If you remember, I mentioned that I was going on a mission trip a little while ago. Well, I have a little story to go along. BTW, I consider this modding because I was fixing a house. So I arrived at the home (a trailer) to be fixed up and looked at the jobs we needed to do: patch up a roof, replace skirting/siding, build back steps, and build a front porch. Well, we went up to the house and I put my hand on it....and to my surprise I got quite a shock! It appeared that there was an electrical short somewhere that touched the frame of the house. This was a bit of a problem, we needed to be on the roof and be using our power tools at the same time. We were able to dig the post holes for the porch and cement them in on the first day and start working on the roof. The next day we came back out and found that we could put the skirting on, because it was vinyl or some other plastic material that didn't conduct electricity. We were able to get most of that done and we started cutting the boards for the porch and nailing them in. That night it rained. When we came back the next day and touched the wet boards, we got shocked again! Not as strong, mind you. So along came the last day and we weren't sure we would finish, so we went back to the camp and told them about the electrical problem. They only had one electrician and he already had a job. But for some reason he skipped that job and came and helped us out . He clipped the wire that had the short and taped it off, so we were able to finish the roof and the other jobs on time. It was actually kind of exciting, I had never been electricuted before that. First time for everything I guess.
And this is why all trailers should be covered in duct tape! No exposed metal so you can't get shocked, and it patches the roof in the process You're lucky it wasn't a real bad shock though, it probably could have done some real damage.
I used to live in a trailer. Apparently, they are great lightening conductiors (don't ask) and they have some sort of capacitance. Our trailer got hit by lightening (we weren't home) and when we got back my dad touched the trailer. Somehow or another...he got zapped...bad...it threw him like 6 feet. Also they can be dangerous to light up an attenna on the inside of. Some guy that lived in our trailer park (we were so white trash!) killed himself by setting up some sort of microwave antenna in his trailer and cooking himself. Lets see if I can dig up that old newspaper clipping...
Additionally, they had no grounding. The problem was it would cost a lot to get a rod in the ground because you get about 6 feet down and its solid rock. Luckily our post holes only had to be 4ft (still hell).
I would just get a metal stake, pound it into the ground, attach one end of a jumper cable to it, then attach the other end to the frame of the house. That would ground it, and probably trip the circuit breaker for the circuit causing trouble. It is kind of funny though. Teaches you the importance of a good ground though dosen't it.
damn trailers sound more dangerous than pouring gas on yr shoes and lighting it and running around not that i have done it
hehe one time I touched an open spark plug on a 25HP water pump (pumping a small backyeard pond). I didn't even know what happened...didn't really hurt, just nearly shook my teeth out.
