# Sticky  Sparks and Arcs also (aftermath of burn to member)



## SWDweller

Great find, thanks for sharing.

I have never seen an electrical fire like that. Everything I have seen is a large white light and a bigger bang, followed by darkness.
Would be interesting to know the particulars of the install.


----------



## dspiffy

I would really like to know more about this.


----------



## dspiffy

Gotta love the guys standing around watching/filming instead of hauling ass.


----------



## just the cowboy

SWDweller said:


> Great find, thanks for sharing.
> 
> I have never seen an electrical fire like that. Everything I have seen is a large white light and a bigger bang, followed by darkness.
> Would be interesting to know the particulars of the install.


The only time I saw something like that was when 2 apprentices were pushing a fish tape in the wrong pipe into a hot 600 amp panel. They would push and it would go boom, lights would blink, fish tape would blow up, breaker did not trip. Repeated quite a few times before we could find them and tell them to stop.


----------



## joe-nwt

Your link says I have to log in. Anyone have a non-facebook link?


----------



## just the cowboy

joe-nwt said:


> Your link says I have to log in. Anyone have a non-facebook link?


On the log it screen it says not now, click that.


----------



## joe-nwt

just the cowboy said:


> On the log it screen it says not now, click that.


Nope. It says I _must _log in to continue.


----------



## joe-nwt

Maybe you can bypass if you have the facebook app......?


----------



## just the cowboy

joe-nwt said:


> Maybe you can bypass if you have the facebook app......?


Odd I don't have it on my work computer, just opened link in chrome. Under Green Create Account you don't have a Not Now?


----------



## joe-nwt

I'm on chrome too.


----------



## mburtis

I don't have Facebook but on my phone I just clicked the link and the log in thing popped up but I just scrolled down and there was the video.


----------



## joe-nwt

Nothing below the log in for me. Sigh!


----------



## MikeFL

Very loud and these guys are filming instead of evacuating or notifying others.


----------



## MoscaFibra

Sadly I have seen a couple small ones, nothing like that melt down though. A power feed to a chiller that bounced off the side of a box, it would arc across the room break contact with the side of the box and bounce over and over, the breaker to shut it off wasn't tripping and it was behind a locked door half a floor up...we didn't film any of it mostly just went and changed our pants.


----------



## Marmathsen

joe-nwt said:


> Nothing below the log in for me. Sigh!


It might be a regional thing. You're in Canada?

Rob G


----------



## joe-nwt

Marmathsen said:


> It might be a regional thing. You're in Canada?
> 
> Rob G


Might be. I'm surprised the video isn't available on another venue by now?

I witnessed a meltdown of the bushings on an old oil-filled generator breaker back in the 90's. Breaker was on an 8.2MVA hydro turbine, had about 2MW of load on it at the time. Being young and inexperienced at the time, I had no idea copper and porcelain could burn.


----------



## samgregger

Here is a direct link, try this: https://video-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v...=47d520b9c08388859be3057a41e87935&oe=6133AD4B


----------



## joe-nwt

samgregger said:


> Here is a direct link, try this: https://video-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v...=47d520b9c08388859be3057a41e87935&oe=6133AD4B


Thanks!


----------



## Dennis Alwon

joe-nwt said:


> Nope. It says I _must _log in to continue.


It worked for me-- I don't have a facebook account either


----------



## CMP

just the cowboy said:


> Some real spark video's may make some on here work safer. If you have some post it.
> Cowboy


Cowboy,
I didn't make a video, because I was in the middle of a meltdown similar to that, but likely worse. If you want to get guys to really come to terms with the risks, seeing some after effects still photos are much more telling than watching from a far.

That red see thru plasma ball in front of that gear looks real familiar. In fact, I will never forget it. They say that plasma is ten times hotter than the surface of the sun, and as far as I could tell, it is. It can burn your fingers down to the bone before your brain can tell your mouth to say ouch.

Many have the most fear of electrocution or burns. But with that plasma ball, the biggest risk is suffocation. If you even breathe a whiff of that stuff, your done. Your throat will sear and swell shut within a few minutes, likely long before the scrape up crew arrives. First thing the scrape up crew does is jam a breathing tube down your throat, before it swells shut. If you make it that far, then your on your way to the nearest burn center, via copter, strapped on a gurney.

