Arc Flash from Wiggy

Status
Not open for further replies.
tom baker

tom baker

First Chief Moderator & NEC Expert
Staff member
Location
Bremerton, Washington
Occupation
Master Electrician
These three pictures show an arc blast from a Wiggy, going phase to phase.
The pictures were in a Powerpoint code presentation on the NEC.
Does anyone have any information on specifics?
 
Tom,
I present this issue 2-3 / week. Out of what Powerpoint presentation did you get this?
Joe Tedesco maybe able to shine some light on this for you.
PS.... I saved those pictures.
 
My understanding is this incident happened in Fargo, North Dakota. The tech. Mark (don't know his last name) was inserting a meter into the open lower hole on the right when something broke. The broken parts went phase to phase and caused the arc blast. Mark was wearing all PPE except a faceshield. He recieved some pretty nasty burns to his head and face. He was wearing safety glasses. This is supposed to have happened sometime in 2001.
 
Would this of been a 480V service? Its a bus duct installation meaning it has a low input impedance and hence high short circuit current.
 
Remember that "WIGGY" is a registered trademark of one manufaturer and not a generic description of a solenoid type voltage tester.

Was this arc flash caused by the tester exploding or the tester probe/part being tested failing?

Class III test meters are intended not to explode when misapplied, but there is nothing you can do if a single probe causes the fault except be glad you are wearing the correct PPE including face shield. This is why the NFPA70E task tables call taking voltage tests a hazard category 2*.
 
According to FNCnca this had nothing to do with a "Wiggy", but I did see some simiular pictures at a "Forensic Investigation" seminar. In that case the electrician kept his tools in a bucket in the back of a pickup truck. Turns out his "Wiggy" had gotten water in it and when he went to check the voltage......Six weeks after the incident he was still not back at work.

You have to check your tools from time to time. How many of us have found out we have a hole in the handle of are linemens the hard way.
 
Search IEEE

Search IEEE

davidr43229 said:
Tom,
I present this issue 2-3 / week. Out of what Powerpoint presentation did you get this?
Joe Tedesco maybe able to shine some light on this for you.
PS.... I saved those pictures.
Click to expand...

Search the IEEE site and look for their Electrical Safety Programs that were available online years ago for download, now I think the CD's for each year can be purchased for $35.00 or more.

I believe these images were in one of their presentations.

Here's the information for the next presentation.

http://www.ewh.ieee.org/cmte/ias-esw/
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top