Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!nuchat!lobster!limbic!gil
From: gil@limbic.ssdl.com (Gil Kloepfer Jr.)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: short circuit experiences
Summary: Definitely don't try THAT at home!
Message-ID: <722@limbic.ssdl.com>
Date: 22 Oct 90 05:29:28 GMT
References: <34700035@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Organization: Southwest Systems Development Labs, Houston, TX
Lines: 39

In article <34700035@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> phil@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu writes:
>*** WARNING *** DO NOT ATTEMPT ANY OF THE EXPERIMENTS DESCRIBED HEREIN ***

You can say that again...

>I also made a shorting device out of a heavy duty 110 volt plug, some 10
>gauge wire, and a 20 AMP "3 way" switch connected in parallel.  I would
>plug the device in while open, then close the switch.  [...]
>Usual experiences with this device included a clanging sound from the walls.
>I suspected this to be the sudden rise and fall of the magnetic fields on
>the conduits.  Most circuits I ever shorted were wired in conduits.

It was a good thing too...  Many homes/dorms/etc. are not necessarily
wired with good workmanship in mind.  You're lucky that all you heard
was clanging from conduits.

There are some electricians who cut corners on wiring by using the
absolute minimum gauge wire for the job, making splices without putting
them in junction boxes...then there's always the happy homemaker who
tries to do his own wiring.

When you threw the switch on your shorting device, in the time period
before the circuit breaker tripped or fuse blew, the wires in the wall
underwent quite a stress.  Any places where wires were spliced (either
in junction boxes or at outlets) probably got awfully hot.  If any of
the connections were loose enough to create a spark or thin enough to
get extremely hot, there could have been one heck of a fire.

To make a long story short, shorting-out electrical wiring is NOT
something you'd like to keep doing.  I know they did it in one episode
of _Mission_Impossible_, but it's far from safe.

I'm sure some real electricians could probably shed some more light on
this, as well as EE's who will know all the theory about it.  I'm more
of the practical kind who can do some of his own electrical repairs,
and respects electricity.
-- 
Gil Kloepfer, Jr.              gil@limbic.ssdl.com   ...!ames!limbic!gil 
Southwest Systems Development Labs (Div of ICUS)   Houston, Texas