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Post subject: Re: Safe?
Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2010 10:38 am
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shimmilou wrote:
To the guy who "does it all of the time", you are playing with fire my friend. :cry:


+1!

And re-wiring a room (or an entire home) is not as easy as it seems. It means crawling up into the attic and threading new 12/3 Romex down the walls to each outlet (lotsa fun when you hit a firebreak in a load-bearing wall!), connecting those runs to a new grounded buss, then tying the upgraded buss to the load center (the breaker box).

It's why electricians make $45/hr.

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Safe?
Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2010 10:57 am
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shimmilou wrote

"The electricity caused his hand to "clamp" onto the guitar and he couldn't let go. He managed to free himself by falling backwards. It happened very quickly and was scary to watch, even scarier when a shock happens to me."

that is what happens alot....people talk about electricity "knocking you down",that would be a good thing,but the clamping of your muscles is the reality of most situations if you grab hold of something "hot".
And if you grab hold of somebody in a situation like that you're in trouble also.
I was taught long ago to touch something with the back of your hand,like the guitar strings,or mic or amp,if you get a shock you won't clamp on to it.
Dead is dead....whether it was 120vac or 7,200volts that got you.....and the really high voltage burns you to a crisp. :shock: just by arc flashing...think welder.


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Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2010 11:50 am
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The 3-wire with ground system has been in place for a long time because it is much safer. If there is any way to get your rig on a 3-wire grounded supply, I and most others highly recommend it.

The truth is that of the three wires, the black is the "hot", the white is the "neutral", and the green is the "ground". In your electrical panel, the neutral and ground are actually the same thing and are wired to the same bus. (Please don't open the panel just to see, if you don't know what your doing. Death by electrocution awaits.) The three wire systems use two "grounds" to make sure that your chances of getting voltage through your body are near none. The "breakers" in your panel "break" the "hot" lead when too much current is drawn in a circuit. So, the lesson is: if the voltage drop through you is less than through the "ground" you will get shocked. With the 3 wire system, this is very unlikely.

In the "old" days the wires were called "hot" and "ground". Now we call them "hot" , "neutral", and "ground".

So, this is electricity 101 and the take away is that if you haven't worked with electricity, leave it alone.

An electrician could easily pull you a 3 wire circuit to the location you need for your amp and it would be a lot safer.

Many houses have survived for years on a two wire system, so is it safe? Possibly, but a 3 wire system is much better. For me, I hate getting shocked, it sucks.


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Posted: Sat Aug 14, 2010 7:23 am
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Step away from the amplifier..

Act quickly by alerting the Emergency Services and you may still yet save the house.. :wink:

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Posted: Sat Aug 14, 2010 1:06 pm
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Thanks for all the responses... guess I'll stick to acoustic for awhile. I also have an amp a friend gave me (Crate GX 20-R) that lost its third prong. Am I ok to run that into a three-prong outlet (different house) if I go through a surge protector? Or could I buy a replacement plug somewhere? I'm really in over my head when it comes to this stuff. Thanks everybody


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Posted: Sat Aug 14, 2010 1:20 pm
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36 chambers wrote:
Thanks for all the responses... guess I'll stick to acoustic for awhile. I also have an amp a friend gave me (Crate GX 20-R) that lost its third prong. Am I ok to run that into a three-prong outlet (different house) if I go through a surge protector? Or could I buy a replacement plug somewhere? I'm really in over my head when it comes to this stuff. Thanks everybody
No! A missing ground is a missing ground! If it can' ground back to the service panel for any reason, it is not safe! A Retired Electrician among other talents! :lol: The service panel is grounded to a ground rod or other grounding means! Some are grounded to the reinforcement rods of the concrete foundation! If you have one! :lol:

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Post subject:
Posted: Sat Aug 14, 2010 3:06 pm
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Cap47 wrote:
36 chambers wrote:
Thanks for all the responses... guess I'll stick to acoustic for awhile. I also have an amp a friend gave me (Crate GX 20-R) that lost its third prong. Am I ok to run that into a three-prong outlet (different house) if I go through a surge protector? Or could I buy a replacement plug somewhere? I'm really in over my head when it comes to this stuff. Thanks everybody
No! A missing ground is a missing ground! If it can' ground back to the service panel for any reason, it is not safe! A Retired Electrician among other talents! :lol: The service panel is grounded to a ground rod or other grounding means! Some are grounded to the reinforcement rods of the concrete foundation! If you have one! :lol:


Wow. I used that two-pronged amp for like five years... I still hook my computer/iPod up to it. Very eye-opening discussion here, much appreciated.


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