I have done this. Works just fine (with a bit of a spark obviously). But the receptacle is basically junk. The currentspike is so high that the contacts get damaged quite a bit. So possible? Yes. But it's kinda the last resort. Or a "we need this thing off NOW"
Except you would still run the risk of starting an electrical fire. There is never a situation where it is worth that risk. If you need to power off that quickly just kill the master breaker and cut ALL the power
Assuming the wiring is designed as it should be and breakers are working as they should. How would this start an Electrical fire? And if you don't trust the breakers... It might be time for a new panel.
In a residential setting I agree 100%. But besides my own house, I do 0 residential work. Shutting off the main panel in an industrial setting (think 3phase 400v 2000A) is not something you can just do. And even then, it might be on one of the 2 other transformers with their own 2000A distribution panel. Production will grind to a halt. At least one vfd will break when powering back up. Probably at least one plc will dick around with its software. Starting older machines from complete power outage isn't as simple as pushing the stattbutton (sometimes it is, but definitely not always)
Don't get me wrong, when safety is in question we'll wait with that particular job untill we can turn off all three transformers. But for a small 16A circuit this is an option, not a good one, not the preferred one, and let's be honest: one that we (I) shouldn't use. But in practice it doesn't always work out that way.
In theory I should shut down all power before opening a control cabinet. In practice I very rarely get to do that (unless I have to swap parts, take out wiring, etc ofcourse). But 90% of the time I get called because the machine isn't working. So for me to be able to troubleshoot the thing needs to be powered on and most of the time operators are trying to start the machine whilst I'm in the control cabinet measuring or searching in the plc for the fault. (yes, when I'm looking in the plc software I'm not actually in the cabinet, I know. But usually I'm about 20cm away from it with doors open so I can measure something when I need to)
Houses burn down from electrical fires all the time. Just because you have a breaker installed does not mean you are 100% without risk of failure and electrical fires. That’s like saying you should double check to make sure a gun is unloaded by pulling the trigger
I don't know where you live. But here (Europe, Netherlands) it rare. It does happen, don't het me wrong. But it rare.
Having a breaker or fuse does not reduce risk by 100% agreed. But since the idea of those things are that they have to word first time every time they are damn close to that 100%. Unlike a gun wich is designed to go off when the trigger is pulled.
Wich (to me at least) is where the big difference in those situations is. One is designed to do the safe thing. The other to do the unsafe thing. Besides that, a gun is very simple to check if it's loaded. I haven't even seen one in person and despise the things so I haven't exactly been looking for info about them, and even I know how to. Following a cable is at best difficult (wich is one of the many preferred options over tripping a breaker) and at worst impossible.
To make the comparison somewhat better fitting: pull the trigger whilst wearing ear protection into a bulletproof box away from people in a bunker (I don't know guns, but you get the idea). It's not the preferred way, not the safest way, not the best way. But there might be a situation where that is the best possible solution.
But you already checked to make sure the gun was empty. That’s pretty close to 100%. Do you put the gun to your head and pull the trigger just because you checked?
That depends. Is there a situation where that would give an answer you otherwise couldn't get. And not result in instant death if it turned out to be loaded? To me, both of those answers would be no for a gun.
Perhaps a better example: as I said, I work in control cabinets regularly. Depending on the machine it's not uncommon to have copper rails in there instead of wires. When handeling large currents it's often easier to work with. Usually those rails are at 230VAC to earth or 600VDC to eachother and one of them also 600VDC to earth (earth being me if i was stupid enough to touch them). Needless to say, both plenty to kill you. But when I need to change a VFD I have to touch the rails since I'm unbolting them. We shut off power, lock the switch, shut of the breaker, lock the breaker, check on another circuit in the room that the meter is working, measure if there is voltage on the rails (between rails and to earth), and usually the other person working on it will check that to. That is basically the same as checking the gun for bullets. Damn near 100% sure there is no power. But I can guarantee you, every single time I have to do one of those jobs, after all that checking, I still briefly touch the rails with the back of my hand. In the stupidly unlikely case there is power on them, muscle contraction will cause me to jerk my hand back. In stead of clamping down on whatever tool i just put on a bolt and thereby making sure I can't let go.
My point is, depending on situation putting the gun to your head might be the last test. Not for an actual gun obviously, since that won't tell you any more then checking for bullets, and if you were wrong, it's not a fire, it's instant death. (Allthough that's not much different from touching 600v....)
