A Boyce's Electrical Webpage

Electrical safety is everyone's concern from the installer to anyone that might enter the area or use the electrical circuit. "BE SAFE"

Electricity not used properly can "KILL" , it can cause your home or business to burn, and it can damage electrical components beyond repair. Use and apply with "CAUTION".

Pobably the most important part of electrical safety is proper grounding. If an electrical circuit, component or appliance is not properly grounded it can lie quietly in wait to injure or kill without warning. It does not select it's victims, it is first come first served. The ground is the third wire in the circuit usually green or bare. It is the large, round prong on the plug (cord cap). It does not make the electrical component work but it does make the overload protection work to protect you and yours. Therefore make sure you install it properly. Allways hook up the ground wire and never break the ground prong off or use grounding plug adapters without grounding the adapter. Remember the GROUND is the most important wire in the circuit. It not only protects you, but anyone and everyone that might use the circuit in the future.

Did you know that the let go threshold is only 5 - 22 milliamps? 5mA for a small person or child to 22mA for a large healthy person in good physical and mental condition. Painful shock is about 9 milliamps and severe muscular contractions and difficult breathing comes at about 23 milliamps. So it doesn't take much.

Did you know that one in seven electrical shocks kill?

If you see someone being shocked "DO NOT TOUCH". Use some insulating object such as a chair (wooden not metal), article of clothing or cloth to pull the person free, or turn the power off. If you plan to work on a hot circuit show someone where the breaker is better yet turn it off before you start. If someone around you is going to work on a hot circuit find out where the power is to be turned off.

After the ground the overload protection is of utmost importance. An overloaded circuit can cause your home or business to burn. There is little or no warning. The overloaded wire gets hot enough to cause the insulation to burst into flames. To prevent this circuits are designed with overload protection ( breakers or fuses ). These breakers or fuses are sized to open the electrical circuit (turn it off) if the load is at a dangerous level for the wire and insulation of the circuit it protects. Therefore don't defeat, bypass or oversize the overload protection of a circuit or install too small a wire for the overload protection. If a circuit breaker or fuse trips or blows don't just reset or replace, find the reason and correct the problem.

If you have electrical questions to ask, click on my name to email. I will answer as soon as time permits.

Boyce A. Smith

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