by Apollo » Wed May 25, 2005 9:10 pm
Ref to 3-phase brought another one to mind.
Years ago, went to a job down in a Lockerbie creamery, and got talking the (old and wrinkly) plant spark. They had their own sewage treatment plant on the edge of the site, and he used to have to go down and start it up regularly. As the drive motor was large, it had a large star-delta starter. Virtually an antique, it was a pedestal with two handles, to be operated manually in the correct sequence.
Most of the story was as told him by his mates, because all he could remember was going down and preparing to start the pumps. The wiring had failed and he'd basically grabbed hold of two handles on separate phases.
Fortunately, he'd gone down at the end of the day, and when he wasn't around to clock off with the other sparkies, they just thought he was busy so went to see if there was a problem. When the found him, he was flat out and bleeding from everywhere, eyes, ears, nose, fingernails etc. They reckoned he was dead, but rushed him to the medical centre. The nurse found his heart beating ok, but couldn't wake him. He woke on his own a little later, and amazed everyone as he didn't suffer any after effects.