Someone decided it wasn't my day to die that day, because I should have in my estimation. Maybe it was to share that experience, or help some of the others that go through the burn center, I volunteered for a few years to help council others.

I'm out on the road for the holiday, and a cellphone report just does not do justice to share the lesson with you, that will need to wait to a more appropriate time. Let's leave it like this for now. When the wife of 25 years could not identify me in the ICU after walking past three times. There was nothing there she could recognize....This 1st photo was after two major painful scrubbings to get the soot and charcoal carbon off, and down to some clean flesh.

It was a bad way to get an extended vacation....Did someone say not to trust a sparky with no eyebrow's? Does other facial and head hair count too?


----------



## micromind

CMP said:


> Cowboy,
> I didn't make a video, because I was in the middle of a meltdown similar to that, but likely worse. If you want to get guys to really come to terms with the risks, seeing some after effects still photos are much more telling than watching from a far.
> 
> That red see thru plasma ball in front of that gear looks real familiar. In fact, I will never forget it. They say that plasma is ten times hotter than the surface of the sun, and as far as I could tell, it is. It can burn your fingers down to the bone before your brain can tell your mouth to say ouch.
> 
> Many have the most fear of electrocution or burns. But with that plasma ball, the biggest risk is suffocation. If you even breathe a whiff of that stuff, your done. Your throat will sear and swell shut within a few minutes, likely long before the scrape up crew arrives. First thing the scrap up crew does is jam s breathing tube down your throat, before it swells shut. If you make it that far, then your on your way to the nearest burn center, via copter, strapped on a gurney.
> 
> Someone decided it wasn't my day to die that day, because I should have in my estimation. Maybe it was to share that experience, or help some of the others that go through the burn center, I volunteered for a few years to help council others.
> 
> I'm out on the road for the holiday, and a cellphone report just does not do justice to share the lesson with you, that will need to wait to a more appropriate time. Let's leave it like this for now. When the wife of 25 years could not identify me in the ICU after walking past three times. There was nothing there she could recognize....This 1st photo was after two major painful scrubbings to get the soot and charcoal carbon off, and down to some clean flesh.
> 
> It was a bad way to get an extended vacation....Did someone say not to trust a sparky with no eyebrow's? Does other facial and head hair count too?
> 
> View attachment 158247


Wow....just WOW........

I can't even imagine how much pain you were in. It hurts just to see it.........


----------



## CMP

You ain't seen nothing yet. There is still a torso to go.

And, don't forget the old Oscar Mayer jingle "They plump when you cook em"...


----------



## 210860

CMP said:


> You ain't seen nothing yet. There is still a torso to go.


CMP.. My lord dude.. I hope today after you enduring, what I'm viewing in post#21, in hopes of today you are doing fine CMP.
Sorry, I am a little lost for words sir.
Some of us older hands one time or another, having been "hung-up", could not get loose, swelling up "blacking-out" & thank god, for falling off.

But CMP Sir, I can't begin to express my humble sadness for the pain you must have endured. I can't find the words..

My female partner is a trained Safety Officer, her current assignment where 300+ Electricians will be reporting for an extended duration of time..

If no objections, I'd like her to view this photo in post #21


----------



## CMP

Share it as you wish, this happened more than 15 years ago, and I recovered just fine and stayed in the trade.
I'm sharing it to get the word out what can happen out in the field, when you least expect it. Seeing is believing.
I thought it may reach more electricians than a suckerbook video, burning in the distance. It's real and it's in your face, or should I say, In my face...

By the way, the wife was an RN and had worked the emergency room for many years before this happened, and still could not identify me. That first photo was before everything started to swell up.


----------



## CMP

Here is a test video that was on the google video, before it became YouTube. This is what I experienced up close and personal. Only difference is this was a timed test demonstration, in my case it erupted for several minutes before the POCO overhead 480V transformer bank let go. That vaporized copper cloud coming off of that test board was why I was unidentifiable, I was completely covered by that black vaporized metal cloud. The only thing on me that was not black was the whites of my eyes.






Once I put out my clothes and hair that were still on fire, I peeled off my shirts, saw the condition of my arms, I then peeled off the remnants of my roasted skin as well. I just figured I wouldn't be needing that any longer. It was best to get rid of the contamination as soon as possible. Along with the vaporized copper were plenty of molten copper BB's that penetrated me and the wallboard behind me. Those bits had to grow out of my skin over time.


