A Real Shocking Experience

[Axman]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am going to leave out many details as this would just make for a long story, but I would like to share this and pass it along.

Since we have gotten our drill for our GRCS we have been lucky to have electric outlets with the reach of the fifty foot of extension I bought to run the drill. I have definately gotten an education in plugs, some are plain old 2 wire ungrounded, others cracked, ect.ect. most are in good shape and up to code.

Last Friday we had to remove a limb and do a cable and brace on a split tree. The limb raising removal and pulling the split together part went good with the drill. After this part of the job we started to do the drilling for the brace rod. After changing the GRCS drill adapter bit over to one of those 5' foot bits you can buy at Sherrill, laying the unplugged drill with that long bit resting on the metal cage of my old Elliott and my hands on the cage, the other guy plugs the drill in and I get the worst jolt from an electric current in my life. Talk about completing a circuit, it was all I could do to get my hands off those metal rails. It would be the same as having a key in each hand and sticking the keys into the slots of an electic outlet. My heart was doing nine-ninety after that. I guess I can call myself lucky.

The drill and cords were new this year and it was just strange to have a short circuit like this. After looking my stuff over and finding nothing wrong like an exposed wire we replug the drill away from the basket of course. Nothing unusual till we touch the chuck of the drill, tingle tingle. The outlet plug we were using was miswired, using the ground wire for a hot or neutral or the grounding system was screwed up. The owner shows up and we inform him of the problem we were having and he said he unsure of the grounding in that outlet. My guess is he knew it was bad but didn't tell us.

He supplied us with another big extension cord and another outlet from his machine shed and were able to finish without incident. Soon as we got back into town I went straight to the hardware store and bought a polarity tester to carry with us in the drill carrier box, from here on out before plugging into someone else's electric outlets I am checking them with that tester, just can't take anything for granted.
__________________
Larry

 

[FTS]

Good lesson great story thx for the info we have been plugging into the customers house also and yet to have a problem / think we will get a tester too

 

[TreeCo]

Hey Larry a 'gfi extension cord' may be even better and safer than a tester. Plug it into the house first and then run a longer cord to the drill.

I just googled gfi extension cords because I figured they must exist, I've never used one. I don't endorse this product, it's just the first one I came across.

http://doitbest.com/Extension+Cords-Woods+Ind.-model-2879-doitbest-sku-536776.dib

 

[familytree]

hey axman, not to get off subject here but how do you like the drill chuck for the grcs? what kind of power do you need to get that baby running, would an 18volt cordless do the trick? this may all sound silly but i honestly have no idea about tools unless they have a socket or chain attached to them

 

[Kevin]

Was this a double insulated drill?

http://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/safety_haz/power_tools/saf_elec.html

 

[Axman]

Hey Dan, Since this incident happened I have found out about using a GFI on a cord, it is on the list for the next time we have to use someone elses juice.

FamilyTree, I wouldn't work without a drill using the bit adapter, hand cranking gets old, tiring and is slow compared to using a drill, speeds the process up of doing a tree removal. If you have seen the GRCS demo vid Greg Good is using a 1/2 in. Milwaukee with the reverse low speed, this is the only way to go because it takes torque to lift limbs and pretensioning of ropes. I don't think a cordless battery operated drill would get the job done over the course of doing a tree removal. The bit adapter doesn't fit as snug as the hand crank so you have to watch to make sure the adapter bit is in the capstain straight and up tight to gearing of the capstain. We very seldom use the forward or the higher speed settings on the drill,to me that is to fast for GRCS gearing and seldom needed, the low speed reverse is just about a permenant setting when using the drill. It is really fun to raise up a piece of wood after it has been cut free with the drill, got to play around a little bit just for fun.

This particular drill draws 7amps, I needed 12 gauge 3 wire for the fifty feet of extension if I needed to go that far, which we have on more than one occasion. The longer the run the bigger the wire size is needed due to voltage drop from the source. Hope this helps you out a little.

Kevin, to answer your question,without looking at the spec sheet or owners manuals, I am going to say yes. I had two drills on the job, both Milwaukee's, a 3/8 th's that I have had forever and my new 1/2in for doing the GRCS work. Both drills did the same thing when they were plugged in away from the metal cage, a tingle to the touch of the finger when you touched the chuck's. Both drill's couldn't be bad so this is when we knew the problem was in the miswired outlet.

I know this is probaly a one in a thousand times of an incident like this happening but it was not a cool experience, not to mention the chance of ruining expensive tools.

 

[TLHamel]

We use our Stihl gas powered drill; lifts most of what we need it to. I like the idea of a super powerful right-angle drill for the big stuff.

 

[BobEMoto]

[ QUOTE ]
I know this is probaly a one in a thousand times of an incident like this happening but it was not a cool experience, not to mention the chance of ruining expensive tools.

[/ QUOTE ]
Any older house, say before 1980, can have miswired outlets. I've seen a fair number of them.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

There isn't a cordless drill that would keep up the power needed to run the GRCS for very long.

Good idea using a circuit tester.

I made up a couple of outside extension cords when I built treehouses. All I did was cut off the female end of the cord and replace it with a double duplex exterior outlet box. On the input side of the box I have a GFCI outlet which then feeds the power through the other side too.

On one of the treehouse builds I had the cord draped across the yard after a rain. The power cut out and I had to reset the GFCI a couple of times. I wondered why and realized that the power leakage from the dampness was enough to trigger the GFCI. Having to reset was annoying but not as annoying as it would have been to get 'juiced'. I ended up draping the cord in the shrubbery to keep it dry after the second reset.

 

[Tino]

How about running a small generator? On that subject do they need to be grounded when in use?

 

[Kevin]

Portables don't requre grounding.
Another option would be to rent a gas drill with reverse or buy one depending on use.

 

[Axman]

That is also a good idea Tom, putting a GFI on a the end of an extension cord. It would be easier and less expensive than rebuying new cords.

 

[familytree]

so these gas powered drill, how do you guys like them and which do you prefer? are they worth all the money?

 

[Tony]

They are worth every penny. Not much more expensive than a pruning saw. We have found the Sthil to be far superior to the echo. Haven't tried any other brands. Once you start doing your cable jobs with a gas drill, you'll never string extension cord through a tree again.

Tony