On Thu, 03 Dec 2015 18:25:34 -0700, Don Y
wrote:

On 12/3/2015 2:40 PM, wrote:
On Wed, 2 Dec 2015 20:05:12 -0800 (PST), bob haller
wrote:

[I'm comfortable working with electricity -- but in the panel,
there's nothing between you and "sudden death" : I'm not
going to flip the main breaker just to make these sorts
of breaker changes]

thats what main breakers are designed for, changing breakers in a hot panel is just plain dumb...

of course you have to reset clocks etc......

but you have to do that if your home has a power failure
On a square D QO panel you'd have to be pretty stupid to shock
yourself changing a breaker with the panel "live". Like you'd almost
have to TRY.

"Stupid" may be a bit harsh. But, if you're not doing this sort of
thing on a daily basis, it's easy to get focused on WHAT you are
trying to do and forget HOW you should be doing it!!

The QO panel has a "sheilded" bus - you need to stick your finger in
to touch it - I'll stick with "stupid" - or "extremely careless" -
which when working around electricity IS "stupid"

When I was in school, I had to make some wiring changes to a
friend's vehicle. Had soldering station sitting out on his
vehicle (hood or trunk, I can't recall).

Realized the tip I was using was too small to convey enough heat to
the work. Not keen on waiting for it to cool off...

Didn't have a rag handy to grasp it...

So, lifted my leg to use the fabric of my jeans (down by my ankle)
to grab the tip and unscrew it. Then, holding the tip in my
pant leg, lifted my ankle even higher to drop the (hot!) tip
on the bumper. Set my leg back down -- tickled that I'd managed
to do this without falling over -- and promptly picked up the tip
with my right hand to place it in my *pocket*!

Of course, it never made it *to* my pocket. The sound of searing flesh
was unmistakeable.

My buddy just looked at me and said, "I can't believe -- after that
elaborate *dance* that you just did (to avoid touching the hot
tip) -- that you just grabbed that!"

shrug Too preoccupied with trying NOT to fall over that I'd
forgotten WHY this had been necessary! :