# Have You ever Felt 110 volts ? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 17, 2011, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-felt-110-volts/606486 "2011-12-17T01:30:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-felt-110-volts/606486/101 "2013-02-01T02:17:49Z")
120 volts? I have felt much more than that; for example, a while ago I was working on a CRT monitor I was making and a big 25 kV or so spark jumped from the HV connecter to my arm (note - never trust the rubber suction cup to fully insulate the HV contact). Not actually that dangerous (insufficient current and energy) but it makes you jump (most dangerous if you are holding it and drop it). Also voltages like a 400 volt PFC bus (in a 600 watt power supply I was building, so that’s 1.5+ amps of continuous current capacity, with the full 120 vac line current behind it, plus several dozen joules in the filter capacitor). Yeah, and I have a bad habit of breadboarding circuits while powered up with mains voltage. Granted, I do disconnect the live wire when changing something in the mains-potential circuits; e.g. a SMPS, where the slightest error causes (often violently, even with a 2 kW ballast to prevent tripping breakers) exploding parts. I also removed the ground on my oscilloscope so I can use it on nonisolated circuits, not that this is a particular shock hazard (more than the circuit itself, I mainly use the rule that enables birds to land on power lines without getting shocked; old carpet on basement floor + wooden chair + wooden table). ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-felt-110-volts/606486/102 "2013-02-01T03:27:37Z")
I bought a portable dishwasher from Craig’s List. It worked great for a while, then I noticed that it was leaking. Standing the leaking water barefoot, I touched it, and ZAP!. Wondering what the hell, I had to touch it again. We disposed of the dishwasher. ---
**Author:** ![Yumblie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/76d3ee/32.png) [@Yumblie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yumblie)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-felt-110-volts/606486/103 "2013-02-01T04:01:11Z")
After teaching a physics lab, I shocked myself while unplugging a 400V power supply that the students stupidly forgot to turn off. I guess it was pretty stupid of me not to check, though. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-felt-110-volts/606486/104 "2013-02-01T04:14:16Z")
> [@DummyGladHands](#): > > I bought a portable dishwasher from Craig’s List. It worked great for a while, then I noticed that it was leaking. Standing the leaking water barefoot, I touched it, and ZAP!. Wondering what the hell, I had to touch it again. We disposed of the dishwasher. I hope you tested your GFCIs after that. ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-felt-110-volts/606486/105 "2013-02-01T04:33:49Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > I hope you tested your GFCIs after that. But my house doesn’t even have any GFCIs, as might **DummyGladHands’**. Actually, if it did, especially in the basement where I have my work area, it would soon become VERY annoying to have the breaker constantly trip, since it would trip a lot because of what I do in lieu of an isolation transformer (call me cheap but I can’t justify the cost of a ~1 kW isolation transformer). ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-felt-110-volts/606486/106 "2013-02-01T13:18:23Z")
I’ve felt 110 VAC more than once or twice. I even did something very stupid connecting me to Thailand’s 220 VAC once. That I’m still alive may be due to inadequate infrastructure where I live – 220 nominal is usually about 150 volts in our village. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-felt-110-volts/606486/107 "2013-02-01T14:49:59Z")
I did both (though being French, household current was 220 V). Not the same thing at all. In fact, as kids, we would make a dare game out of touching electric fences (holding it longer, etc…) ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2013, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-felt-110-volts/606486/108 "2013-02-02T02:37:08Z")
As one employed working on electrical stuff since I was 18, I have been shocked too many times to count. Twice it was enough to have me hospitalized. The first time was when I was in the Navy. Working on an HF transmitter when I was told it was time for lunch. Turned it off, reached across the top to grab something and accidently touched a very large capacitor. I was lauched across the room into a brick wall. My co-worker, fearing my heart stopped, decided to pound my chest to get my heart started. My 3 day stay in the hospital included treatment for the shock, burns to my left hand and 2 broken ribs. The second time was about 10 years ago at my current employer, a large airplane manufacturer. I was rewiring a switch inside a galley and accidently touched a 3 phase 440 volt breaker with the screwdriver I held in my hand. All I remember was a flash then someone asking me if I was all right. My heart was racing, airplane AC power is 400 hertz and my heart was trying to slow down from that. Spent a night at the hospital on a heart monitoring machine. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-felt-110-volts/606486.md?page=5)