----------



## gpop

Ive seen some nasty stuff.

A 1500hp 4160 motor seize a bearing and throw its winding's, Two guys putting on a boot on a 14.4 cable when it became live leading to the skin on there arms looking like candle wax, A 4000 amp buss collapsing and melting a hole in the building 3' away and being near a sub station when lightning stuck and a insulator launched like a cruse missile.

Maybe its my age but in every instance i have never thought of video taping it.


----------



## gpop

CMP said:


> Here is a test video that was on the google video, before it became YouTube. This is what I experienced up close and personal. Only difference is this was a timed test demonstration, in my case it erupted for several minutes before the POCO overhead 480V transformer bank let go. That vaporized copper cloud coming off of that test board was why I was unidentifiable, I was completely covered by that black vaporized metal cloud. The only thing on me that was not black was the whites of my eyes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Once I put out my clothes and hair that were still on fire, I peeled off my shirts, saw the condition of my arms, I then peeled off the remnants of my roasted skin as well. I just figured I wouldn't be needing that any longer. It was best to get rid of the contamination as soon as possible. Along with the vaporized copper were plenty of molten copper BB's that penetrated me and the wallboard behind me. Those bits had to grow out of my skin over time.



You either love the job or have balls of steel. No one i know has ever returned to the trade after a thermal arc event where they got hurt and no one i know has had one as bad as you are describing. Hell some of the apprentices who witnessed the event never returned.


----------



## CMP

I know I'm a bit different. I do love what I do. As long as I can fully understand how and why it happened, I can learn from it, not be afraid, and teach others not to put themselves in that position. As I'm trying to do here, the whole reason for sharing the story.

It was a similar situation in the burn center. After the first day I quickly realized it was going to be a serious pain to let the nurses come in and start ripping off bandages, as they embed themselves into your flesh. I decided to start peeling them myself to experience the pain level by myself, at my pace. Well it didn't take long for them to bust me doing it. I tried to tell them they were just coming loose. They shut down that excuse immediately, then told me if I was so tough then peel the stuff off and give it a good scrubbing. They brought in a washcloth and a bar of Ivory soap and told me to have at it, tough guy. Before they left me to it, they showed me where the hidden mirror was in the room.

Well I managed to get it peeled and scrubbed, it took a long while, at my pace, but I managed to get it done before the day was out. Then they inspected the work and started to give instructions on how and where to apply the two different creams and the silver foil that were to cover my arms in direct contact with the flesh. I complied with their instructions and wishes and did my very best to pass their inspections.

They told me I was the first in the history of the burn center to do my own wound care right out of the gate. All I knew was it was going to hurt a lot less if I was able to do it and control the pain to what I could tolerate. I refused the opiates after the first day as well, I didn't want to become dependent on them as well. It was a steep learning curve, but I accepted it and tried to excel as best I could, because I realized that when I got home it was all going to be up to me anyway.


----------



## MikeFL

You must have been on horse caliber anitbiotics.
Incredible story.


----------



## CMP

Never touched an antibiotic, the entire time. It was done with scrubbing and Ivory soap. That is what they told me to do.
The burn center is well renound in this area. But what I found was the young nurses were greenhorns, they were afraid to touch me and got reprimanded when I came out of their first scrubbing session, still covered in copper vapor and charcoal. 
It was a LPN that had been there for years on the floor that saved me, she knew her stuff. She scolded the RN's and took me back in for a proper scrubbing, I hope I never have a woman scrub me like that ever again. But I still LOVE that woman for what she did for me. When she asked me to come and be a support councilor for other patients, I jumped at the opportunity.


----------



## CMP

A few gory photos, now that I'm back at the ranch...Skip this part if you get a queasy stomach at the site of gore...


Eye swelled shut.










Lips cracking and bleeding from eating.









Roasted and greased.









Swelling starting to recede.









