If I squirted

[aha]

Water from my water hose on the electric power line going to my house would it electrocute me?

[psycat90]

everything ok over there, aha? or do you just grow a really really tall garden?

[sailor]

I am guessing the line is an insulated twisted pair of cables with a bare suspension cable which is grounded so you would not suffer anything.

If the wires are bare you *could* get a shock although at 110 Volts I do not think you'd be in great danger (but people have been killed for less than that so don't try this at home).

OTOH, if you aim your squirt at higher voltage lines there's a good chance you'll fry. And you don't even have to touch them. I remember the case of a man in a dump truck who started raising the dumpster under some lines. Long before the dumpster was even close to the lines, an arc to ground was established and the guy was fried. (So much for the theory that you are immune from lightning if you are in a car or truck.)

BTW, my boat was struck by lightning and all the electronics, everything, even those that were not connected, were fried.

BTW, I thought this was going to be guys who dribble vs those who squirt. I used to squirt more but lately I seem to dribble more... but away from electrical wires.

[Derleth]

Yes, because the water you squirt isn't pure, giving the electricity a path of least resistant up the stream and down your body through your arm. Subtitle: You do it, you'll be lucky if all your parts still work afterwards.

[Derleth]

...through your arm...

It would go through more painful places than of your arm if your 'water hose' is what I'm beginning to think it is. Ah well, I'm not always good with indirectness.

[Rat]

Sounds perfectly safe, invite some friends over, go for it! The Darwin effect will prevail!!!

[carnivorousplant]

Come on, Aha, remember that post about the orgasm and the 110v line?
Be a man!
Go for it!
I dare 'ya!

Your good luck friend,
CP
(The surgery went well and I hopefully will be declared healed on Thursday.)
:wally

[aha]

I remember the case of a man in a dump truck who started raising the dumpster under some lines. Long before the dumpster was even close to the lines, an arc to ground was established and the guy was fried. (So much for the theory that you are immune from lightning if you are in a car or truck.)

That JUST happened here near my house. My son and I were driving by and saw a man lying on the ground next to his truck. He was deceased. He had raised the bed of the truck up until it hit some lines over head. Apparently he was ok until he stepped off the truck completing a circut to the powerlines. Blew the soles off his feet poor soul. ( no pun intended)

[xizor]

I had a classmate who claims to have at one time "squirted" on an electric fence. He claims his hose took a jolt and hurt for several days. Of course this is only 2nd hand info, but I thought I would share anyway.

[aha]

Originally posted by xizor
I had a classmate who claims to have at one time "squirted" on an electric fence. He claims his hose took a jolt and hurt for several days. Of course this is only 2nd hand info, but I thought I would share anyway.

Yep yep same principal that I am talking about. Only using a different kind of hose. In my case and much longer one.

[Homer]

My brother peed on an electric fence, once. He screamed like a sissy girl.

--Tim

[Adolph Peewee]

I'm with Rat...do it and do the gene pool a favour!!

make sure you get all your dumbass mates to help you, and if they're as good as you, they'll follow suit...enabling this current gene pool to be less defective!

Keep up the good work with the silly questions which have obvious answers!!
BTW..don't expect to squirt anymore following your party....I think it'll probably just dribble out of it's own accord....if the permenant indwelling catheter doesn't work that it!

[carnivorousplant]

Of course, if you could manange to remain insulated, and spray the wires and the trolls standing under them...

[Engineer Don]

Are the lines going from a pole mounted transformer to the weatherhead on your house, or are they just lines going from pole to pole, attached to the pole by insulators? If they are going to your house, and they are twisted and bundled up then they are insulated, and they shouldn't be a problem. If they are pole to pole, or on insulators, or there are two or three seperate wires, then keep away from them. Weatherheads could take in cable and phone lines as well, but the power lines would be the biggest and all come from the same general place.

As stated above, you don't need to touch the wires with a stream of water to get fried, just close enough. Tap water conducts quite well, and someone spraying at even fairly low voltage lines could get killed or lose a limb or two in the blink of an eye. Utilites use distilled deionized water in pulsing streams to clean dusty lines, insulators, etc.

