26 Aug
2015
26 Aug
'15
10:02 a.m.
Yup, in the first house I owned, i had a
"computer room".
Whereas now you have a 'computer house' ?
The previous owner had done some retrofits and
installed an
outlet in a closet. I plugged a printer into that outlet,
and my computer (S-100, CP/M) into another on the opposite
wall. Some strange things happened, some chips got blown, I
didn't know why. Then, finally, I put my hand on the
printer and something connected to the computer and got a
You were very lucky. An arm-to-arm shock is about the most
dangerous you can get. That (of course) is why you keep your
left hand behind your back when working on anything with
high votlages.
big shock. Quickly investigating, I found a Romex
staple
had been driven through the Romex, severing the safety
ground and tying it to the hot! This was back before outlet
testers were common items. Well, that explained some blown
chips, etc.
OUCH!. I've seen some dubious wiring in my time (and just becasue
somebody has the right bit of paper to say they are a qualified
electrician does not mean they do good wiring in my experience!)
but that is lethal. Don't they test wiring after it's installed? Over here
you are certainly supposed to (and a megger would pick that up
even if the short wan't quite there yet).
-tony