In my old house, I was watching TV one evening (after a hard day's DIY of
> course!) when there was an almighty thud from outside and my power went off. >
> Nothing was visible in the street, but as the other houses were ok, and none
> of my fuses had blown, I called the supplier (this was late by then). >
> Turns out the joint in the cable in the road (it looked like a massive
> cold-pour joint) had 'broken'. Now obviously they work on this stuff live,
> but as they were digging the hole around it, they managed to cut through the
> water main.
>
> Result - 6 foot diameter puddle at 500v or whatever it is that supplies the
> local substation. I realised something was wrong after watching a
> particularly unhealthy looking chap do a sort of rapid backwards somersault
> out of the pit he'd just dug!
>
> Alex
scary. I would not want to be the other electrode in such a large heater.
Regards, NT