[Chronos]

Has nobody else mentioned that the stram from a hose very quickly ceases to be a continuous stream, and turns into a bunch of separate droplets? Even if the lines were not insulated, and the water was a good enough conductor (it usually is), there still wouldn't be a complete pathe to ground, unless it arced. Spraying a high-voltage transmission line might be dangerous, but that's why they put those up so high and out of reach of us dumb schmoes. The line voltage going into your house isn't going to be able to arc that far.

Incidentally, think about this: Sometimes, it rains. The whole wire and the side of your house are going to be wet, providing a path to ground along the whole wall. If wires are insulated enough to protect against this possibility, then they're probably insulated enough to be safe from a hose.

[Stormi]

( covers her eyes ) I can't bear to watch this.

pass the popcorn.

[funneefarmer]

Originally posted by Chronos

Incidentally, think about this: Sometimes, it rains. The whole wire and the side of your house are going to be wet, providing a path to ground along the whole wall. If wires are insulated enough to protect against this possibility, then they're probably insulated enough to be safe from a hose.

Rain is not quite the same as tap water, as was mentioned above. I do think youre right in saying that most wire "entrances" are insulated enough not to have to worry about a stream of water.

[London_Calling]

I think the answer's rubber - but a few ladies of past acquaintance might say there's nothing new in that.

Yep, go for it but wear rubber soles. I think it's a conductor - let me know.

[aha]

*Snif* Anyone else smell that? Toll shit I do believe.

[carnivorousplant]

Originally posted by Chronos

Incidentally, think about this: Sometimes, it rains.

A thunderstorm has to be a heck of a path to ground. It's not like being underwater, but there must be a great amount of capacitance between high voltage uninsulated conductors and ground. Anyone know about power transmission?

[justwannano]

The first thing that the fire department does is cut the power.I always assumed it was to prevent electrocution from water on the lines but come to think of it an axe could cut the insulation and the result could be the same.

[handy]

Don't listen to them aha. The power comp comes around now and then & washes them with a hose. Perfectly safe.

You sound pretty bored though.

You might check the story about the guy who peed on that live third rail of a subway train.

[soulsling]

Or better yet, pay some troll off the street to find out, and take your money back after he's been fried.

[Engineer Don]

The vast majority of homes would have insulated wires going to the "entrance" or weatherhead, as it is called. In most new homes it is undergrounded, and the transformer will be on a someones lawn. On the other hand I have seen some rural homes where, due to the large size of the property and the high draw of various equipment (well pumps, resistance heating, etc) 2kV lines were run to a pole mounted transformer about 10 feet from the house. The wires from the transformer were regular heavily insulated lines, and went normally to the weatherhead and into the panel. You can't assume that just because wire are going to the house that they are insulated low voltage lines.

Regular low voltage insulated wires are safe in the rain, and cleanable with a hose. Transmission lines aren't cleaned as such, but the insulators that mount them to the pole are, with pulsed DI water as I mentioned above. The insulators get dusty, and the dust can create a path. The little ceramic insulators are shaped like hemi-spheres, rounded side up, are that shape just so rain water can't flow in streams down them and create a connection. Rain with very high winds can cause lots of shorts, although flailing tree limbs generally do more damage during storms.

A stream of water from a hose, or a broken pipe even, can be enough to cause a phase to ground short, and people have died as a result of this. While the stream does break down into a series of droplets, the space between the droplets can be small and be enough to conduct high voltage power. I wouldn't design a circuit using water streams as conductors, but it doesn't take all that much current to kill a person, and a hose is good enough. The broken pipe case is more dangerous because no one has to be concious to hold the stream on the lines, and the juice flows a little longer, and the pipe breaker is usually in a big puddle.

I stand by my first response, determine if the lines are bundled, and if they are it is safe. If not, don't spray them, or get a pool skimmer near them, or give your kids mylar ballons, fly kites in the rain near them, or anything like that.