Right Arm









Left Arm


----------



## CMP

After the first week at the burn center, my savior the LPN told me my self wound care was good enough that she would allow me to go home and do my own care, with one caveat. I had to prove that I could shave.... I said I don't have any skin, let alone any hair to shave. She replied, yes you do, you have some peach fuzz sprouting in that hamburger and if you don't shave it off you will be back here in a week with an infected scarred up face, you either do it and prove it or you can stay here and we will do it for you. I said OK I'll give it a shot. She brought in a single blade .89¢ Bic razor and a fresh bar of soap and told me I would be inspected and tested in the morning. As I recall that shave hurt more than the initial scrubbing she did to me, I hadn't used a razor in twenty years, always had a beard and used a trimmer.

I managed to pull it off, but it took me several hours, to get through the pain of it. I was pleased, I was going to get sprung in the morning, thoughts of home at last circled in my head. Well when morning came, to my dismay, my savior was not working that day. Instead nurse ratchet showed up, I mentioned that I was supposed to get a flick test and get discharged today. She said there is not a chance in hell of you going home like that. I filed my complaint with her and told her I was promised that I could get out of dodge if I could shave.

Nurse ratchet was in no hurry to check if I was telling the truth. She was not there during my stay and self care and didn't believe that I was doing it myself. Wound care had to happen three times per day. It took me so long to do it each time, by the time I got it completed, it was almost time to start over again. She did finally do the hair flick test on me, and when she observed my second wound care of the day, she finally let me go.

Laying in the hospital bed for a week all I kept thinking about was what happened at the job site for the service to blow up in my face. I had conjured up some theories and I wanted to go back to the site on my way home, to evaluate the situation for myself. It turned out to be something totally different than what I was thinking.


----------



## CMP

As I headed back across town, I did stop to do an inspection of the site and the inflicted damage. So let me give some history about what the job was about. This was an older 1955 era industrial building with a 480V 4W overhead service and three 200A fused disconnect switches tapped off of the service entrance conductors. At some point in its recent life a new transformer pole was set right next to the building and loaded up with three new transformer pots, If I recall correctly, the pots were 150KVA units. There was a busway riser feeding a CT cabinet inside the building, the three 200A 600V fused switches were tapped off of the CT cabinet. A good size substation was located about 1/4 mile down the road, and supplies several large distribution circuits heading down that road for other large industrial buildings.

There was a newer tenant in the building that warehoused trucking parts. He had built some new office space in the warehouse area. Problem was he built the offices so close to the service gear, that the isle way to the handicapped bathroom was being restricted by a 75KVA transformer sitting in front of the gear. He got a violation for the handicapped restriction, and we were there to relocate the transformer overhead above the isle, to make clearance for the handicapped access.

The building was formerly used for a large grinding shop and was very dirty when the new warehouse took it over. He cleaned and whitewashed the place and had the floor painted. The dirty and contaminated service gear he painted black to camouflage the dirtiness.

We went in and disconnected the transformer from the service switch. Fabricated a wall mount frame for the transformer, for the only place we could fit it, the front wall above the bathroom. The side wall was full of old steel sash windows and the bus riser. We shimmied the transformer up to the bracket, bolted it in place and ran a new feeder line to it, and connected it up. Then we energized it to check for operation and acceptable voltage taps selected. All was well at that point, they had office power again. We removed the manlift from the tight isle way to button things up and clean up. The things left to do was install the transformer cover and terminate the grounding conductor from the feeder to the service switch. The switch had no grounding lug so I had to obtain one to bond it correctly. It had a pipe bond connection, but the wire bonding connection still neede to be made.I obtained a lug and returned to install it and connect the bonding conductor. When I stepped in front of the switch, that's when it lit up with a fury. I was in the line of fire between that switch and the new office wall directly behind 3' away.

I will post the photos of the site visit and damage and see if any of you can deduce what was the cause of the explosion.

Front of shirt gone









Shirt pocket gone









Burned through Tshirt









Working space









Switch Damage 1









Switch Damage 2









Molten copper shrapnel


----------



## gpop

Looks like B-leg had a bad clip and was shorting to the disconnect bar. When the arc started there was no shielding between the phases so the copper gas acted as a conductor and all hell broke loose.

I have seen this style disconnect blow on many occasions (including blowing a hole through the door). I have also seen where the clip comes off the bar and leaves one leg engaged more than once. Luckily they have always been between the Mcc bucket and a motor so the breaker has cleared the fault. Even with a breaker clearing the fault and wearing PPE its a huge fireball if you are standing in front of something that lets go.


