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Good afternoon all, today I experienced a near death electric shock. This happened on a single phase domestic property!

I was carrying out a few minor jobs for a customer: one of them was to install a new flood light to an old brick store in their back garden.

The brick store was fed via a 2.5mm SWA cable spurred off a ring main. This was connected to a twin socket which was then spurred off to an un switched FCU feeding a light switch / fluorescent light and a 1.5mm going to the existing outside light. (Technically wrong as it was a spur off a spur).

Here is where the fault lies with myself.

Rather than isolating the whole circuit (the whole house is on a single ring main and customer was working from home) I instead disconnected the 1.5mm live to the outside light from the FCU in order to give me some light to work with inside the store. All tested and proved dead between line and cpc.

After disconnecting the outside light and poking the cable feeding it back through the wall I then commenced installing a new flood light.

Returning inside the store to install a junction box to both the cable feeding it and the flex of the flood light I received an electric shock that I was stuck to for 15 seconds. I could not let go of the cable (had neutral in left hand and CPC in right) I was screaming for help and honestly thought I was a goner. I ended up making the decision and jumping / falling backwards resulting in everything electrical coming off the wall with me (Neutral had welded itself to my hand) but was able to free myself from the circuit.

I stumbled back inside to get help and had the customer call me cab to A+E.

I was in absolute bits, after 22 years in the game this was terrible and all resulted from a simple error from the previous ‘electrician’.

I had a glass of water and calmed myself and the customer down. I explained to him that I was fine and would go to the hospital later as I was really angry and as with any electrician wanted to know what went wrong.

Looking at the consumer unit I realised that there was only one ring main and the consumer unit had been altered from a 17th edition board to allow for that circuit to be placed on the main switch side still on a 32amp mcb. All I can assume is that there is a fault on that circuit which the previous electrician has got around. That raised my suspicions but still why the shock?

After very cautiously entering the store shed I then tested and soon realised that the live and neutral from the socket into the FCU had been wired up reversed which meant the live I pulled out of the load side was actually the neutral leaving the circuit still partially energised.

I basically had a hold of the live and cpc conductor which I was stuck to and am lucky to be here typing this message. I should’ve tested between neutral and earth too which would of tested voltage present.

It’s amazing how little protection MCB’s give the user in terms of electric shock (obviously they’re for overload only).

My message to all of you out there is test everything, I’ve either been really unlucky today or have gotten a bit complacent.

I've since been seen by a doctor and have had my heart tested, I’m fine. Just a small entry burn from the live and very shaken up.

Take care
 
I'm very glad to hear that you are ok and lived to tell the tale.
Being stuck to a live conductor is truly scary, I've managed this once in a completely reverse polarity house 15 years ago, and the lesson was well and truly learned to treat everything no matter how basic as the thing that might kill me.
My message to all of you out there is test everything
It's good that we get to hear of the near misses, many people wouldn't admit a mistake like this.
I’ve either been really unlucky today or have gotten a bit complacent.
Sounds like both to be honest! If wired correctly you'd have got away with it. But one more test of either N-CPC or L-N and you'd have gone "hang on a minute...."

I did save a plumber last week as he put a 2 pole on a shower and said "dead". Out of corner of eye I saw a red light on isolator and shouted "WAIT". Put my own two pole on and it lit up like a Christmas tree.
It's easy to fall out of the habit of checking our testers actually work before and after......
 
We do poo poo non-contact testers a bit sometimes (not as much as the diy neon screwdriver!) but they can give an “early warning” that something isn’t quite right when it lights up after a quick run along a cable.


I once, as a naive apprentice, cut through a flex on a strip out which I had been assured was turned off, but the switch was on the neutral, not on the live…. And blew a hole on my pliers.


I learned, from then on in, to use the journeyman’s pliers…
 
We do poo poo non-contact testers a bit sometimes (not as much as the diy neon screwdriver!) but they can give an “early warning” that something isn’t quite right when it lights up after a quick run along a cable.
I think they are important devices as long as they aren't used as the final proof that it is safe to work on.

Out of interest, has any one else had a non contact tester go completely crazy when DC cables for solar encircle the room?
I had one tell me an entire ceiling was live, wherever I put the tester!
 
