CLOSE CALLS/BAD EXPERIENCES?

[ctroyp]

I have always liked to hear some of the stories of experiences while on the job.

Here is a snip from the recent "NEC Poster's..." thread started by Joe Tedesco.

This is a good opportunity for other's to share some of their past experiences...

Posted by ctroyp:
quote:
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Originally posted by don_resqcapt19:
The Canadian electrical code does not permit exposed line side terminals. Maybe something that should be in the NEC.
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Maybe it should.

I was once helping another electrician on another job where he was terminating some 250 feeds inside a live switchgear (nursing home.) The buses were exposed and hot and he was pulling the neutral up to the top behind the "hot" bus bars to terminate on the neutral bar. I expressed my concerns about the obvious safety hazard but he was adamant on doing so. The problem is, he did not have any safety equipment (gloves, blanket, etc.) I threatened to walk off the job but he said he would terminate them when I left.

Due to the space limitations he could only get one hand in to pull the neutral up to the top. And, just as I feared he touched the back of the bus bar with his knuckle and was grounded to the gear case near his elbow. He immediately came off of it with only minor blisters on his opposite hand.

After all this I reported this incident to the president of the company. This happened about 9 years ago and last I heard this guy is still an electrician.

Ed:
Are you required in Canada to install breakers or false breakers (spacers) if you do not use all of the slots? I am not referring to breaker blanks that snap into the panel cover, but something to cover the exposed breaker slots when the cover/dead front is removed. It seems as it would be required if you are required to cover the main lugs.

Posted by Ed Maclaren:
ctroyp,
No, we do not have to cover the exposed breaker slots when the cover/dead front is removed. The breaker buss is overcurrent protected by the main breaker.

The main lugs are covered in "service" panels because they often have no overcurrent protection except the transformer primary fuse.

Your post reminded me of a time, back in the sixties, when I was pulling feeder runs back into a live 120/208 volt splitter trough, the kind with four bare buss-bars running the full length of the trough.
The electrical room was quite small, we didn't have a fish reel, and my helper was trying to coil up the 100 ft fish, and keep it under control as I pulled.

Well you can probably guess the rest. The "springy" fish got away from him and just about filled the room.
Everybody ducked, and after the smoke cleared, our only 100 ft fish was in about six pieces.

Ed

Feel free to share electrical troubleshooting/problem experiences as well.

[ October 08, 2003, 07:47 PM: Message edited by: ctroyp ]

 

[ceb]

Re: CLOSE CALLS/BAD EXPERIENCES?

Once upon a time I was replacing a double pole bolt in breaker at one of the prisons I help maintain, I was working the panel hot. I had replaced the breaker and was going in with the first screw when my pager,which was on vibrate, went off. needless to say screwdriver went right, screw went left and something to the effect of "o s*** came out of my mouth". After I composed I called the number, which was my wife, wanting to know what I wanted for supper.
Moral of the story,#1 when working hot panels turn off pager. #2 don't give wife pager number or #3 don't work panels hot.

 

[lady sparks lover]

Re: CLOSE CALLS/BAD EXPERIENCES?

Well, might not be as entertaining, but...

I was wiring a light fixture for my church, because I said hey, I've done it before so I'll do it again. I tested the power, via a coffee maker being plugged into that circuit see if it turned off, opposed to a tester, because I didn't have those tools.

Needless to say, I was doing very well, until I grabbed both the neutral and hot wire trying to connect them to the fixture...and ZAP!!

 

[goldstar]

Re: CLOSE CALLS/BAD EXPERIENCES?

Moral of the story,#1 when working hot panels turn off pager. #2 don't give wife pager number or #3 don't work panels hot.

# 2 should be placed at the top of the list !!!

I was asked by a friend to come and repair a receptacle that was broken and hanging out of the wall. It was in an old bungalow on the lake that was converted over to a year-round residence.(These are notorious for D-I-Y wiring.) Anyway, I plugged in my circuit tester and asked my friend to stay at the top of the stairs and tell me when the light went off. I went down to the new 200 amp breaker panel that he had installed and began to switch breakers off and on, one at time. Never heard from him. So I went up the stairs to confirm that the power never went off and he said no. So, I proceeded to turn all the breakers off, one at a time until I heard him say that the tester went off. Once I got to that point I proceeded to turn the breakers back on, one at a time. As luck would have it there ended up being 3 breakers that powered the same receptacle. I began to investigate further and found a 4" sq. junction box with several cables in it, all tied together black to black & white to white. I split them apart and turned each of the 3 breakers on and all 3 ended up on the same phase in the breaker panel and in that JB.

Now, what are the chances that a novice should happen to tie all 3 cables together and have them land on the same phase in the breaker panel ? Not to mention the luck of the electrician that did the service upgrade and have those circuits end up on the same phase.

It's a good thing he was a friend and that I have a conscience so I corrected the problem.