I used to have this problem with a vehicle I used to own. Turned out to be the brand / type of tires that I was using. <br><br> Too many years have gone by for me to remember what they were and what I changed to ... sorry. <br><br> Might be something to ponder ...<br><br>PISTOL

 

To NWDave, you american electricians, Ha! Try 600Volts from one hand to another. That'll get yer heart goin'. Happened to me once and it'll never happen again!!!! Right thru the chest, thought someone hit me with a sledge hammer right between the nipples!<br><br> Mitch the Real Canadian Electrician

 

See, you're an older and wiser electrician. Yomitch, you have my deepest sympathy for what you encountered. In my industrial plant, 480 is our working voltage. I generally don't work with higher voltages. To all non electricians reading this voltage banter, we're not making fun of your encounters with static electricity, but it is amusing. When we encounter static electricity it can really be shocking. It's one thing to be working with a known source of electricity (like your light switch or outlet), you can prepare for it. But static electricity is a whole different ball game. You've probably heard that we like to play with big reels of wire (500 kcmil, wire diameter of .813 inches, 500 feet to a 1000 feet or more in length is a very large surface area for a capacitive effect.) Triple that effect with 3 runs of wire being removed from a conduit that has been unused for several years. On occasion, we have to prove to every new apprentice or unsuspecting lookie loo that those long lengths of wire can have a static charge. It's common practice to expose the end of the wire to a good ground contact to discharge the static electricity. Now there's a zap for the unwary. How much voltage? I really can't tell you, but it's enough to make this old phart a believer. I've gone phase to phase in a hot 480 gutter but then I was properly dressed for an accidental encounter, hot gloves, face shield, body harness, rope hooked to it with a journeyman on the other end in case I got tangled up with the 480. Ruined my hex driver tip, melted in a very explosive manner. I still show that hex driver to all new apprentices just for the lessons learned. Hey, I'm off today (work 4 10hour shifts, 3 day weekend). Enough of this.<br><br>~Dave

 

NWDave is correct - the plasma arc created by a tool being stuck in the wrong place is awe-inspiring, as in AW EXCREMENT <br><br>One of the greatest dangers of working in a tight space with live electricity is that the human body is programmed to jump at the sound of an unexpected arc. This jump may cause you to get into an energized circuit and really get shocked. That is why OSHA has so many rules about electrical enclosures. It is probably a good thing that alot of people treat elctricity like it is FM (freaking magic):<br><br>You can't see it, hear it, smell it, or taste it but you will feel it if you do something stupid.<br><br>One trick to working inside live electronic equipment is to put one hand behind your back so that only one hand is where there is a potential for shock (a little electrical pun there). That way the current path doesn't go across the chest and through the heart but down one side of the body into the floor. It don't take much to reset your ticker.

 

<br> Pistol, could they have been the old nylon tires we used to have?

 

If I remember right. A very light feeling &quot;static&quot; shock is around 500 volts and the big blasts can be several thousand. I know the ones I get from mine this time of year are pretty impressive.

 

Well we all have stories in the electrical field that we love to tell,but this one did it for me!! An electrical group was doing I beleive street lighting in a Southern New Jersy town,pretty much all new developments use underground wiring,transformers,etc!! Well the OWNER of the company was jackhammering the ground and he nailed a 5-10K(in that area) line underground, he just went up in flames!!! It was all over the news papers and trade fields in the area! DIED!!!!! OBVIOUSLY!!!!!!! THAT IS A SHOCK!!!!!!! :P

 

I saw that same thing happen to a highschool student I can't recall where now. Their woodshop class was building a small storage building outside and he had a shovel in his hand digging a shallow hole for a concrete pier.<br> I do not recall why the underground was so close to the surface, I seem to recall it was a mistake by the people who finished grading after the Electrical went in. You KNOW the power company never buries it that close to the ground. They know the dangers, so probably somebody just moved too much dirt by accident. Sad thing, I bet he didn't dig down 6 inches.

 

check your local super market <br>they carry various brands of spray antistatic or fabric softner <br>had same problem with my chev sub <br>only need to spray every month or so

 

My 95' 2500 gasser shocked me horribly. I noticed with different pairs of shoes it was worse. Wear leather gloves and boots and it should solve the problem.