Good decent multi meter

[John Rumm]

For electrical related injury, yes. For arc flash specifically - yes, although slightly more anecdotal (and many are from the US which I am somewhat reluctant to use given the differenced in normal practices).

General electrical:

For example:

2010 stats, total deaths from electricity 28 (22 home, 6 work). Worth getting worried about? not really. Statistically a significant risk? No.

Annual cases of adults receiving electric shocks: ~2,500,000 of which

350,000 received a serious injury. ~1000 serious injuries per day - statistically significant? Yes! Something worth spending some time and money mitigating? I would say so.

(note I am ignoring deaths and injury from fires of electrical origin since at least half these are down to misuse of appliances - although they make up the lions share of those actually killed (~250/year) in circumstances related to electrical supplies)

Arc flash:

From:

"EU statistics reveal that an estimated 400 to 500 arc flash accidents occur in the UK each year, typically resulting in four or five deaths."

For arc flash in the home, death would be a very unlikely outcome - but exploding test meters, and localised burns are quite likely.

Of course, but these are not exclusive options.

[meow2222]

esearch/statistics/

So > 2010 stats, total deaths from electricity 28 (22 home, 6 work). Worth

And according to Eaton who sell arc prevention equipment, 5 deaths in the u k from arc flash annually. Forgive me for thinking that 5 out of 28 deaths each year due to arc flash explosions seems rather at odds with observation , experience and so on. Electric shock, falls and fires are by far the bigg est electrical killers. For a long time folk in the electrical trade didnt even regard arcflash as a signficant risk (for most of us, people working o n HV kit naturally excepted. Call me cynical.

Of course. But is it really the risk Eaton claims? I dont believe it is. An d time is limited, we need to make choices.

NT

[newshound]

The dangers of arc flash always seem to me a good argument for having RCD protection on *all* domestic circuits.

[Brian Gaff]

Hmm, well many moons ago we thought nothing of drawing arcs from eht on tv anode caps just for fun.

It is a funny thing though, the one piece of advice I had that saved me from serious shock many times is this. When you are dealing eith anything electrical, keep one hand in your pocket. I've had burned fingers and holes made in an arm, but nothing too serious. Its interesting to feel the 50 hertz of mains down your arm, but it would not be funny if your heart was in the circuit I have no doubt.

Eht of course is DC and very dangerous if you get too close!

Brian

[Rick Hughes]

I bought one of these .,... very pleased with it:

Aidtek VC97+ 4 digit large display auto range multi meter. I got it via Amazon:

for under £23

Even includes a temp probe which is a nice bonus. I find the audible continuity tester being used a lot

[John Rumm]

FFS - I already said ignore the deaths - concentrate on the 1000 injuries a day. Those are the ones that matter statistically.

You seem to have this blinkered approach that if it does not kill you its fine and that is all that matters... your choice obviously, but I would rather not have a test meter blow up in my face and burn or blind me just for the sake of saving £20 (i.e. the cost of a second hand bit of megger, fluke, robin branded etc test gear from ebay) vs a cheap Chinese MM from Maplin etc.

(and if you really feel compelled to do it, then at least don't hold the meter, and wear gloves and some face protection)

It said 400 - 500 incidents / year, not 5

The five deaths are likely to be industrial rather than domestic anyway.

Indeed - so when choosing a meter that I am going to poke about inside a CU with, I choose one that has adequate input protection. This is a no cost option since electrical installation test equipment is adequately protected by default, and a normal £20 "hobby" multimeter is not capable of doing the tests required anyway.

[John Rumm]

Although with an arc flash from line to neutral, it may not respond anyway.

(industrial kit may well include arc detectors)

[meow2222]

Well pardon me for making the point that I am making

Of course that is not my position. Be sensible.

and that is not the choice either. The choice is money versus a very very s mall risk - as is the case with so many purchases.

They say 5 deaths. If we accept those are industrial, then the risk of deat h falls to around zero deaths per annum for diyers.

Now if you want to spend extra money on preventing the risk of zero deaths and an unknown number of injuries outside of industry, you're of course fre e to do so. Personally I would regard that as an exercise in denial. Every day we all face risks many orders of magnitude greater on which such a smal l spend would make a noticeable difference.

Occasionally this group gets lost in recommending spending lots of money on issues that are so miniscule compared to life's real issues & risks that t hey simply drop off the list of what's in any way worthwhile.

NT