

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.

 

[kellanv]

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.

 

[Alucard1983]

The reason there are typos are because I'm usin a iPhone to post and Also no bill gotta love Canada's health care

 

[Toneus]

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.

 

[azscoob]

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 **** you up.

 

[LarMoeCur]

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.

 

[cl330b]

wow glad you survived! Was it not properly grounded?

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.

 

[Alucard1983]

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.

 

[Vernacular]

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.