----------



## splatz

Well, I am definitely not going to bitch about bad fitting boots today  

@CMP - These are not big enough words, but I'm very glad you are here to tell us this story, thank God.


----------



## gpop

Something i would like to know CMP is how did you eat enough during recovery. I have heard that after a burn event like that you require a huge amount of calories a day as your body is in repair mode.


----------



## CMP

To address some of the prior points and questions. In reverse order.

Yes. to grow skin tissue you need huge amounts of calories, and they need to be high fat calories. The instruction was to eat as much fatty foods as you could hold. I did, and it worked as they said. Ice cream was a daily staple. I packed it in as much as I could hold. I put on some weight from my normal historic weight during that time, but I was doing it for a good valid reason. As a side note, laying around in a chair for months your muscles go away quite nicely too. But fat and weak was much better than the life I was doomed to if I didn't do it. That damage is repairable in due time. It was not possible to even lay in the bed for about the first month, but the lazy boy was in preference to a hospital bed, just needed to cut up some clothes to fit.

Thanks for the kind comments and the ones deft of words to express their grief and shock. Even the balls of steel one. Here is how I dealt with it right from the start.

When the switch exploded, my reflexes just took over. I was standing directly in front of that switch, eye level, if you observe in the photo, I had just installed the needed bonding lug on the side of the enclosure. Picked up a pair of strippers and turned to grab the bonding wire to strip it. As I was grabbing the wire is when it lit up. Instinctively I threw up my hand to block my face and started running down that hallway with my eyes closed. When I anticipated that I had traveled far enough to clear the hallway and into free space, I stopped and turned to look, what was happening? What I saw was that isle way fully engulfed in a translucent red plasma ball, still burning. Auto pilot kicked back in, and I closed my eyes, didn't want to see any more of that. Right after my eyes shut, them my nose kicked in an I smelled the stench of burning flesh and hair, I was on fire... Open the eyes back up and start beating on myself to tamp out the flames.

My subconscious had been working from the start, there was a huge explosion sound, my mind tuned it out, I never remembered hearing it, but everyone else in the plant did and they all came running. At this time I was working on peeling off my shirts and the burnt skin patches on my arms. When the office girls arrived and saw me, two of them just about fainted and hit the floor, I did have to catch one of them and repeatedly tell her everything was going to be alright.

Seconds later when the plasma ball went out, everything in the plant started buzzing from single phasing. I walked back down that hallway to shut down the two remaining disconnects. All quiet now except from people going "Oh My God". Now my conscious mind started to kick back in. What I cared most about at that point was my vision, if I couldn't see well enough to keep doing what I loved in life, then it wasn't going to be worth continuing. I walked down that hallway again past the service, to the bathroom. There was a plate glass mirror sitting in the floor, leaned up against the wall. In that darkened room, I bent over and looked into that mirror and I could still see myself the darkened room. From that point forward I decided that things were going to work out.

The decision was made, I was commited to do whatever it took to recover and get on with my life. I never looked at as if I had balls of steel. I looked at it, do I want to live or die, I made the choice to live, whatever the cost. I then went back out to the plant to wait for the ambulance crew. When they arrived, then they freaked, they wanted to jam that breathing tube down my throat. I managed to convince them that I didn't need the breathing tube as it had already been like 20 minutes. I was off to the races. They carted me to the closest hospital, they checked me over and said I needed the burn center across town. I told the doc there I felt something in my eye, he looked and then got out a die grinder with a burr in it, and told me to hold still and stuck it in my eye. Well he kept telling me to be still, while I was sliding down the vinyl covered table that was sloped upward. After three pokes in the eye with the burr, I had enough of that. They wanted to put me in a medivac copter and ship me across town to the burn center. I told them no, enough trauma for one day, put me in a truck and keep me on the ground. Off I went.


----------



## CMP

Shifting to the job site visit on the way home. During my musings at the hospital, I was thinking that possibly the return spring from my strippers (Big 7's) had popped out and jumped up into the switch line side, and started the arc. First to check the strippers, spring is still in place and the bond wire was unaffected. That wasn't it. Took the photos that I showed earlier for some evidence to take and study and think about.

