Answer to the electrocuting stock tank

notjustair · Jan 2, 2016

Well, we had it all wrong.

I took my A/C tester and started at the plug. It tested fine. I went to the end of the extension cord. It tested fine. I swapped testers and went front the ground hole on the extension cord to Mother Earth. No stray voltage.

I was completely puzzled. I had the heater cord itself running in two inch pvc so the hogs wouldn't chew it. I have it tied (baling wire) to the fence. I grabbed the wire to untwist it and got bitten. The electric fence at the other end of the pen was picking up volts through a snow drift and taking it to the hog panel fence which is put in with wooden posts. That whole run had a little zip going through it. There was ice all of the way down that pvc connecting it to the water.

It was literally a perfect storm of circumstances to make it happen.

K Effective · Jan 2, 2016

Shocking.

Janicholson · Jan 2, 2016

Discovery is always an effort when the obvious fails to cure the problem. Jim

David G · Jan 2, 2016

Still a good time to make sure it is on GFCI.

John T · Jan 2, 2016

Congrats, INDEED the water was at a higher potential then mother earth lol it had to get like that one way or another and you found it. Thanks for the feedback

John T

notjustair · Jan 2, 2016

What's twisted is that I like figuring that stuff out. I have lots of other things to do but sometimes you have to exercise your brain!

2510Paul · Jan 2, 2016

Good job tracking it down! It is seldom what you think it is at first glance. You did a great job getting a tester and "dividing and conquering".

Pual

Andy Martin · Jan 2, 2016

Need to exercise all the muscles. I never can keep electric fences from grounding, looks like you've got that figured out.

old-9 · Jan 2, 2016

Thank you for the answer. joe

Jon Hagen · Jan 3, 2016

That reminds me of the time Mother wanted me to put an electric motor on the little walk behind tiller for her fenced in garden plot, as she was not up to starting a gas engine.
I installed the electric motor and tried the little tiller on the first garden row. Quiet, smooth and should be easy for her to operate, although I was a little suspicious of her operating something where the extension cord COULD get chewed up by the tiller tines. I got to the end of the row and swung the tiller around for the return trip.
About the time I got the tiller turned around I got hit by an electric shock that launched me like a rocket, I just knew that electric tiller was about to kill me. After a few yelps, I realized that when I turned the tiller around, I had backed into the electric fence. Oh never mind, and hope no one saw me do that. =:0

FBH44 · Jan 3, 2016

Just talking about the GFCI's, I have powered my barn, including lights, radio, heaters, wire welder, trouble lights, drills, big Skil-Saws, big grinders, etc., off a GFCI with no problems whatsoever. And I have tested the thing it works just fine. I like 'em.

NCWayne · Jan 3, 2016

Had a circuit at a concrete plant I used to work at doing something similar. The solenoid valve would work a few times, and then quit. Give it 30 minutes or so, and it would work a few times, and quit.

I finally figured out the wire was burnt into inside a piece of conduit running out to the silo. The conduit was u shaped, end to end, which allowed water to settle in the bottom of it. I guess there was just enough water for it to creep in and make the connection between the ends of the burnt wire. Once the valve was used a few time, the heat of resistance dried the water out. They quit using the gate, the area cooled, and the water crept back in. Things worked as normal a few times, and then quit again.....and so on, and so on.

Troubleshooting was a real PITA as the wire continually showed continuity when tested. I've run into similar situations before, so I assume there was just enough continuity to show on a meter, but not enough to allow the proper current flow to operate the solenoid valve. In the end I just pulled a new wire and every thing worked as it should.

da.bees · Jan 3, 2016

I went back to the origional question to see if there was mention of an electric fence around the pen,there wasn't,neither was there mention of snow drifts and an electric cord inside conduit full of ice. I'm almost certain several people would have seen the problem if that information had been included. What was made clear in origional question was age and gender of hogs in the pen. Heck,the question even inluded gender and number of hogs that had resided in the pen way back before this started. All wasn't lost though. I was lead to belive,make that "it was attempted to make me believe",one of the pigs was smart enough to see when cord was unplugged momentaraly and rushed over to get a drink while it was unplugged. When I was beginning to rethink how inteligent that pig must be,common sense overcame the notion. If the voltage was coming from the electric fence,,,,,,,,,why did unplugging the heater make a difference? Pun intended,hog wash.

dr sportster · Jan 3, 2016

As soon a I strike up my TIG welder the radio goes dead and the gfi clicks off . Not even the same circuit.

Answer to the electrocuting stock tank

notjustair

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K Effective

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Janicholson

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David G

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John T

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notjustair

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2510Paul

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Andy Martin

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old-9

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Jon Hagen

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FBH44

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NCWayne

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da.bees

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dr sportster

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