I was aware that this could happen because ten years ago, while I was working in Kathy Solter’s kitchen , an electrician told me a similar story. And, I write knowing that shinydome will be sitting at his computer, shaking his head.
A condo owner up the street asked me to install two bathroom fans. One with an attic above, the other without. I began with the easy fan, the one I could install from above. First, I flipped the fan switch on, listened to it whir, flipped it off, and heard it stop. I then climbed into the attic through the ceiling panel near the bathroom door. I located the fan and pried it off the ceiling joists. I tried to disconnect the electrical wire that powered the fan - except it wouldn’t budge. So what, I thought, I’ll cut through the wires with my snips. I’ve done it before, and I had, after all, turned off the electricity.
Let me pause and say, even without shinydome’s admonitions, I’m careful doing any kind of work that might put me on the other side of the grass. I shiver when I flashback to the live wires I cut through last winter. That’s why after I flip a switch or even a circuit breaker, I’ll strip the black and white wires separately and then touch them together. No white flash means I’m safe to work.
While I’m struggling with this wire, dust mask on, sweating in the hot attic, I hear the home owner walk up the steps, peer in the bathroom, and then retreat back down to his study. I assumed he was checking on my progress.
I pulled out my wire cutters and because I’m the nervous nelly I claim to be, I clamped down slowly on the wire. Probably nothing would have happened : had I not been holding onto the blue steel body of the fan; had my wire cutters not been bare metal; had the condo owner not flipped the light and fan switch on as he peered into the bathroom.
I can only repeat the message that was stenciled to all the trucks, ladders, toolboxes, etc. that were used by my father (and his crew) during the forty plus years he worked for Northwestern Bell.
"No job is so important, no task so urgent, that it can't be done safely."
Flip the breaker! When in doubt, flip the main breaker!
And always be in doubt.
Oh yeah, and use rubber-covered, fully insulated tools.
Posted by well-insulated.So tell us the ending! Or are you writing from the other side of the grass???
Posted by sparky.Have you any idea how infuriating you are when you play fast and loose with your safety and put in jeopardy not only your well being but the happiness of my sister and my nephew? This is not one bit cute!
Posted by Susan.And nothing much would have happened if the owner had GFI (ground-fault-interupt) on his circuits.
In MD, by law, all new houses (since ~1980?) have
to have gfi. But, of course, older houses don't usually have it. What's the code in MA?
GFI circuits probably have saved much grief for many sisters and nephews, not to mention preventing more holes in the grass.
I feel like a kitchen mouse scurrying from under the broom-blows of a determined house wife. I know I should have thrown the circuit breaker, but time is money. I don't have fully insulated tools. I've never before felt electricity sweep through my body. I know it's infuriating, but would you rather be bored? And, all bathroom fixtures or any kitchen ones near running water have to be on GFCI's. But not fans, and yes, the wiring predates all that anyway. Now, fess up, who else has had a similar experience? That's what I thought, just about everyone.
OK, I'll fess up. When I was 7 I stuck a paper clip into the outlet in my bedroom and got zapped. Later, when I was a teenager, and the fear of electricity had worn off, I was fooling around with an old Ford spark coil, trying to see how far I could make a spark jump. That was quite a few volts (1000?), and I managed to touch the sharpened screw that was making the spark jump about half an inch of air, and got thrown across the room when the current ran through me.
Since then, I'm pathalogically careful with electric stuff.
Posted by rakkity.Silly boys. I'm pretty sure girls don't electrocute themselves. Blow fuses and circuits yes, but we stop short at electrocution.
Posted by shockfree.Oh for heaven's sakes.
Posted by shockedforanotherreason.I can only repeat the message that was stenciled to all the trucks, ladders, toolboxes, etc. that were used by my father (and his crew) during the forty plus years he worked for Northwestern Bell.
"No job is so important, no task so urgent, that it can't be done safely."
Flip the breaker! When in doubt, flip the main breaker!
And always be in doubt.
Oh yeah, and use rubber-covered, fully insulated tools.
Posted by: well-insulatedat October 3, 2004 10:08 PMSo tell us the ending! Or are you writing from the other side of the grass???
Posted by: sparkyat October 4, 2004 08:19 AMHave you any idea how infuriating you are when you play fast and loose with your safety and put in jeopardy not only your well being but the happiness of my sister and my nephew? This is not one bit cute!
Posted by: Susanat October 4, 2004 09:22 AMAnd nothing much would have happened if the owner had GFI (ground-fault-interupt) on his circuits.
In MD, by law, all new houses (since ~1980?) have
to have gfi. But, of course, older houses don't usually have it. What's the code in MA?
GFI circuits probably have saved much grief for many sisters and nephews, not to mention preventing more holes in the grass.
I feel like a kitchen mouse scurrying from under the broom-blows of a determined house wife. I know I should have thrown the circuit breaker, but time is money. I don't have fully insulated tools. I've never before felt electricity sweep through my body. I know it's infuriating, but would you rather be bored? And, all bathroom fixtures or any kitchen ones near running water have to be on GFCI's. But not fans, and yes, the wiring predates all that anyway. Now, fess up, who else has had a similar experience? That's what I thought, just about everyone.
OK, I'll fess up. When I was 7 I stuck a paper clip into the outlet in my bedroom and got zapped. Later, when I was a teenager, and the fear of electricity had worn off, I was fooling around with an old Ford spark coil, trying to see how far I could make a spark jump. That was quite a few volts (1000?), and I managed to touch the sharpened screw that was making the spark jump about half an inch of air, and got thrown across the room when the current ran through me.
Since then, I'm pathalogically careful with electric stuff.
Posted by: rakkityat October 4, 2004 10:15 PMSilly boys. I'm pretty sure girls don't electrocute themselves. Blow fuses and circuits yes, but we stop short at electrocution.
Posted by: shockfreeat October 5, 2004 07:07 AMOh for heaven's sakes.
Posted by: shockedforanotherreasonat October 6, 2004 06:47 PM