Thinking at home about what actions occurred that fateful day. The evening before that day, 10" of snow had fallen, it was the heart of winter. We delivered the manlift, trailer, Greenlee 855 bender, and truck at the back door. Unloaded the gear and got started. A short while later they asked us to move the truck and trailer a few times to take in some deliveries. A few hours later we moved the truck back inside to have access to the small supplies inside the truck. All of this truck movement brought in a bunch of snow that was now a large puddle at the rear of the plant, we were sloshing through it going to the truck.

As I stated earlier all of the service gear was contaminated with grinding dust from the prior plant operations, and was painted black to cover it up. You can see the black dust in the bottom of the switch. The switches are an early clampmatic design made by Bulldog here in Detroit, later sold to ITE and then Siemens. The switch enclosures are of the early flatback design, they don't have the 1/4" bump-outs for airspace that are now required on all gear. the switch enclosures were bolted directly to the outside wall, with no insulation present in the construction.

The third issue was the building heat was cranked way up. The warehouse guys were working in T-shirts all day in the middle of winter.

The final straw that made it go boom was that that switch cover had been open most of the day. When the manlift and Hi-lo was in that isle, you could not open or close that cover. We had it open to install fittings and pipe, and then later to pull wire and terminate.

My final conclusion was that condensation formed on the switch insulating block (fibrous material probably an asbestos blend) combined with the metallic grinding dust and it became conductive enough, with 480V imposed between the poles. As stated by Gpop earlier, that design has no separation barriers between the pole pieces, later models do. Once the condensation had wetted the conductive dust enough, it just lit up. Once the arc started, the plasma produced is highly conductive, the arc spread betwen all three phases until two of the pole mounted pots burned out. The pole fuses didn't blow the customer told me that the POCO had to replace 2 of the three transformer pots, to restore service.

So there were several issues that combined into the fateful event. But the condensation was one that I never much considered before. I certainly do now, a painful lesson learned, not to be forgotten or easily dismissed.

We just did a similar job last summer. a 3000A 480V 4 section switchboard that was fully contaminated with grinding dust. Customer called, a boiler technician was there servicing the large boiler. When he went back to the switchboard to energize the boiler feeder, the switch blew up with the handle in his hand. They called for a switch replacement. We contacted the utility to shut the plant down. Then hired a soda blasting cleaning contractor to come and clean the switchboard, insulators, bus bars and switches. We monitored them and took 1000 and 2500V megger readings during the process. The more they cleaned the worse the readings got. Turns out they were using a mobile compressor and it was blowing condensation all over the insulators during the process. After a day of air drying with fans and heat the readings rose enough to safely energize the service again. Bottom line, condensation really maters, don't take it for granted.


----------



## CMP

I'll leave with some recovery shots from home. Hope that this helps others think before they act.

Sleeping with the Pooch









Love Pink









Left Arm









Right Arm









Making Progress









Making Progress









Frankenstein Going Out For Dinner









Back to Normal


----------



## joe-nwt

Well, after all you went through you look good as new! Thanks for reliving it for us and sharing.


----------



## Quickservice

just the cowboy said:


> Don't know how well this will post it was from facebook, could only post link but you don't have to log in.
> Video was 53 seconds plus the time it took the person to get out his phone, and it was still not done when he ran.
> https://www.facebook.com/100000387733411/posts/1949182898437949/?d=n
> 
> Some real spark video's may make some on here work safer. If you have some post ti.
> 
> Cowboy


Man oh man... that is going to cost a pretty penny to fix, not counting the cost of the down time.


----------



## Quickservice

just the cowboy said:


> Don't know how well this will post it was from facebook, could only post link but you don't have to log in.
> Video was 53 seconds plus the time it took the person to get out his phone, and it was still not done when he ran.
> https://www.facebook.com/100000387733411/posts/1949182898437949/?d=n
> 
> Some real spark video's may make some on here work safer. If you have some post ti.
> 
> Cowboy


Saw the same thing years ago when a cat crawled into a 400A panel (Some dummy had left the panel cover off). Mummified the cat of course. The 400a breaker never did trip, but the 1000a main for the plant did.


----------



## MikeFL

Quickservice said:


> Saw the same thing years ago when a cat crawl into a 400A panel (Some dummy had left the panel cover off). Mummified the cat of course. The 400a breaker never did trip, but the 1000a main for the plant did.


