Slow Motion Arc Flash - the Hazards of Being an Electrician

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Күн бұрын

Electric Pro Academy - Real skills to make real money.
Synopsis:
Sometimes people ask us: “What’s the most dangerous part of being an electrician?” so we thought we’d trace the path of electricity all the way back to the pole and lay out where electricity is the least tame, and where we are sometimes asked to come in contact with it.
Though electrical breakers are rated for specific amperage values, short circuits will put the circuit under MUCH higher stress before the breaker opens and disconnects the power source. To demonstrate this effect on the circuit components, we connected a 60-amp breaker to 6# and 18# wire in a controlled part of our warehouse. The resulting fireworks (literally) are a colorful reminder to 1) always wear PPE, 2) make proper connections, 3) test your work, & 4) know the code.
We do not condone similar testing from unprotected, inexperienced individuals.
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Outline:
0:00 - Introduction
0:19 - Power from the Pole
1:58 - Arc Flash PPE
2:32 - Dead Short with 6# Wire Demo
3:00 - Dead Short with 18# Wire Demo
4:09 - A Heating Element is Born!
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Пікірлер: 48

@allenrousseau5668 Жыл бұрын

Scary stuff, when you realize what the potential is! We were replacing a 200 amp main breaker the other day, [De-energized] and after removing the one mounting screw, the entire assembly just fell apart. If live, L1,L2 would have been shorting. After doing electrical 30 + yrs, makes you have more respect when you open that panel, exposing the main breaker.

@Max_Softair 5 ай бұрын

@@Twitchy-IdjitNobody cares about your opinion.*

@microcolonel Жыл бұрын

Like you, I always at least look away while throwing a switch. Even as I type this, I blink for each keystroke.

@ElectricProAcademy Жыл бұрын

😂

@lorenrickey5481 Жыл бұрын

My old boss was picking up the crew when one of the workers got in he stunk up the van. Turns out he did a rewire that morning on a 12/2 circuit that shorted with the wrong breaker and melted 30 feet of wire inside the drywall around the room. He bought the wire to show us on the way to work.

@ElectricProAcademy Жыл бұрын

😮 Love that he took it as a learning opportunity for everyone else!

@Sparky-ww5re 7 ай бұрын

4:05. That last one with the #18 also illustrates why we have rules for feeder taps at ¹/¹⁰ the ampacity of the OCPD on the line side of the tap for the 10 foot tap rule, and ⅓ ampacity of the OCPD line side of tap for the 25 foot tap rule. Not to mention resistance goes up as the conductor heats up reducing the fault current and increasing the clearing time of the OCPD to the point of not providing adequate protection if a short circuit occurs on the tap and the rules are not followed.

@garbo8962 Жыл бұрын

Great vidio.Was extreme!y fortunate to have a company that purchased everything except for PPE rated under shirts. Had PPE rated hoodies, & winter rated PPE jackets. Our visors on hard hats had darker green tint.Should mention that rubber & canvas gloves must be sent out every 6 months to be tested & date stamped. Should wear 100% cotton socks ( which I could never find ) & electrical rated work boots good for 1,000 volts ( have no metal eyelets. Always had trouble with every GE garbage 13.2 KV switchgear. Worst was a POS GE 13.2KV dual service outdoor switchgear. It had an ARC flash rating of 120 CAL and moron engineers in training installed vents at eye !evel. ( which guarantees to not only burn your head but blow it off your body ) Was told that any arc fault above 50 cal no matter what approved PPE one would be wearing is guaranteed to kill due to blast would throw you back over 20' .Of course like all GE switchgear it had serious problems within a year with moisture building up and you smell the think produced by high voltage corona. Had to install strip heaters to keep humidity down. Think OSHA requires that you replace all hard hats who very two years but that seldom happens If you need a PPE Hood for high voltage spend the extra money for the style that has a built in cooling fan that runs in 6 AA batteries. Never use fabrics softer on any PPE rated pants shirts or jump suites when you wash the stinky things !

@alkalinearmy308 Жыл бұрын

Q for Quinn makes 98% cotton socks but I prefer Darn Tough merino wool work socks because of the lifetime warranty. Also, a company called Woolley makes 100% merino wool underwear as well.

@matthewrogers55 4 ай бұрын

very cool, going to show this in class

@lorenrickey5481 Жыл бұрын

How does the buss bar look. Did it spit out a chunk?

@KidderVerse Жыл бұрын

need to try this with longer pieces/smaller sizes of wire

@ninetailscosmicfox5585 Жыл бұрын

So if I'm understanding electricity properly: the delay in the breaker due to smaller gauge wire is most likely due to current limiting done by the wire. Is that right?

@ElectricProAcademy Жыл бұрын

Bingo!

