I agree on both counts, although, opening a live neutral and getting between
the conductors is a guaranty of pain.




"Doug Miller" wrote in message
. net...
In article , "RBM" rbm2(remove
wrote:

"Eigenvector" wrote in message
m...
A couple three basic questions that I'm not willing to test myself.

When pigtailing wires together, you won't get shocked so long as 1) the
breaker to that circuit is off 2) you aren't touching both the neutral
AND the hot wire. Meaning, if I grab two hot wires and pig-tail them
(like when adding in a dimmer) I won't get shocked so long as I'm not
touching the neutral wire AND the breaker to that circuit is off. I'm
not
trying to be ultra safe here so much as I'm trying to make sure that in
situation where switching off the breaker isn't a guarentee that power
is
off for that fixture.

If the breaker is off to a circuit, it's dead: Except if it's an Edison
circuit, one that shares a neutral between two legs of different
potential.
In this case you would need to turn off both breakers sharing the neutral,
or else, opening the pigtail of the neutral and getting between the
conductors will hurt you

You don't need to open the pigtail and get between the conductors to get
hurt.
Simply touching it may be dangerous: you create a [potential] parallel
path
for the neutral current, through your body. Electricity follows all
possible
paths, not just the one of least resistance. Creating additional paths
with
your flesh isn't a good idea.
[snip]

And finally, when splicing phone line, do the wires normally carry
voltage
sufficient to shock or could you essentially splice them with your teeth
if you had to?
There is enough voltage to hurt you especially if your hands are sweaty

Let's clarify that, OK?

"Enough voltage to hurt you" meaning "enough to cause pain", yes.
Meaning "enough to cause injury", no.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.