Electrifying experience tonight with an old lyman pot

[sfcairborne]

Ok guys, I was casting last night with my old lyman 61 pot and guess what, every time I touched the metering lever I had got shocked. I checked the wiring and everything looked ok. So suggestions on fix? And yes I cleaned all the terminals where the wires hookup and they are placed correctly. Seemed to only happen when I turned the pot past 750

[sfcairborne]

I was casting/breAking in a new ACE 144, 30 cal mold, that no matter how hot the mold was or the lead she just wouldn't through a good cast, so I started to run the lead a little hotter than normal, 750 to 780 started pouring some good bullets, but started getting shocked.��

[imashooter2]

The circuit has to be touching the case somewhere. There are limited possibilities. Find it and correct.

[sfcairborne]

Yea, I checked and rechecked, couldn't find anything, puzzled

[imashooter2]

Did you check the heating element?

[williamwaco]

When metal gets hotter it expands.

I suspect when it is cool and you are looking it it, it is not touching but when it gets hot and expands it makes contact.

Consider the possibility.

[montana_charlie]

Ok guys, I was casting last night with my old lyman 61 pot and guess what, every time I touched the metering lever I had got shocked. I checked the wiring and everything looked ok. So suggestions on fix? And yes I cleaned all the terminals where the wires hookup and they are placed correctly. Seemed to only happen when I turned the pot past 750

Do you have a non-polarized two-pronged plug on the power cord?
Turn it over so the other blade is in the 'hot' side and see if your problem goes away.

CM

[Catshooter]

Don't mess around. Fix it, get it fixed or toss it. Electricity can kill and 110 volts is plenty enough to do the job.

This is the voice of experience here.


Cat

[Jim_P]

If I were to guess, as it only happens above a certain temp, the thermostat control is shorting to the case when it gets to that position. A cheap part and easy to replace. I recommend you replace that control.

[Dale in Louisiana]

Do you have a non-polarized two-pronged plug on the power cord?
Turn it over so the other blade is in the 'hot' side and see if your problem goes away.

CM

That's a valid trick, but the point is that even with OLD equipment with a two-pronged plug, neither wire should touch the case anywhere.

As others said, you may have a heating element going out or you could have a wonky (technical term) thermal switch. A few minutes with a multimeter should tell you which.

That being said, while you are fixing the problem, upgrade to a three-pronged plug and tie the ground wire to the case of the pot. That way, NEXT time you have a failure, you'll trip a circuit breaker instead of using your body as a current path.

dale in Louisiana

[Tazza]

I too would suspect a bad element shorting somehow.

I also have had a bad thermostat cause this issue on a fridge, it was shorting out tripping the breaker.

I agree that you really do need it fixing, no sense dying over a melting pot. You may want to talk to an electrician.

If it is only a small amount of leakage you can use an isolation transformer, generally when it is just enough to trip an earth leakage unit. These essentially isolate the device from the mains circuit so active and neutral have no potential to earth unlike how it is in your house. Active (hot) has the power, neutral is essentially 0 with respect to ground. The theory is if you were to touch ONE wire from the isolation transformer you would be fine. It will however NOT save you if you touched both, the same as with any house wiring, touch active and neutral together and you will have a bad day.

[leeggen]

Water heaters do the samething when an element is bad and or boken into. Sometimes you can get a shock from touching the sink and another appliance. My money is that the element is bad, may have a very small crack in the outside covering.
CD

[TES]

Don't mess around. Fix it, get it fixed or toss it. Electricity can kill and 110 volts is plenty enough to do the job.

This is the voice of experience here.


Cat

So you are either dead or speaking after your eighth life????? WOOOOO ....just in time for hallows eve....spooky....

[Dan Cash]

Don't mess around. Fix it, get it fixed or toss it. Electricity can kill and 110 volts is plenty enough to do the job.

This is the voice of experience here.


Cat

Idi it kill you??? Are you still alive???

[Tazza]

Hehe I didn't pick that up at first. I have beem booted by 240v a few times, none were fun..... I agree it is not to be played with.

[dikman]

Yep, had a few tingles (consider them a warning that something is not right!) and a few jolts, mostly from 240v but a couple from significantly higher voltages - they hurt!! If it wasn't for the training I've had in the past I doubt if I'd still be here.

My experience with solid-core heating elements is that when they go faulty they usually just blow a hole in the side of the element somewhere (and stop working). The fact that it happens above a particular temperature would have me looking at the thermostat. Main thing is not to use it until you find the problem - next time it might not be just a tingle!

[mozeppa]

Don't mess around. Fix it, get it fixed or toss it. Electricity can kill and 110 volts is plenty enough to do the job.

This is the voice of experience here.


Cat

yes!
plenty experience here too.

as i was killed many times before i learned!

[Catshooter]

Am I dead? Depends on who you ask I suppose. Now my wife . . .

Swapping the plug in the outlet may tell you which wire is leaking, or not. You really shouldn't be feeling the neutral, but you can under the right circumstances.

However, don't be fooled into thinking that if turning the plug around makes the shock go away you've fixed it and are safe. Either one, the hot or the neutral can kill. Any path (including the ground path) can kill if circumstances are right.


Cat

[Handloader109]

Turning a two prong plug over in this type of circuit does nothing, it is NOT the plug, you would only change the hot from one side to the other of the circuit, with a heating element it changes nothing. As others have said, pot is getting hot and probably expanding the element where insulation is missing to short to case, or rheostat is defective and shorting out when turned to high. Don't use till you figure it out. If you can't, toss it in trash and buy another one. Your next of kin might prefer to keep you around for a while longer.

[Dale in Louisiana]

Hehe I didn't pick that up at first. I have beem booted by 240v a few times, none were fun..... I agree it is not to be played with.

I work in an industrial environment. I've survived multiple hits from 480-volt systems, where the phase to ground voltage is 277 volts. I've taken a DC hit a time or two when doing high voltage testing, once at 21,000 volts, once at 32,000. Some hurt a lot worse than others. In the wrong circumstances I would have been dead, and from each incident I've learned a LOT, experience being a great teacher, although with electricity you may not survive the lesson.

However, the majority of electrocution deaths are from 120 volts, because so many people try to work on it without the proper knowledge or equipment. While comparatively speaking, you're less likely to die from a 120-volt hit, you're alos likely to work around a lot more of it, increasing exposure.

If you're unsure of what you're doing, don't do it.

dale in Louisiana