@speednutsII Жыл бұрын

Holy crap

@jovetj Жыл бұрын

Just remember: short circuits still always make a circuit breaker (or fuse) trip the fastest. Overloads can be a lot slower.

@ferrisr Жыл бұрын

On the last one, what was the flash from the room with the panel? Was an arc flash visible there when the breaker tripped, even though it's a solid black casing?

@cleverca22 Жыл бұрын

i think the breaker exceeded the rating of the wire, and by chance, the resistance of the dead-short wasnt enough to pop the breaker, but was still enough to cause melting so the whole length of wire began melting, insulation fell off, and then it began shorting at other points, reducing the resistance and increasing current further, and arcing out of frame if it didnt short itself shorter, it could have been a demo of how a fire starts in walls

@GregsStoneYard Жыл бұрын

I think that was the breaker clearing the dead short. Inside the breaker are a series of plates arranged in a row, like a comb. This provides more surface area to dissipate the arc created inside the breaker when the breaker opens. Search for a video titled MCB, how do they work. It will show the mechanism better than I can describe.

@imark7777777 Жыл бұрын

Well that's cool. I've seen a handful of videos where this accidentally happens I've never seen it on purpose. Just be glad you don't have one of those federal fire pacific breaker panels................. And you're not in the loft of a old restaurant. One of these days I'm going to find that video again.....

@richardmerriam7044 4 ай бұрын

Gotta love arc flash...30,000 F, bus bars turned into plasma. No time to duck. Game on!!

@NickFrom1228 11 ай бұрын

You need to get together with Electroboom...

@joebishman6163 4 ай бұрын

Where can I buy the sweat control gloves?

@ElectricProAcademy 4 ай бұрын

amzn.to/47TPtwo

@shubinternet Жыл бұрын

Cool video, although the audio seems to have some issues.

@highvoltage1979 Жыл бұрын

You should do that with 480 volts next

@MrTooTechnical Жыл бұрын

Wow. Try higher temp sheathing wire. Boom

@paulstoyek381 Жыл бұрын

I wouldn't rely on the face shield if you are going to turn your head to the side when you need it to protect you..I could be wrong..

@jonjohnson3027 Жыл бұрын

Having flashbacks (pun intended) to watching someone identify what breaker a receptacle was on by jabbing a wire into both slots.

@michaeljavert4635 Жыл бұрын

Awesome. I jumped even though I know it can't get me. They need to work on wire that won't melt.

@daviddeflyer8671 3 ай бұрын

Not sure what type of wire was used, but if it was thhn meant for in conduit then you'd be looking at 75c rating of 18A so appropriate breaker would be 15A; they had it on a 60A breaker which means the breaker will require a larger surge before it trips. The appropriate 15A breaker should have prevented the wire from melting.

@procactus9109 5 ай бұрын

Look like a teaspoon and boots would have been enough PPE for that one.

@ElectricProAcademy 5 ай бұрын

😂

@jarrydee2799 Жыл бұрын

I arc wires in homes just to trip the breaker so i dont have to find it lol

@ElectricProAcademy Жыл бұрын

I can neither confirm, nor deny, that I know what you're talking about 😏

@jovetj Жыл бұрын

Not really the best practice.

@mxslick50 Жыл бұрын

@@jovetj I won't be so kind to the OP , it is an incredibly stupid thing to do for many reasons: Arc flash, arc damage to customer's walls/floors/etc, if the breaker doesn't trip you will have overheating wire or burning connections upstream, you can easily start a fire in a box with bad connections, and you will also scare the customer and look like a total asshat in front of them. All the companies I ever worked for had the policy that anyone who tries this stunt gets terminated immediately.

@shoobidyboop8634 5 ай бұрын

Arc flashes are not a problem IF you wear SPF 30 sun tan lotion, then you're fully protected at all times.

@ElectricProAcademy 5 ай бұрын

😂 Spoken like a true electrician!

@ElectricProAcademy 5 ай бұрын

Revisiting this for another good laugh! Thank you!

@stevealsmeyer2555 Жыл бұрын

Does your wife know what you do at work?

@nhzxboi Жыл бұрын

This was sort of a stupid exercise. More driven by ego and vanity. Not impressed at all by the silly over-confidence. Pretty dangerous example of things you should not do(intentionally) :(

@andrewhill9568 Жыл бұрын

That was not an arc flash my friend, nice try

@jovetj Жыл бұрын

Exactly!

@jaybadass2318 Жыл бұрын

I think it’s more among the lines of a short circuit ? Correct me if am wrong 🤔.

@jovetj Жыл бұрын

@@jaybadass2318 Sparks of shorting little wires together is not an arc of electricity flowing through the air. An arc flash (specifically the light) is electricity flowing openly through the air. AKA just like lightning.