Another Thing To Worry About.....

[rwcarpet]

Was thinking, last week while cleaning during a brief thunder/lightning storm. If using steel braided solution hose, I'm thinking that they would make a pretty good conductor lying in the driveway during a lightning storm. I set the wand down after a few close strikes, ran out and shut down the TM.

Anyone ever heard of any reports of CC'ers being struck by lightning during storms?

That would really ruin the day.....

 

[Dolly Llama]

I think as long as you keep the wand in the house and not use it like a lightening rod outside in a thunder storm, I don't think you have much to worry about w/steel brain line laying on the ground

the jacket is rubber/insulated anyway.
i still wouldn't string it in the high branches of a tree or over the radio tower mast....


.L.T.A.

 

[Jim Martin]

although it is a conductor.........it would blow to shreds before it hit you............
your biggest worry would be if you brought a change of shorts...because if a lighting bolt got close enough to hit that hose it is going to scare the shit out of you.............

 

[bob vawter]

Larr....whurr do you get those steel brain lines anyway?

 

[GCCLee]

They do!!


I got hit earlier this year and it Fooking hurt!


Hit us both. Tech was spraying w HF and I was running the Rotovac behind him.

We both dropped our shit and yelled at the same time. Thought I posted about it.

 

[GCCLee]

I think as long as you keep the wand in the house and not use it like a lightening rod outside in a thunder storm, I don't think you have much to worry about w/steel brain line laying on the ground

the jacket is rubber/insulated anyway.
i still wouldn't string it in the high branches of a tree or over the radio tower mast....


.L.T.A.

BS buddy !

 

[Jim Martin]

They do!!


I got hit earlier this year and it Fooking hurt!


Hit us both. Tech was spraying w HF and I was running the Rotovac behind him.

We both dropped our shit and yelled at the same time. Thought I posted about it.

If you got hit.....you got hit buy the static charge in the air..which probably made you wet your self more then shock you......

 

[rwcarpet]

although it is a conductor.........it would blow to shreds before it hit you............
your biggest worry would be if you brought a change of shorts...because if a lighting bolt got close enough to hit that hose it is going to scare the shit out of you.............

I've got knocked out of this here chair during a close-by lightning strike! Didn't affect the computer, but it affected my shorts! Seems the tree in the neighbors yard has a steel cable embedded in it from a dog run many years ago. Bolt traveled down the trunk, knocked off a shit load of bark, followed the roots and burned the ground. I think it's an Ash tree.

As for getting knocked out of my chair, I don't think it actually knocked me out......I think that it was so violent and extremely loud "crack", that I jumped out myself and landed on the floor.

 

[Jim Martin]

This is the house I owned when I lived in MN.....there was a lighting rod mounted to the top of the to protect it from lighting strikes....

When you install the lighting rod you have to make sure that the wire running from it is attached to at least a 6 foot copper rod that is driven deep into the ground...lighting strikes the rod...the energy is sent to the wire and down into the earth....done deal.....
at some point in time...and I don't know if it was the people who installed the rod or the people who owned the home before me...but some one attached a ground from the electrical box to the grounding rods cable....

so I am sitting in my favorite chair watching TV.......listening to the tornado sirens and all hell breaking loose out side and a bolt of lighting hits that rod and all that energy shooots straight into my electrical panel in the basement..( path of least resistance )..rips it off the wall and it fly's across to the other side of the room...melting as it goes...before my mind could grasp what was going on my TV goes up in a ball of sparks and smoke..and just about everything in that house that had a plug sat there and smoldered....

the hair on my arms stood up because of the static charge in the air...and I am pretty sure I soiled myself...I just have no idea when I did it....

 

[dgardner]

You (or the hose, etc.) don't have to be struck to receive a jolt. If lightning strikes a nearby object the current flowing to ground can be thousands of amps. This huge current creates a huge magnetic field. The magnetic field can induce a rather large voltage in any nearby conductor (such as Chris' solution hose). I was standing at my window several years ago watching the storm outside, when lightnng struck a power pole across the street. the magnetic field induced enough voltage into the aluminum window frame I was touching to knock me backwards a couple feet - scared me to death as well....

 

[GCCLee]

In our case the rig was running outside and just the solution line was run into the house. It was absolutely pouring out.
The solution line came in through the garage so it went from wet to dry.
The carpet had mostly been pre sprayed as Tyler was finishing so the floor was also wet that we were standing on.