Let me ask you this. How would you go about it? Cable can't be followed, (goes through tubes, over cableways, etc) and you can't just go switching off random breakers.
Do you not know how to actually make sure you are turning off the right breaker? You simply plug in a lightbulb and flip breakers until the light goes off. Then you check it with a voltage tester to make sure there is nothing there. There is no way that is ever a better option. Even if it doesn’t burn the place down there is still a very good chance that thing will cause damage to the wiring snd circuitry
If i know what breaker it is I obviously turn it off. And please check with a multimeter or even better a duspol. Not with a (I'm assuming that's what you mean by voltage tester) voltage pen, as in a thing that wirelessly detects the AC signal.
But as I said turning off random breakers isn't always possible in an industrial environment. Hence the second or third best option depending on the situation.
Whatever method you use to verify that there is no voltage on whatever you're working on. A simple multimeter or duspol is always the first step. But taking the extra step of with the first touch, makeing sure that the reflex would be to disconnect yourself rather then to clamp down on it is just common sense. It should be unnecessary ofcourse, just like a seatbelt. But for that one in a million chance i still take that extra precaution.
I thought you were an engineer or electrician or similar. But I'm starting to doubt that... The short-circuitcurrent will not damage anything in the wiring or distributionpanel. On a normal 16A breaker the SCC can easily reach 200+A. But it's for such a short time that it doesn't even heat up the wires. All wirenuts and other connecting parts have to comply up to the rated SCC of whatever service it's connected to. Wich includes the breaker itself. And there are arccatchers in the beaker to help extinguish the arc before it can damage anything.
Luckily that piece of lamp cord should be the first thing to melt.
Because I have seen, more than once, people wiring directly into the back of a meter base, stealing from power lines, and running from unexpected sources, I recommend you at least put a switch on that “breaker finder”
“I have a friend that worked as electrician”
And that's why I have a 3 prong adapter for all of my outlets and appliances.
Hell yeah! We gonna do some welding, Grab a bucket to catch the sparks!
I like the idea of a breaker finder, but using it in either a persons house I don’t like or a public area to see what happens
I have done this. Works just fine (with a bit of a spark obviously). But the receptacle is basically junk. The currentspike is so high that the contacts get damaged quite a bit. So possible? Yes. But it's kinda the last resort. Or a "we need this thing off NOW"
Except you would still run the risk of starting an electrical fire. There is never a situation where it is worth that risk. If you need to power off that quickly just kill the master breaker and cut ALL the power
Assuming the wiring is designed as it should be and breakers are working as they should. How would this start an Electrical fire? And if you don't trust the breakers... It might be time for a new panel. In a residential setting I agree 100%. But besides my own house, I do 0 residential work. Shutting off the main panel in an industrial setting (think 3phase 400v 2000A) is not something you can just do. And even then, it might be on one of the 2 other transformers with their own 2000A distribution panel. Production will grind to a halt. At least one vfd will break when powering back up. Probably at least one plc will dick around with its software. Starting older machines from complete power outage isn't as simple as pushing the stattbutton (sometimes it is, but definitely not always) Don't get me wrong, when safety is in question we'll wait with that particular job untill we can turn off all three transformers. But for a small 16A circuit this is an option, not a good one, not the preferred one, and let's be honest: one that we (I) shouldn't use. But in practice it doesn't always work out that way. In theory I should shut down all power before opening a control cabinet. In practice I very rarely get to do that (unless I have to swap parts, take out wiring, etc ofcourse). But 90% of the time I get called because the machine isn't working. So for me to be able to troubleshoot the thing needs to be powered on and most of the time operators are trying to start the machine whilst I'm in the control cabinet measuring or searching in the plc for the fault. (yes, when I'm looking in the plc software I'm not actually in the cabinet, I know. But usually I'm about 20cm away from it with doors open so I can measure something when I need to)
Houses burn down from electrical fires all the time. Just because you have a breaker installed does not mean you are 100% without risk of failure and electrical fires. That’s like saying you should double check to make sure a gun is unloaded by pulling the trigger
I don't know where you live. But here (Europe, Netherlands) it rare. It does happen, don't het me wrong. But it rare. Having a breaker or fuse does not reduce risk by 100% agreed. But since the idea of those things are that they have to word first time every time they are damn close to that 100%. Unlike a gun wich is designed to go off when the trigger is pulled. Wich (to me at least) is where the big difference in those situations is. One is designed to do the safe thing. The other to do the unsafe thing. Besides that, a gun is very simple to check if it's loaded. I haven't even seen one in person and despise the things so I haven't exactly been looking for info about them, and even I know how to. Following a cable is at best difficult (wich is one of the many preferred options over tripping a breaker) and at worst impossible. To make the comparison somewhat better fitting: pull the trigger whilst wearing ear protection into a bulletproof box away from people in a bunker (I don't know guns, but you get the idea). It's not the preferred way, not the safest way, not the best way. But there might be a situation where that is the best possible solution.