I think they are important devices as long as they aren't used as the final proof that it is safe to work on.

Out of interest, has any one else had a non contact tester go completely crazy when DC cables for solar encircle the room?
I had one tell me an entire ceiling was live, wherever I put the tester!
Yep had to take it out of the area it was driving me mad. Dont know what was causing it but it was well upset. Its OK now... lol
 
I used a non contact tester on a socket that was live but soaking wet from a condensation problem in the kitchen. It showed as completely dead, even though I knew it to be live. They're a very useful tool, but need to be used along with other tools, not the least of which is Spidey Sense.
 
Rather than isolating the whole circuit (the whole house is on a single ring main and customer was working from home) I instead disconnected the 1.5mm live to the outside light from the FCU in order to give me some light to work with inside the store. All tested and proved dead between line and cpc.
and not testing neutral to cpc then ,I'm glad you are here to tell the story ,even the brown pants have been discarded ,dont work live .
 
Glad to hear you are OK.

I always wave the voltstick around everything as a second opinion. Sometimes it will find things the 2-pole won't, like a light switch that has a live feed but a disconnected CPC and no lamp load. The last time I cut into something live, no kind of tester would have helped as I was in the middle of a multicore armoured in the basement of a substation control room. We had a disconnection cert for it but some active 110V control and instrumentation circuits had been overlooked and the hacksaw started spitting out sparks as I cut.
 
As a young 18 year apprentice I was told to test L-N N-E E-L

I know it seems silly but it was one of the first things I was shown and stuck with me forever

That said I have had 2 or 3 shocks but thankfully live to tell the tail

We all live and learn in this job ( well nearly always )
 
@ETradesmen
Well done for sharing your experience with others.
It is quite possible that by doing this, you have saved someone's life at some point in the future Simpley because of what they have read here.
Although it is never a great day when you are able to write a story that is titled "I Fooked up today"
It takes a strong person to realise there mistake and share it with others.

Many of us have made mistakes in our time, some serious, some funny, some just lucky to have survived.
when I say "many of us" it should probably read MOST OF US.

Thank you for sharing with us.

for the younger or more recently qualified this is a lesson that should be teaching you not to be a cocky know it all.

for the old timers, the lesson teaches us that even though we have worked with electricity for a long time, it can still bite the unwary and do not be complacent, just because the tester has worked flawlessly for the last 20 years, it doesn't mean it is telling the truth today!!
 
Glad you're OK, OP, and definitely done the right thing getting yourself checked out medically.

Since we're sharing....

Not a shock, but blew a hole in my lovely Knipex installation pliers (the ones with shears, strippers etc).
Replacing an under-cabinet light in a kitchen. Old light wired in directly at the lamp end using 3-core flex, fed from a local 3A SFCU on the socket RFC. Switched off the SFCU, light went off. Checked on/off. All good. Removed the fuse, just to make sure. New-ish SFCU, so double pole.

Chopped the flex - to terminate it in a small JB under the cabinet, for the new cable for the new light - and bang, flash, broken pliers.

After isolating the circuit, I had a look in the SFCU to see what could have caused this. The design of the plate was such that the load and feed L terminals were next to each other... the outgoing flex L (no ferrules) had about 2cm stripped, and was all jammed in the terminal. Somehow it had managed to connect internally to the feed L, bypassing both the switch and the fuse. The light went out when I flicked the switch because it was switching off the N.

A volt-free tester would have saved my pliers, and my embarrassment.
 
Back on the job this morning.

Here is a picture of the consumer unit. First MCB was the culprit.

There is the original RCD sitting on top of the consumer unit, I wonder why it’s been taken out!

Also added a photo of the damage to my hand from the live conductor.

All the best,

 
Back on the job this morning.

Here is a picture of the consumer unit. First MCB was the culprit.

There is the original RCD sitting on top of the consumer unit, I wonder why it’s been taken out!

Also added a photo of the damage to my hand from the live conductor.

All the best,


I bet that hurts. Thanks for telling your story - it's a good reminder for people to never be complacent, which we all can be.
 

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