Hi Guys
I hope you all get a kick charge laugh out of this like I did.It seems like when I sand the drywall compound and I vacuum up the dust a static charge is built up on me and the plastic vacuum pipe (hose) then when I touch something else I get zapped. If I remember my science, the dust particles moving up the plastic pipe create the static charge.I guess I'll just have to grit my teeth when I touch anything or put a grounding strap on that vacuum hose?
Lee
As noted on another recent thread, it's a sign of low humidity. That time of year
Springfield PA
If you hold a metal key or anything metal in your fingers and touch it to something metal, it will discharge you without getting zapped.
What you're observing is familiar to woodworking shops who use powered dust collectors.The fine sawdust from a saw,etc going though the plastic dust collector pipe (usually 4 in. dia.) can generate quite a charge. Some get around the problem by using metal pipe and others put bare copper wire down the inside of the plastic pipe. The wire is grounded. A little cumbersome but better than a dust explosion in the shop.
Joe
Automotive tool dealers sell a wrist strap with a coiled wire (think telephone cord - remember those!) and small clip that is clipped to something metal. The straps are used when working around electronics to eliminate static electricity. Electronics do not like static electricity zaps. Replacing components that have been zapped can get pretty expensive, fast.
Do NOT connect yourself or anything else directly to ground - it would be like standing in bare feet on a concrete floor in an inch of water. VERY bad if you should come into contact with a 120VAC line. Those wrist straps sold for the purpose have a resistor in that wire - somewhere on the neightbohood of 1 megaohm, so the static can bleed off but if you should contact a live wire there's not a nice low resistence path through your body to ground.
The dangers to electronics tend to get exaggerated. While you certainly do not want to go out of your way to zap electronics, if you touch somethign metal first it is generally fine. I have yet to zap anything even down to the individual chip level with no more precaution that what I said - touch something metal FIRST, and no walking around shuffling your feet while holding on to something. And don't pet the cat right before touching something electronic. Dry winter weather can be tough on poor Kitty - she wants you to pet her but every time her nose touches you she gets a shock.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
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