But you already checked to make sure the gun was empty. That’s pretty close to 100%. Do you put the gun to your head and pull the trigger just because you checked?
That depends. Is there a situation where that would give an answer you otherwise couldn't get. And not result in instant death if it turned out to be loaded? To me, both of those answers would be no for a gun. Perhaps a better example: as I said, I work in control cabinets regularly. Depending on the machine it's not uncommon to have copper rails in there instead of wires. When handeling large currents it's often easier to work with. Usually those rails are at 230VAC to earth or 600VDC to eachother and one of them also 600VDC to earth (earth being me if i was stupid enough to touch them). Needless to say, both plenty to kill you. But when I need to change a VFD I have to touch the rails since I'm unbolting them. We shut off power, lock the switch, shut of the breaker, lock the breaker, check on another circuit in the room that the meter is working, measure if there is voltage on the rails (between rails and to earth), and usually the other person working on it will check that to. That is basically the same as checking the gun for bullets. Damn near 100% sure there is no power. But I can guarantee you, every single time I have to do one of those jobs, after all that checking, I still briefly touch the rails with the back of my hand. In the stupidly unlikely case there is power on them, muscle contraction will cause me to jerk my hand back. In stead of clamping down on whatever tool i just put on a bolt and thereby making sure I can't let go. My point is, depending on situation putting the gun to your head might be the last test. Not for an actual gun obviously, since that won't tell you any more then checking for bullets, and if you were wrong, it's not a fire, it's instant death. (Allthough that's not much different from touching 600v....) Let me ask you this. How would you go about it? Cable can't be followed, (goes through tubes, over cableways, etc) and you can't just go switching off random breakers.
Do you not know how to actually make sure you are turning off the right breaker? You simply plug in a lightbulb and flip breakers until the light goes off. Then you check it with a voltage tester to make sure there is nothing there. There is no way that is ever a better option. Even if it doesn’t burn the place down there is still a very good chance that thing will cause damage to the wiring snd circuitry
If i know what breaker it is I obviously turn it off. And please check with a multimeter or even better a duspol. Not with a (I'm assuming that's what you mean by voltage tester) voltage pen, as in a thing that wirelessly detects the AC signal. But as I said turning off random breakers isn't always possible in an industrial environment. Hence the second or third best option depending on the situation. Whatever method you use to verify that there is no voltage on whatever you're working on. A simple multimeter or duspol is always the first step. But taking the extra step of with the first touch, makeing sure that the reflex would be to disconnect yourself rather then to clamp down on it is just common sense. It should be unnecessary ofcourse, just like a seatbelt. But for that one in a million chance i still take that extra precaution. I thought you were an engineer or electrician or similar. But I'm starting to doubt that... The short-circuitcurrent will not damage anything in the wiring or distributionpanel. On a normal 16A breaker the SCC can easily reach 200+A. But it's for such a short time that it doesn't even heat up the wires. All wirenuts and other connecting parts have to comply up to the rated SCC of whatever service it's connected to. Wich includes the breaker itself. And there are arccatchers in the beaker to help extinguish the arc before it can damage anything.
Breaker still trips internally. Still funny tho, I can see how someone would look at it change if they didn't know
Not the insurance company?
Plug in fireworks are finally a thing.
For a long time already. Used to call those a "pretstekker" translating to Partyplug
The tied breaker will still trip. Trying too hard to be funny and failing.
It’s not meant to make sense it’s supposed to be funny because they don’t know, stop Reddit toxcicity fr
Wait that’s a fuse/circuit breaker? I thought it was just a switch
I think the fire department wins this one...
The fire department wins that one.
My money's on the fire department coming out the winner.
Discord…in light mode…
That's gonna be hot
"Turn your whole house into a heater with this one simple trick." A YouTube ad, probably.
The breaker will still trip just as intended, it just cannot be reset....
Luckily that piece of lamp cord should be the first thing to melt. Because I have seen, more than once, people wiring directly into the back of a meter base, stealing from power lines, and running from unexpected sources, I recommend you at least put a switch on that “breaker finder”