# A funny thing happened...



## cmjust0 (Jul 14, 2010)

So, you guys know I'm a big fan of hi-tensile electric fence.  Put ours up several years ago and haven't had a moment's trouble out of it...until just the other day.

We had a group of four kids -- always the same four -- who continually just walked right through it to graze the good stuff on the other side.  Not great, but meh...they love their mamas, so they don't go far.

I checked the voltage..uh oh..like, 600v.  I could take hold of the wire and not feel a thing.  Basically non-existant.

Off I go, to investigate.  The thing's been so trouble-free that I had sort of...ahem...slacked on any kind of maintenance at all, to the point that I hadn't laid eyes on entire sections of it for like a year or more.

Working my way toward the back of the property, I found three different points where the hot/ground wires were right on top of one another, and another section where the bottom hot wire was laying tight to the ground for about 50 feet.  Fixed all that.

Got to the top of the hill in the very back and found one more section where hot/ground were touching.  I pulled them apart, but the hot wire was laying against the trunk of a tree..  Fence was basically fixed at that point -- enough to throw a big fat blue spark at about 1/4" distance -- but I had to get it off that tree.

Problem was, I had to go through the fence to fix it.  Luckily, there's over 2' of distance between the 3rd wire and the top wire (9" intervals), so it's usually not a problem to shimmy my way through -- provided I'm careful.

So...one leg goes through and the upper ground wire's laying right across my back.  And, ya, it's the actual ground wire...the ground rods are hooked to the ground wires which then run back to the ground lug of the charger, specifically so that anything which touches both a ground and hot makes DIRECT CONTACT with no need for the charge to travel through the earth and all that jazz..  It's basically the same as touching the hot and cold lug of the charger simultaneously, which will pretty much blow your hat off.

So, I'm straddling the lower two hot wires.  And, yeah, the fence is FIXED at this point...a 50mi charger on about 2mi of hot wire.  Very hot.

BAM...5500+ volts, right to the sack.

The jolt was bad enough, but a shock that big is more or less a whole-body experience regardless of the point of contact....for a few seconds anyway....until the burning sensation sets in wherever you touched the fence.

Which, again, in this case WAS MY SACK.  Lower right quadrant, to be overly precise.


The good news is that those four kids mysteriously stopped escaping within about 12hrs.  Plus, one half of one day's work and a HORRIFIC, MIND NUMBING shock to the sack is still a pretty small price to pay in terms of fence maintenance, especially considering how long I'd let it go.. 

So there's that.


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## Chirpy (Jul 14, 2010)

Oh for a video of that....   LOL!   I'm so sorry... well, only kinda.


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## ksalvagno (Jul 14, 2010)

I guess you could say it was a shocking experience then.


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## cmjust0 (Jul 14, 2010)

Oh, and...this is great...my wife's almost never with me when I'm working on fence, but she just happened to hike to the back of the property (just for the hike, really) and stopped to hang out a minute while I was fixing the very last of it.

And, of course, she was JUST IN TIME to see me get scorched.


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## RockyToggRanch (Jul 14, 2010)

Ouch. I hope you're feeling better. I'll try NOT to remember this when I'm munching on my Planters Roasted Nuts. It'll be tuff:/


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## warthog (Jul 14, 2010)

Seriously hope you are OK


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## DonnaBelle (Jul 14, 2010)

Please extend sympathies to your DW.

DonnaBelle


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## helmstead (Jul 14, 2010)




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## Mea (Jul 14, 2010)

I am soooooo.... NOT laughing.......




:/














  Sorry....couldn;t help myself........


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## tiffanyh (Jul 14, 2010)




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## mully (Jul 14, 2010)

Bet the swelling was impressive !


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## freemotion (Jul 14, 2010)

Um.....you done siring kids???


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## jlbpooh (Jul 14, 2010)

Ouch! I have gotten shocked from my fence and know how it feels, just not in that location since I am female. 

I feel bad tonight, because our neighbors were over to learn how to take care of our animals. I normally always warn someone about the electric fence, but tonight I forgot. My neighbor had full contact with 9600 volts with a really good ground because it has been raining here. I only have about 1000 feet of electric with a high powered 30 mile fencer, it lights you right up. I felt horrible, he obviously wasn't happy at all, and his wife was laughing  her rear end off. Needless to say, I showed him where the fence controller was to be able to de-energize it when he enters next time, oops.


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## aggieterpkatie (Jul 15, 2010)

Rule #1 in fencing:  Turn the fence off first!!


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## mossyStone (Jul 15, 2010)

Mossy Stone Farm..........


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## glenolam (Jul 15, 2010)

Sorry for the bad luck, but I LOVE THOSE TYPES OF STORIES!  And I bet yer wife does, too!


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## Calliopia (Jul 15, 2010)

Yeah I did something very similar a few weeks ago.  Didn't realize how close to the fence I was, lost my balance while leaning over w/ a bucket and ZAP right on the nipple. OMG!   I was SO glad my husband was in the house for that one. 

And about a month before that I had zapped my nose in a similar situation. You would have thought I learned the first time.


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## Roll farms (Jul 15, 2010)

OUCH.  I don't even have any and that made mine ache....


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## cmjust0 (Jul 15, 2010)

Calliopia said:
			
		

> Yeah I did something very similar a few weeks ago.  Didn't realize how close to the fence I was, lost my balance while leaning over w/ a bucket and ZAP right on the nipple. OMG!


  

And to think...there are people out there who would pay REALLY GOOD MONEY to have someone do these things to them intentionally..


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## apdan (Jul 15, 2010)

Earlier in the summer I got zapped on the inside of my thigh while I was climbing thru our fence! (Thank God i'm a female)  I thought I shut it off!!! The in-laws heard me scream and say a few choice words. They were up on the top of the 40 acres with the camper parked sitting outside around the bonfire. They thought it was HILARIOUS......


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## SDGsoap&dairy (Jul 15, 2010)




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## Lil_Miss_Farmer_Chick (Jul 15, 2010)

I can always count on BYH for at least one laugh a day.  Today I surpased my quota.  
Glad your ok.


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## ()relics (Jul 15, 2010)

I can feel your pain brother...I tried a similar stunt and, I think, I changed the rhythm of my heart for a week...


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## cmjust0 (Jul 15, 2010)

DonnaBelle said:
			
		

> Please extend sympathies to your DW.
> 
> DonnaBelle


Well, if they'd been in her purse WHERE THEY BELONG we wouldn't have had this problem, now would we?


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## greenfamilyfarms (Jul 15, 2010)

DonnaBelle said:
			
		

> Please extend sympathies to your DW.
> 
> DonnaBelle


Yes. I hope you weren't try to have a kid anytime soon.


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