Welder's first kiss

[joshuabardwell]

I was adjusting the dry-fit on a piece today. The ground clamp was hooked up and the welder was on; the stinger was placed securely away from the work area. It had been raining and the ground was wet. I wasn't wearing gloves. As I put my knee down on the ground, I felt a little tingle in my hand and realized what was happening. I was getting zapped! Nothing really to speak of. At first I just thought it was one of those nerve twinges that happens sometimes if I tweak my hand a certain way.

I don't know why, but I always think of the stinger as the thing that "makes the zap". I guess the ground clamp is "pulling" just as hard as the stinger is "pushing".

 

[mjncad]

Congratulations on getting to First Base. :laughing:

 

[CNC Dan]

josh, check to see if the secondary winding is connected to the frame of the welder. With welder off, measure the resistance between output leads to the case. Some welders have the center of the secondary winding connected to the frame and ground conductor of the input wireing. That would give you about half of your output volts on either lead to ground.

 

[rankrank1]

Yep I have been welder kissed before too. I mostly weld outside in the dirt and grass. Since I am forced to be outside then my welding duties are mostly limited to the warmer summer months. I have noticed that my chances of getting kissed only happen when the grass is wet from dew or my clothes and body are soaking wet with sweat from the summer heat (or a dual combination of both). Now when ground dampness occurs or me being soaked occurs then, I simply quit welding for the day.

I guess I am what you call a fair weather only welder now - LOL. Of course I am only a backyard hobbyist too so I can easily make that choice. Regardless the safety factor is worth it for me.

 

[Shield Arc]

Working heavy civil construction all my life, except for about 3-years in a shop. And living and working in the north west for 35 + years, I have never been shocked!

 

[CNC Dan]

Working heavy civil construction all my life, except for about 3-years in a shop. And living and working in the north west for 35 + years, I have never been shocked!

That's quite a record!
I got zapped first when I was 5 years old when I plugged in our Xmass tree and didn't see the tinsel on the plug. Just like yesterday for me.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I used to enjoy "kissing the pipefitters" with the TIG torch that is. I had a fitter once who wouldn't use a spacer and would try to hold a gap in the fit which of course meant that one side wouldn't be grounded, so that is the side I would touch first to watch him jump. I had a friend who was a fitter and overheard him talking "bad" about a welder who was doing that to him. It seems they were up in a pipe rack sitting on some wet from the dew stainless steel pipe and the welder kept touching the fitter with the tungsten of the TIG torch. He was saying that he could taste the fillings in his mouth and was sure that there was an arc going between his teeth. Of course I had to laugh and rather loudly at that.

 

[Shield Arc]

That's quite a record!

Now Dan, you didn't really buy that BS story did you?

 

[CNC Dan]

Now Dan, you didn't really buy that BS story did you?

Sure, a 'hobbyist' wouldn't make that stuf up.

 

[Shield Arc]

Welding in the rain is just part of the business here. About the only thing we don't do in the rain is paint! :laughing:

 

[powerpace]

I have a friend in Florida that is a salvage and maintenance diver. The divers weld underwater quite often.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

I had to fire a guy one time that I didn't really want to fire. He was big, strong, and dumb as heck. His foreman told me to get rid of him and that was part of my job. It was one of those situations when you want to have something big and handy close by in case things take a turn for the worse.

But he quit before I could fire him. It went like this, I asked him to help me for a minute with the welding up of a gate frame. I explained that it was important for him to hold the two pieces together as tightly as he could while I tacked them up. I knew that he had real issues with doing things as he was told. So I tapped stinger on the piece that didn't have the ground. He squealed, I tapped it three more times for good measure. When I looked up and yelled at him about not holding it tight he was already headed for the door. He came back a couple of days later for his check, still upset.

I can take most shocks, part of the program, sorta like dingleberrys doing their thing when you really can't stop the puddle. But I think the worst I ever got hit was a twofer under a truck in the rain. Stopped the weld and got hit with the current from the wet ground and removing glove. The twofer was the smacking of my head against the truck frame reacting to the shock.

Five or so years ago I had a piece of 2 3/8" sixteen gauge fence tube cut with a pipe cutter peel back the skin on my right index finger. Nine stitches to tack it back in place. The only thing left now to complain about now is the cut nerves still bother me. If something lightly touches the affected area it feels like an electrical shock, hypertingle kind of thing. It doesn't bother me much unless I'm doing one of my changing out a fixture without cutting the power tricks. It makes me jump until I remember it's a phantom feeling and not a real one.

 

[Jim Jimmers]

But he quit before I could fire him. It went like this, I asked him to help me for a minute with the welding up of a gate frame. I explained that it was important for him to hold the two pieces together as tightly as he could while I tacked them up. I knew that he had real issues with doing things as he was told. So I tapped stinger on the piece that didn't have the ground. He squealed, I tapped it three more times for good measure. When I looked up and yelled at him about not holding it tight he was already headed for the door. He came back a couple of days later for his check, still upset.

I got a good laugh out of that, great strategy!

 

[weldermike]

I squated over a beam while working in a bad water condition once and got kissed on my nuts! Yowza!

 

[mjncad]

@Welder Mike: I'll bet it knocked your dick stiff too! :laughing:

 

[weldermike]

@Welder Mike: I'll bet it knocked your dick stiff too! :laughing:

LOL, well it sure got my attention real fast, and made me reposition, after yelling out a couple mother F bombs!

 

[stuckmotor]

Yep I have been welder kissed before too. I mostly weld outside in the dirt and grass. Since I am forced to be outside then my welding duties are mostly limited to the warmer summer months. I have noticed that my chances of getting kissed only happen when the grass is wet from dew or my clothes and body are soaking wet with sweat from the summer heat (or a dual combination of both). Now when ground dampness occurs or me being soaked occurs then, I simply quit welding for the day.

I guess I am what you call a fair weather only welder now - LOL. Of course I am only a backyard hobbyist too so I can easily make that choice. Regardless the safety factor is worth it for me.

Don't ask how I know this but, it's easy to set dry grass on fire while welding. It's also easy for the burning grass to set someone's britches leg on fire. :fire:

 

[k0ua]

Open Circuit Voltage from a welder can be as high as 80 volts.

James K0UA

 

[mjncad]

Volts get your attention, amps do the damage.