I almost killed someone today...
I don't know if you knew this, but electrical work is very dangerous even with experience in the field. Any little mistake can be the worst-case scenario.
We arrived today at a welding shop to install a new line of conduit for 4 new electrical outlets. Two 120v and another two of 240v. Also we need to motify another set of 240v. (The v is for volts, not vendetta)
We replaced the old circuit, of which I took no photos of, but you can see in the background laying on the floor the old 4x4 boxes that once was there. Now replaced with these:
Here's a portion of that trajectory from the already existing fuse box to the end of the shop where the new outlets are.
You can even see some of the welders there in the background.
Well this side went off without a problem. Getting 4 10awg cables through a 1/2 conduit was no picnic either. It took two of us to pull it through while another pushed it in. Care has to take place to not damage the cables as they go in. We had no lubricant and with that distance its recommended for easier installation. Some may use a special grease, but you can use soap too. We like to use fabric softener... which we had none of.
About 1 meter to finish pulling through the cable tied to the end lf the guide snapped. We had to open up the conduit and pull the rest out through there, reinsert the guide and finish it.
Once we got all that done and outlets installed and checked, we had one more thing to do before heading out the road again.
There was another area of the shop that required our attention. We had to insert two extra 6awg cables through, the idea was to leave that in today and come back tomorrow to modify a few outlets from biphasic to a triplephasic system. We had already 8 in but needed one more and ground cable too. Easy. The conduit was already there installed subterranean and was empty for just those two new cables. And they were one inch tubes too.
The trouble came when I was inserting the guide into the tube at the load center where 440v were coming in. At the bottom of the live load center was 220v.
Well... fucked up is putting it lightly.
That guide touched the terminals and BOOM.
My ears were ringing. And a flash of light had me dazed for a few seconds. I am very lucky nothing happened tonthe rxtend of the video below but it could have very well happened if it had been worse.
Regardless of this, my coworker on the other side could have been several hurt or killed as well. He was pulling the old cable out while at the same time the guide was attached to it. If he had been touching that guide at the moment, he would have been toast with the butterside down.
I always try my best to take care of an have safety first in mind. I have seen too many injuries and people being killed over the smallest mistakes in the work field. This one will definitely keep me up at night for a while as I get over the shock. No pun intended.
Tomorrow I will be heading back to finish the job and will show you the minor damage it did to the electrical panel. I didn't take a picture then because it just wasn't in my mind at the moment.
Well, apart from no injuries, nothing serious happened. The main did its job and switched all electrical off. The welders didn't seem phased by it, but were ecstatic about the ordeal, whistling an yelling in the excitement. The usual gimmick when someone fucks up lol...
Thankful to be alive today and every morning to come if god wishes it to. My time on this earth continues and same with my coworker/acquaintances. Finishing the day off with a caguama.
Cheers!
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