Getting Handy in 2013 - Man Skills

[DaveShoelace]

Blue tacked the tap as suggested, worked fine.

So the hot water went on the blink yesterday (Taps, shower is electric), presume its related to the cold weather. Other than knowing where the stop cock is in the house I don't even know where to start on this one, and my builder landlord has a plumber I can ring 24/7 anyway, so he is coming around today.

BUT, instead of making small talk and making him a cuppa, I'm actually going to annoy the crap out of him and follow him around asking him what he is doing. I presume I'll be non the wiser at the end but if I keep doing it something will stick.

[Skippy]

I couldn't work out what was wrong, so decided to put my finger into the hole to get a proper good feel for the thread.. skip to me being flung across the room and subsuquently dropping and smashing said lamp after having however many thousand volts rush through my entire body.

If you don't know how many volts, then you definitely lose several man points.

[millidonk]

I couldn't work out what was wrong, so decided to put my finger into the hole to get a proper good feel for the thread.. skip to me being flung across the room and subsuquently dropping and smashing said lamp after having however many thousand volts rush through my entire body.

If you don't know how many volts, then you definitely lose several man points.

Why would I want or need to know?

[EvilPie]

I couldn't work out what was wrong, so decided to put my finger into the hole to get a proper good feel for the thread.. skip to me being flung across the room and subsuquently dropping and smashing said lamp after having however many thousand volts rush through my entire body.

If you don't know how many volts, then you definitely lose several man points.

Why would I want or need to know?

You were pretty lucky by the sound of it.

I'm guessing you touched the live part of the lamp which created a circuit through your body down to earth thus causing you to get flung across the room.

If your finger had touched the 'safe' bit of the bayonet cap first then touched the 'live' bit at the same time the circuit would've been made through your finger. You wouldn't have got a shock through your whole body but it would've been GG finger.

Incidentally if you ever feel the need to stick a finger in something which may be live again it's better to use the left finger. It helps keep the electricity as far away from your heart as possible.

[david3103]

I couldn't work out what was wrong, so decided to put my finger into the hole to get a proper good feel for the thread.. skip to me being flung across the room and subsuquently dropping and smashing said lamp after having however many thousand volts rush through my entire body.

If you don't know how many volts, then you definitely lose several man points.

Why would I want or need to know?

You were pretty lucky by the sound of it.

I'm guessing you touched the live part of the lamp which created a circuit through your body down to earth thus causing you to get flung across the room.

If your finger had touched the 'safe' bit of the bayonet cap first then touched the 'live' bit at the same time the circuit would've been made through your finger. You wouldn't have got a shock through your whole body but it would've been GG finger.

Incidentally if you ever feel the need to stick a finger in something which may be live again it's better to use the left finger. It helps keep the electricity as far away from your heart as possible.

I always thought the heart was more on the left hand side of your body?

Also, when I read that last paragraph it looked more like too late advice for various 70s and 80s celebs

[millidonk]

Heart is centre just has larger muscle on one side I believe.

That I did not know Matt. Not sure which bit I touched but it sure sobered me up!

[Skippy]

I couldn't work out what was wrong, so decided to put my finger into the hole to get a proper good feel for the thread.. skip to me being flung across the room and subsuquently dropping and smashing said lamp after having however many thousand volts rush through my entire body.

If you don't know how many volts, then you definitely lose several man points.

Why would I want or need to know?

I can think of a few reasons, but it's just one of those things that is good general knowledge.

The plugs used to be at "240 volts" in the UK, but they were reduced 10 volts to fit in with the rest of Europe. So they are now 230 volts.

The plugs in Europe used to be 220 volts, but they got boosted to 230 volts. So now no matter where you take your equipment in Europe it will work. The power is at 50 hertz across Europe.

[millidonk]

In 28 years I have never needed to know the voltage of the mains. I admit it's good general knowledge to have but never needed to know and doubt I ever will. Although the more I think about it, I think I might have already known it was 240..

[Skippy]

Everybody needs to make sure your house has one of these:

Edit: that google images search was shocking. Let's get another one....

Click to see full-size image.

.

This isn't just a fuse box, this is has something called an RCD in it. (cue someone knowing what they are talking about telling me what it's supposed to be called.

With one of these it's incredibly difficult to kill yourself with mains electricity*- in millidonks's case, it would turn the electricity to the house off so fast that not enough electricity can go through you to kill you.

Although millidonk has been lucky, you stand a pretty good chance of surviving a 240V shock- it's not an instant death sentence.

* not to be taken as a challenge

[pokerfan]

Volts don't kill.

[millidonk]

Everybody needs to make sure your house has one of these:

Edit: that google images search was shocking. Let's get another one....

Click to see full-size image.

.

This isn't just a fuse box, this is has something called an RCD in it. (cue someone knowing what they are talking about telling me what it's supposed to be called.

With one of these it's incredibly difficult to kill yourself with mains electricity*- in millidonks's case, it would turn the electricity to the house off so fast that not enough electricity can go through you to kill you.

Although millidonk has been lucky, you stand a pretty good chance of surviving a 240V shock- it's not an instant death sentence.

* not to be taken as a challenge

I has one of these. Maybe that's while I'm still kicking. I flick the switch everytime I knock the power out after digging a crumpet out of the toaster with a knife.

[Graham C]

I got a shock from a broken plug bit like Milli a few months ago, scared the shit out of me and tingled for ages.

Just thought id share

[EvilPie]

I always thought the heart was more on the left hand side of your body?

Also, when I read that last paragraph it looked more like too late advice for various 70s and 80s celebs

Erm..... Oh yeah. I might have meant the other one

[EvilPie]

I couldn't work out what was wrong, so decided to put my finger into the hole to get a proper good feel for the thread.. skip to me being flung across the room and subsuquently dropping and smashing said lamp after having however many thousand volts rush through my entire body.

If you don't know how many volts, then you definitely lose several man points.

Why would I want or need to know?

I can think of a few reasons, but it's just one of those things that is good general knowledge.

The plugs used to be at "240 volts" in the UK, but they were reduced 10 volts to fit in with the rest of Europe. So they are now 230 volts.

The plugs in Europe used to be 220 volts, but they got boosted to 230 volts. So now no matter where you take your equipment in Europe it will work. The power is at 50 hertz across Europe.

They didn't actually change the real voltage though. That would've meant changing all the supply transformers which would cost an absolute fortune.

All they did was change it from 240 +/- 6% to 230 +10% or -6%

These might not be the exact %'s btw but it was something like that.

I'm pretty sure that in Europe they would've just changed the tolerance as well.

It's a long time since I've done any electrical work on the tools but I'd be pretty confident that if you test an electrical outlet it'll still be a lot closer to 240V than 230.

Obviously if they install new transformers they'll aim for the 230V but they last a long time so there won't be many that have been replaced.

[Tal]

Does a plug not control how much power goes into it?


Edit: feel free to answer like you would to a seven year old.