Fastest trip curve wins every time.
Too bad for the cat, he lost.


----------



## micromind

MikeFL said:


> Fastest trip curve wins every time.
> Too bad for the cat, he lost.


Either that or the 1000 amp breaker had ground-fault and that's what tripped it.


----------



## oldsparky52

CMP, THANK YOU!

This will be shared.


----------



## schreib

just the cowboy said:


> Don't know how well this will post it was from facebook, could only post link but you don't have to log in.
> Video was 53 seconds plus the time it took the person to get out his phone, and it was still not done when he ran.
> https://www.facebook.com/100000387733411/posts/1949182898437949/?d=n
> 
> Some real spark video's may make some on here work safer. If you have some post ti.
> 
> Cowboy


not able to log in without owning a FACEBOOK account. WHICH, I will _NEVER_ have.


----------



## joe-nwt

schreib said:


> not able to log in without owning a FACEBOOK account. WHICH, I will _NEVER_ have.


Post #18


----------



## batwing44

joe-nwt said:


> A few gory photos, now that I'm back at the ranch...Skip this part if you get a queasy stomach at the site of gore...
> 
> 
> Eye swelled shut.
> View attachment 158251
> 
> 
> 
> Lips cracking and bleeding from eating.
> View attachment 158252
> 
> 
> Roasted and greased.
> View attachment 158253
> 
> 
> Swelling starting to
> 
> 
> CMP said:
> 
> 
> 
> Cowboy,
> I didn't make a video, because I was in the middle of a meltdown similar to that, but likely worse. If you want to get guys to really come to terms with the risks, seeing some after effects still photos are much more telling than watching from a far.
> 
> That red see thru plasma ball in front of that gear looks real familiar. In fact, I will never forget it. They say that plasma is ten times hotter than the surface of the sun, and as far as I could tell, it is. It can burn your fingers down to the bone before your brain can tell your mouth to say ouch.
> 
> Many have the most fear of electrocution or burns. But with that plasma ball, the biggest risk is suffocation. If you even breathe a whiff of that stuff, your done. Your throat will sear and swell shut within a few minutes, likely long before the scrape up crew arrives. First thing the scrape up crew does is jam a breathing tube down your throat, before it swells shut. If you make it that far, then your on your way to the nearest burn center, via copter, strapped on a gurney.
> 
> Someone decided it wasn't my day to die that day, because I should have in my estimation. Maybe it was to share that experience, or help some of the others that go through the burn center, I volunteered for a few years to help council others.
> 
> I'm out on the road for the holiday, and a cellphone report just does not do justice to share the lesson with you, that will need to wait to a more appropriate time. Let's leave it like this for now. When the wife of 25 years could not identify me in the ICU after walking past three times. There was nothing there she could recognize....This 1st photo was after two major painful scrubbings to get the soot and charcoal carbon off, and down to some clean flesh.
> 
> It was a bad way to get an extended vacation....Did someone say not to trust a sparky with no eyebrow's? Does other facial and head hair count too?
> 
> View attachment 158247
> 
> 
> 
> The powers that be should make this story a sticky in the safety forum, no one should have to suffer like you have. Be well. Paul
> .
> View attachment 158254
> 
> 
> Right Arm
> View attachment 158255
> 
> 
> Left Arm
> View attachment 158256
Click to expand...


----------



## joe-nwt

Edit, not sure what happened there.


----------



## CMP

Did your eyes get swelled shut.../$


----------



## just the cowboy

CMP said:


> Back to Normal
> View attachment 158282


Thank you for doing this no matter how hard it was to relive it, let's hope it sink in to someone new to the field.
I am going to ask the mods to move it to Safety section so it don't get too buried.

Cowboy


----------



## Dennis Alwon

I can't log in now either


----------



## MikeFL

test.

update: thread moved to Workplace Safety


----------



## 460 Delta

just the cowboy said:


> Thank you for doing this no matter how hard it was to relive it, let's hope it sink in to someone new to the field.
> I am going to ask the mods to move it to Safety section so it don't get too buried.
> 
> Cowboy


Preferably as a sticky.


----------



## MikeFL

460 Delta said:


> Preferably as a sticky.


done.


