Electrical fault at home.

[JeffinNZ]

Hi team.

While on leave I fitted some snow straps to the guttering - nearly lost a length when we had a sudden dump of the white stuff in June. I'm up the aluminium ladder merrily beavering away with my drill when I got a couple of good belts off the roof. Not enough to throw me off the ladder but enough to sow the seed that all was not well. Had the "sparky" in yesterday and he has remedied the problem but remains at a bit of a loss. He reckons it was a dodgy earth on the fuse board most likely from the earthquake activity of the last 2 years. Makes sense when you consider the rocking and rolling Case Del Jeff has been doing. Anyways, all good now.

[smoked turkey]

Not too sure what you mean by "dodgy earth" but sounds like one side of your service line to the house or one of the lines from the electric panel is making a high resistance contact with some of the metallic parts of the house. This could be on aluminum or steel siding, guttering, piping, fuse box, etc. This high resistance point is not bad to the extent it has created a direct short but could well develop into one. Sounds like the rocking and rolling of the earth could have caused the abraision of a hot wire. Hopefully you are now fixed. Very glad you were not hurt.

[wire nut]

I ran into the same problem last week, Guy was getting shocked on the gutter on one side of the house and not on the other side. There was a line capacitor bad on the utility's high voltage line. Capacitor was near his home. Utility took capacitor off line and cured the problem.

[Jeffrey]

I'm sorry. Parts of that translate in my mind. But the parts don't connect. I might be able to help if translated into American. Jeffrey


Hi team.

While on leave I fitted some snow straps to the guttering - nearly lost a length when we had a sudden dump of the white stuff in June. I'm up the aluminium ladder merrily beavering away with my drill when I got a couple of good belts off the roof. Not enough to throw me off the ladder but enough to sow the seed that all was not well. Had the "sparky" in yesterday and he has remedied the problem but remains at a bit of a loss. He reckons it was a dodgy earth on the fuse board most likely from the earthquake activity of the last 2 years. Makes sense when you consider the rocking and rolling Case Del Jeff has been doing. Anyways, all good now.

[Jim]

Jeff, sure glad to hear you got it straightened out. Give that cute little thing a big hug for the ol' man, OK?

[oneokie]

Hi team.

While on leave I fitted some snow straps to the guttering - nearly lost a length when we had a sudden dump of the white stuff in June. I'm up the aluminium ladder merrily beavering drilling away with my drill when I got a couple of good belts off the roof. Not enough to throw me off the ladder but enough to sow the seed that all was not well. Had the "sparky" Electrician in yesterday and he has remedied the problem but remains at a bit of a loss. He reckons it was a dodgy earth intermittent ground on the fuse board most likely from the earthquake activity of the last 2 years. Makes sense when you consider the rocking and rolling Case Casa Del Jeff has been doing. Anyways, all good now.

That help any?

[Mk42gunner]

Unexpected electrical shocks are not pleasant. Glad you got it fixed.

Guys,

What we in the US call ground; most of the rest of the English speaking world calls earth, at least when dealing with electricity.

Most other countries also run on 50 hertz instead of 60 like we do.

Robert

[DCM]

Glad to hear you got it fixed and no one was seriously hurt Jeff!

I just troubleshot the next door neighbors dodgy grounDED conductor the other day the Poco. had to come and fix their end.

[runfiverun]

dodgy earth means he had a bad ground.
Go Magpies...

[JeffinNZ]

ONEOKIE: You part Kiwi? LOL.

[popper]

Probably Choctaw Indian. Don't know the elec. code there but why is any guttering connected to earth or anything else electrical? If it is, I'd get a fiberglass ladder. Wife told me of an insurance claim she had (US). A couple of mexican roofers were taking a break on the roof, one wanted to show the other a neat trick. He takes out his steel tape measure and touches an overhead elec. line, expecting to see sparks. He didn't survive, fell off the 2 story roof.

[Jeffrey]

OK. Got it. There are ground fault interrupters (GFI) that plug in line with an extension cord or tool. Not sure of the cost. Cheaper than a trip to the hospital or funeral home. The use of them is so ingrained in me that I thought the gutter was electrified. Also "beavering away with my drill" brought up an image better not discussed on a family friendly site.

[JeffinNZ]

No, not quite. Cordless drill in use. The guttering and or roof was most certainly live.

Can't believe you guys have never heard of 'beavering away'. You know how busy beavers are. No time to spare when you trying to hold back a river.

[gew98]

No, not quite. Cordless drill in use. The guttering and or roof was most certainly live.

Can't believe you guys have never heard of 'beavering away'. You know how busy beavers are. No time to spare when you trying to hold back a river.

In my neck of the woods "beavering away" has two connotations... firstly it's sexual , secondly it is the extermination of those damn building furry buggers !.
I've had 120 volt hits a couple of times and 277 once..... won't do that one again. Anyone encounter the old days of positive ground in a home ????...ouch !.

[MtGun44]

So "beavering" is "working" or is it specifically "drilling"? Are you guys on 220 VAC 50 Hz
like Europe or 120 VAC 60 Hz like we are? I presume 220 VAC, which - it would seem -
should be a lot more 'exciting' if you get across it. 110 VAC most often doesn't kill, but
it can. Electricians tell me that getting hit with 220 is enough to freeze them in place,
unable to let go of the energized item.

Trying to learn NZ so I can speak like a native if I ever am fortunate enough to
visit your lovely land.

Bill

[JeffinNZ]

"Working" Bill.

Yes, 220-240 AC, 50 Hz. Anything that change direction 50 times in a second has the upper hand of Jeff!

[geargnasher]

I'll never forget meeting a couple of English exhange students in the college dorm lobby, after some introductions and chatting, one had noticed the pack of Camels in my shirt pocket (unbeknownst to me) and said "Let's go burn a ***, Mate" while thumbing in the direction of the door. Now, some of you may know what that meant right off, but at that instant I assure you I thought he meant something else, and didn't take him for much of an Elton John fan, either. After a moment of confused silence, he pointed at my smokes and said "you know, cigarette". OHHHHHH! Right. Talk about culture shock. We all became pretty good friends, and I always enjoyed their banter and quips.

If the roof is "hot", there has to be voltage bleeding into it from a live circuit somewhere, like was said probably a wire rubbing through somewhere. Hope it doesn't come back.

Gear

[MtGun44]

OK, I'll file away 'beavering'.

Stay safe with that stray current. Do you have an outdoor light fixture that is close to the
gutter?

Bill

[popper]

120 will definitely kill! I got hit with somewhere between 900-1200 DC. I don't know if it was fun or not, but after I woke up, I had a small crater burned into the index finger of both hands and got a trip to get an EKG. Don't mess with electrical problems, get it fixed.

[montana_charlie]

Not too sure what you mean by "dodgy earth"
"Flakey ground"


why is any guttering connected to earth or anything else electrical?.
Because he installed 'snow straps' to melt the snow that collects in the gutter.

[Alan in Vermont]

"Working" Bill.

Yes, 220-240 AC, 50 Hz. Anything that change direction 50 times in a second has the upper hand of Jeff!

But, with enough practice you might be able to change hands without missing a stroke. :)