"J. Clarke" wrote:

Pete C. wrote:

"J. Clarke" wrote:

Pete C. wrote:


snipped

Have to agree. The normal snap in breakers are very much comparable to
a regular 5-15 plug connection.

You are holding an insulated breaker case equivalent to an insulated
plug, and you are connecting / disconnecting a spring pressure
connection just like a plug.

All is at the same voltages you get with normal plugs, even with a two
pole breaker since 6-20 and 6-30 and 6-50 plugs are common household
items as well.

With "normal plugs" you don't have an exposed 240 volt bus on a 100+ amp
breaker.

With a quality panel (like a Square D QO) you don't have a lot that's
exposed either. It's also still only 120V to ground so unless you stick
both hands in and touch both legs the 240V part is rather irrelevant.

With the cover off the entire bus except those parts covered by breakers is
exposed, and it's a lot easier to get your hand across two lugs than it is
to get it across one leg and ground, so you're more likely to get 240 than
120.

First off you should take a closer look at the QO panels, they have a
"shielded bus" design that only exposes the actual breaker connection
points, the rest of the busses are shielded unlike most other brands.

Second point is that 240V across your fingers may not be nice, but it's
still only 120V through your body to ground and that's what counts.
Whether you get a lethal current across your heart depends on a lot of
factors, but your fingers contacting a single 120V terminal or bridging
across for 240V isn't one of them.


If you feel better turning off the main then by all means do so, it's
only your time to reset everything that you're wasting, but don't
insist that everyone else should do the same.

If you want to risk your own life to save resetting a couple of clocks
that's your choice. But to advocate that to a complete stranger who
admits to being clueless with regard to electrical wiring is
irresponsible in the extreme.

I never advocated that the OP do anything, I corrected someone's
incorrect assertion that most people turn the main breaker off to change
a branch circuit breaker. The fact is that most people do not turn the
main breaker off to change a branch circuit breaker and in a couple
decades of misc. electrical work I've not run across a single person
that did.

You are asserting that this is a _fact_. I should like to see the
methodology by which you determined this. And don't say "everybody I know"
does it unless you are prepared to demonstrate that "everybody you know" is
a random and representative sample of the population.

I consider the fact that I have not seen a single person do it in 20+
years and hundreds of electrical projects with dozens of people a
sufficiently representative sample to conclude that most people do not
turn off the main. It would be a stretch to conclude that nobody did,
but it's a reasonable assessment that most do not.

Pete C.


--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)