----------



## Veteran Sparky

just the cowboy said:


> The only time I saw something like that was when 2 apprentices were pushing a fish tape in the wrong pipe into a hot 600 amp panel. They would push and it would go boom, lights would blink, fish tape would blow up, breaker did not trip. Repeated quite a few times before we could find them and tell them to stop.


Really,? Must not have been metal fish tape?


----------



## just the cowboy

Veteran Sparky said:


> Really,? Must not have been metal fish tape?


No it was, the booms were loud and the panel had pieces of fish tape everywhere. 
I am talking old large panels, resistance ground and powerhouse on site.


----------



## Veteran Sparky

just the cowboy said:


> No it was, the booms were loud and the panel had pieces of fish tape everywhere.
> I am talking old large panels, resistance ground and powerhouse on site.


How were the apprentices not injured? Wait...I see 'resistance ground'. Still very lucky.


----------



## just the cowboy

Veteran Sparky said:


> How were the apprentices not injured? Wait...I see 'resistance ground'. Still very lucky.


They were 200 feet away pushing into the panel. The panel they pushed into was closed because it was the wrong panel. The fish tape was shorted to ground the whole way in conduit.


----------



## paulengr

just the cowboy said:


> They were 200 feet away pushing into the panel. The panel they pushed into was closed because it was the wrong panel. The fish tape was shorted to ground the whole way in conduit.


A low resistance ground still allows pretty high currents, usually 100 or 400 A. High resistance grounds would be in exciting, 15 A or less.


----------



## Almost Retired

just the cowboy said:


> Don't know how well this will post it was from facebook, could only post link but you don't have to log in.
> Video was 53 seconds plus the time it took the person to get out his phone, and it was still not done when he ran.
> https://www.facebook.com/100000387733411/posts/1949182898437949/?d=n
> 
> Some real spark video's may make some on here work safer. If you have some post ti.
> 
> Cowboy
> 
> *Edit: A brave member posted the aftermath to him of a flash, this video is not from his incident.*


My mill sent me to a flash school many yrs ago. The teacher started us on a half days worth of stills and videos. The results of a flash/burn Not shocked to a human are VERY UGLY. The actual shocks are GRUESOME !! Most the shock pics came from a coroner or some such, really bad.

I will post them shortly


----------



## Almost Retired

Almost Retired said:


> My mill sent me to a flash school many yrs ago. The teacher started us on a half days worth of stills and videos. The results of a flash/burn Not shocked to a human are VERY UGLY. The actual shocks are GRUESOME !! Most the shock pics came from a coroner or some such, really bad.
> 
> I will post them shortly


@MikeFL ... I dont see a way to put pics, drop and drag didnt work for me any suggestions?


----------



## MikeFL

Look at all the tools in the row at the bottom of the window you type in when replying.
You can use those tools and you can also copy & paste directly into the message, like this:


----------



## Almost Retired

MikeFL said:


> Look at all the tools in the row at the bottom of the window you type in when replying.
> You can use those tools and you can also copy & paste directly into the message, like this:
> 
> View attachment 158486


Thank you, thought i had looked there obviously not well enough


----------



## backstay

just the cowboy said:


> Don't know how well this will post it was from facebook, could only post link but you don't have to log in.
> Video was 53 seconds plus the time it took the person to get out his phone, and it was still not done when he ran.
> https://www.facebook.com/100000387733411/posts/1949182898437949/?d=n
> 
> Some real spark video's may make some on here work safer. If you have some post ti.
> 
> Cowboy
> 
> *Edit: A brave member posted the aftermath to him of a flash, this video is not from his incident.*


Not everyone uses Facebook. For some reason this was in my new threads ?


----------



## just the cowboy

backstay said:


> Not everyone uses Facebook.


Vidio has been removed anyway


----------



## Almost Retired

just the cowboy said:


> Vidio has been removed anyway


i just watched that video .. again .. a cpl hours ago


----------



## Veteran Sparky

just the cowboy said:


> The only time I saw something like that was when 2 apprentices were pushing a fish tape in the wrong pipe into a hot 600 amp panel. They would push and it would go boom, lights would blink, fish tape would blow up, breaker did not trip. Repeated quite a few times before we could find them and tell them to stop.


They were lucky, I know of someone around my area who did this and died instantly.


----------

