On Tue, 27 Oct 2015 11:26:35 -0700, Don Y
wrote:


Currents as low as 30mA (AC) can lead to fibrilation and, thus, death.
AC is harder for the body to cope with -- and our 60Hz is a particularly
bad frequency, in that regard. By contrast, DC currents need to be
considerably higher (an order of magnitude) to be of significant
concern.

Just curious why 60hz is particularly bad, and where you got this onfo?

I believe a welder (stick welder) operates at around 24v. I learned real
quickly that it can really tingle if a person is standing on wet soil,
and the shoes are damp. It's Low voltage, but it still can zap a person.
I always stand on a piece of dry plywood if I weld outdoors now, (if the
soil is damp or wet).

[GFCI devices are designed to measure the amount of current going
"out" one conductor and returning back "in" through the other.
Any imbalance means there must have been some OTHER path for the
electricity to follow -- most likely through some *body*. This
"imbalance" is what causes them to trip.]

I have a bucket heater, which is merely a 115v heating element, which is
similar to a smallish water heater element. I have used this thing for
years to heat a small amount of water. But I can not use it on a GFCI.
Even though the water is in a plastic bucket on a dry floor, it trips
the GFCI within seconds. I've learned to just plug it into a standard
outlet, and it works fine. Obviously there some electrical leakage in
this device, so I know not to stick my hand in the water to see how hot
the water is, without unplugging it first. Even if I'm on a dry floor,
and not touching any sort of ground with my other hand or another body
part.