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- Mt Barker South Australia
I just came across this and thought I'd share, it downloaded as a series of pictures so hopefully it's readable.
I can totally see this happening to me and most of the people I know!
I actually had a similar experience with an aquarium filter, although not funny at the time. I had a bag of filters that I had used, but weren't currently using so I wanted to test a few. The power socket was on one wall of the bathroom about shoulder height and I had a 4' tank opposite. I could just barely reach the switch while holding a filter head slightly above where it would be submerged in the aquarium, I would stretch out on one leg, flick the switch and plunge the filter under the water. This worked, rocking side to side I tested a few then hit a faulty one. As in the above, I found that I couldn't flick the switch to off with my left hand nor could I let go of the filter in my right. My right hand kept clenching and unclenching on the filter with the pulse of the 240v AC current and my left hand was just flailing about in the general direction of the switch on the wall. It was a 2 pronged plug, unusual at the time, so all the current was grounding through me into a wet floor, which was dirt with a thin layer of concrete over it, not a proper floor, it was out back of a 200yo miners cottage. I spasmed like this with my arm flailing wildly for what seemed like a long time until a lucky swipe hit the switch allowing me to collapse onto the floor. Laying on my back I was staring at a 60w bare globe which looked like a lantern seen through mist in an old horror movie, I couldn't see, just a glow and pain was shooting through my body, all I could think is that its going to freak my wife out finding me dead in the morning. Eventually I made it to bed and said nothing about it in the morning.
The sad thing is I still test filters the same way and would probably zap myself if given access to a tazer!
(Oh, and if you get sick of fuses blowing, don't just use the thickest fuse wire you can find in the hardware store!)
I can totally see this happening to me and most of the people I know!
I actually had a similar experience with an aquarium filter, although not funny at the time. I had a bag of filters that I had used, but weren't currently using so I wanted to test a few. The power socket was on one wall of the bathroom about shoulder height and I had a 4' tank opposite. I could just barely reach the switch while holding a filter head slightly above where it would be submerged in the aquarium, I would stretch out on one leg, flick the switch and plunge the filter under the water. This worked, rocking side to side I tested a few then hit a faulty one. As in the above, I found that I couldn't flick the switch to off with my left hand nor could I let go of the filter in my right. My right hand kept clenching and unclenching on the filter with the pulse of the 240v AC current and my left hand was just flailing about in the general direction of the switch on the wall. It was a 2 pronged plug, unusual at the time, so all the current was grounding through me into a wet floor, which was dirt with a thin layer of concrete over it, not a proper floor, it was out back of a 200yo miners cottage. I spasmed like this with my arm flailing wildly for what seemed like a long time until a lucky swipe hit the switch allowing me to collapse onto the floor. Laying on my back I was staring at a 60w bare globe which looked like a lantern seen through mist in an old horror movie, I couldn't see, just a glow and pain was shooting through my body, all I could think is that its going to freak my wife out finding me dead in the morning. Eventually I made it to bed and said nothing about it in the morning.
The sad thing is I still test filters the same way and would probably zap myself if given access to a tazer!
(Oh, and if you get sick of fuses blowing, don't just use the thickest fuse wire you can find in the hardware store!)
