Just got an electric shock

I was drying my hair when the hair dryer blew up! Bang and a flash out of the actual hair dryer. I was using my right hand (pacemaker is on left side) and have a small burn in the palm of my hand. I feel a bit shaken up and my heart's racing from the shock I guess, but does this mean I must have my pacemaker checked? Can the shock affect it? Many thanks

3 Comments

thanks. Fixing hand....

by Viccs57 - 2014-01-03 07:01:54

Thanks for reply. No, didn't seem to blow anything other than the hairdryer. It was plugged into an extension cord that has a surge breaker thing so that saved all the plugs blowing. Just the actual hairdryer that went bang. I guess it's about 8 years old, so it's gone in the bin. Will look after the burn though. It hurts!
Thanks again

Owie

by Tracey_E - 2014-01-03 09:01:38

What sparrow said! Your pm is fine, take care of your hand.

Sounds like you are...

by donr - 2014-01-04 12:01:26

...Just fine.

You live in the UK - I assume that the drier is a 240 Volt device? BY a "Surge Breaker Thing" do you mean a "Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter"? To us in the US, it's a device that protects us from electric shock when something goes wrong w/ an electrical device.

I know that all your outlets are three pronged w/ one prong being a "Ground." (Perhaps you call it an "Earth"?) and they are fused.

Your drier also probably has a plastic handle on it, so you are protected there from electric shock. From your description, sounds like it had ana electric short circuit internally, which blew the device up & in the process gave you a THERMAL burn on the hand. TREAT THAT WELL.

Now you did not say, but did you feel any electric shock run through your body? Was there any horrible feeling other than the drier exploding in your hand? If you got a 240 Volt jolt, you would have felt it very strongly at the site where you made the contact - your hand.

A couple questions for your own peace of mind, with the BEST answers given beneath.:

1) were you wearing shoes or were you barefoot?
Wearing shoes - they will insulate you from Ground

2) were you touching anything with your LEFT hand?
Left hand touching nothing - means any electrical current did NOT pass your PM
3) Were you in a bathroom, standing on a tile floor?
NO - tile floors conduct electricity because they hold water
4) Were you standing on a wood floor or a carpeted floor?
Wood or Carpet - they insulate you from ground.

At the voltages & current you would encounter, your PM should be totally unaffected. There are several of us here who have suffered shocks about the size you MIGHT have experienced w/o affecting our PM's.

Electric current follows the SHORTEST path from one contact point to the other. So for you, it would go from your right hand, down the right arm into the body & then to whatever part of the body was the other contact. So even if you were standing on just your left foot, the vast majority of any current would pass under the PM, leaving it unscathed.

It takes a whale of a jolt to affect a PM - they are well shielded in the hermetically sealed Titanium case & the leads are likewise shielded in their braided sheaths.

I've taken 110 volts left hand to right hand - my PM was rigt in the path. NO EFFECT on the pm, No record in my next download of any events.

As Tracey & Sparrow said - if you feel OK, your PM is ok.

Don




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