Not sure if it came through me and the Rotovac or the solution line, but I can tell you it was LOUD and BRIGHT.

Neither of us pissed our pants though, hurt but not that bad.

 

[bob vawter]

well THAT explains everything........

 

[mirf]

I never worried about it in the house, but I have worried loading the truck up in a bad storm when finished.

 

[GCCLee]

I was laughing about the fact we were inside

Until I tasted metal and got buZzed

 

[Ed Valentine]

I doubt you have anything to worry about because the hoses are insulated with rubber jacket.

However, we have always for years, made it a policy to ground the psi hoses in our machines straight to the wand to help eliminate the Operator from an electrical shock if he is standing on wet floor/ground.

Best and good topic;
Ed Valentine
cross-American corp.

 

[dgardner]

Ed, a TM is a little different in this regard. If lightning strikes the (insulated by tires) van, voltage could travel down the solution line and go to ground through the wand/operator. In this case the rubber jacket on the solution line keeps the voltage from going to ground until it gets to the poor slob holding the wand....

 

[GCCLee]

I resent poor slop holding the wand......


And it was a Rotovac plugged into the wall with out vac or solution lines Hooked up.


It either hit us through sheer moisture in the air

The Plug In

Or
The Solution line



I think it was the plug in as I had my hand resting on the metal handle by the grip of the RV when it hit. Felt the jolt in my hand first and knew exactly what it was, about the time I turned and hollered Tyler was dropping the Being Used HF and the sprayer.
It was in free fall when I looked at him

 

[bob vawter]

rubber jacket around metal.......

YOU MEAN LIK AN ELECTRICAL WIRE???

 

[Jim Martin]

Ed, a TM is a little different in this regard. If lightning strikes the (insulated by tires) van, voltage could travel down the solution line and go to ground through the wand/operator. In this case the rubber jacket on the solution line keeps the voltage from going to ground until it gets to the poor slob holding the wand....

think about what all that power/energy/current does to things it hits.....

there is no way that that hose could possibly carry a current...it would blow in half long before it traveled any distance at all....
all it is..is a very thin braided wire around a rubber hose......

 

[GCCLee]

Boy that would Really Suk.


Bet it would literally shred one, and the debris field from the shards oh my

 

[Ed Valentine]

Jim;

there is no way that that hose could possibly carry a current

Water is a conductor and electricity will follow that right to the metal wand, etc.......

Dan;

Thanks.

 

[GCCLee]

Maybe we can get TexarCobb to hook a set a jumper cables to one and test this theory out ?


[emoji15]

 

[dgardner]

Jim, when the lighting strikes the van and voltage coming down the solution line rises, there is no current flow to speak of until the voltage rises enough to arc from the wand to ground. Then the current can be quite high, but most strikes average only 150 microseconds, so the energy (joules) is lower than you might think. The metallic braid would certainly remain intact long enough to do plenty of damage at the wand end, and certainly long enough to scare the operator....

A lot of the damage seen with lightning strikes (trees for instance) are not from the strike itself but from water explosively turning to steam from the extreme heat of the arc.

I've seen lightning strike an antenna and the relatively small coaxial feed line (with braided shield) remain intact. It all depends, every strike is different.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

A pretty wicked "induction" current can be dangerous without any obvious conductor.

 

[Jim Martin]

I guess I would have to see it to believe it...I have worked with a ton of high voltage..and have seen every short/explosion with and with out water....I can not tell you how many times I have been hit....but it always releases.......when you get around 3 phase and water it just blows itself apart....and breaks the current.....the higher the current/power...the bigger the explosion and it just releases from there.........

I would much rather get hit with high voltage then low voltage...like I said..it explodes and releases...low voltage is to weak to explode...but strong enough to hold and kill you....

we are not talking a power line in a puddle...we are talking about an very powerful electrical explosion......

 

[JS41035]

A pretty wicked "induction" current can be dangerous without any obvious conductor.

Nerd alert!

 

[Jack Zipper Zerkie]

Would there be a increase in water temperature ? jz.

 

[Jim Martin]

Would there be a increase in water temperature ? jz.

LOL...

 

[rick imby]

Isn't the water in the hose a decent conductor? First time in my life I disagree with Jim Martin---Even if it blows up the line, I think enough current could get through to totally zap you. I am not an electrician and don't even understand what the he** electricity is.

 

[rick imby]