Keeping It Safe With Electricity – Avoiding Shocks Posted by Cole Sileven on Tuesday, June 8, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Many people take up the challenge of doing their own electrical work. This goes especially for those who may have purchased a new ceiling fan or someone trying to install inset lighting in their home. It’s good to know your limit. There are several mistakes you could make while trying to install your own electrical work.

One thing many forget to do is turn off the main switch before starting the work. How people can forget this step, I have no idea. However some homeowners are shocked every single day simply because they didn’t kill power. I personally installed a ceiling fan a few months ago and I’m very paranoid when it comes to electrical due to a bad shock I experienced as a child.

Shocked by a wet cord:

As a kid I made plenty of dumb choices. One was when I was about 11 years old, I went out to the back of the house to air up my basketball using the compressor on the porch. We had a pretty bad rain storm the day before so the porch was a bit wet. As I plugged in the air compressor to an extension cord – Bam a shock went through my arm; my arm flew back in a sudden jolt. As a kid does with an interesting story, I remember walking around acting hurt for the next day just so I could tell the tale of a kid with a wet power cord. As I look back now I am so glad my arm jolted back instead of clenching on to the cord.

Did you know that an electrical shock caused the muscle to clench which is why shocks can be so deadly? Anyways back to installing the ceiling I not only shut off the mains switch, I shut down power to the home while I did the electrical work. I also had my father, an electrician since my birth, guiding me through the process with the right steps, tools and tips.

Common mistakes people make with doing their own electrical work is not turning off power, using the wrong materials, such as tape instead of connectors and rushing the job instead of taking your time.

Living life is a risk with anything we do. I always say be selective with the risks you take. If you need electrical work done you should probably hire a professional. Hiring a licensed contractor will help assure your new fan, cooler, switches, or other electrical components in the home are installed correctly.

By the way, I’m pretty sure these guys don’t have it plugged in – we hope.
Resource: low-insurance.org/top/electricalshock/

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