Wife accused of tampering with husband’s table saw
OLYMPIA — Court papers allege that an Olympia woman, angry that her husband left her, tampered with his power tools so that he received a powerful electric shock. Carolyn Paulsen-Riat was booked Friday into the Thurston County Jail for investigation of third-degree assault, domestic violence, and second-degree malicious mischief. A judge released the 33-year-old woman on her own recognizance. The Olympian newspaper reports that court documents say that on Jan. 1, the man was using a 220-volt table saw when he received the shock, knocking him to the ground. Thurston County sheriff’s deputies say the man did not need to go to a hospital. In the documents, deputies say the woman told them she had reversed the wires on his power tools because she was angry he was leaving.
Replies
Don:
So would that be a wife approved table saw?
Mike
Time to check his other tools for wife approved modifications. :)
Don,
Well, what I might do to the ladywife's sewing machine should she cross the line! I'd have it chase her aboot the room and then sew-shut her ..... (no I wouldn't).
I might interfere with her rhubarb fork, though. I believe a slight modification with the froe would cause it to spring back in a very dangerous manner.
But it'll never come to that as she is an angel and I am second on her love-list, after the cat.
Lataxe, in domestic blissitude.
I am sorry, but I do not buy the story. 220 V power tools are all double insulated, that is, one wire is never used as a ground, so that reversing the wires cannot possibly create any problem. In Europe, where 220 V power is standard, a plug can be plugged in both ways without any danger. The only way in which the wife could have provided a shock would have been to disconnect one wire from the motor, connect it to the ground, and disconnect the ground so that the breaker does not trip. But even in this case, the electric shock would not have been 220 V but 120 V because the voltage between any of the live wires of 220 V and the ground is 120 V and not 220 V. 120 V can hardly deliver the shock you describe to someone wearing shoes. That judge should consult an electrician.
Aurel Ionica
It is a well known fact that american reporters, prosecutors and judges are idiots.
I do not believe a single one of my 220v tools are double insulated though.
A Class II or double insulated electrical appliance is one which has been designed in such a way that it does not require a safety connection to electrical earth (US: ground).
Don I see the germ of a plot for a woodworking murder mystery in here. Maybe a 16 inch Oliver jointer suspended overhead on a hoist and an ignition source where the solvents are stored might add a little pizazz as well.
(Testing to see if I can add an inline photo):
View Image
Yup. It's as cold as that picture looks around here.
hey ed,
are those dall (sp.) sheep?
eef
My Montana-native GF tells me they are Big Horn sheep. You spend hours scanning the ridgelines trying to catch a glimpse of one, then you see them in the parking lot of a convenience store, near the dumpster, or somewhere like that.
dgreen,
I am afraid you have it backwards. A single insulated equipment is designed in such a way that it does not need an electrical ground because one of the wires is already the ground. It is called single insulated because only one of the wires is insulated from the ground; the other is actually the ground. The plug for such an appliance has only two prongs and no ground, and the prongs are of different sizes so that you cannot plug it in both ways and you are not supposed to tamper with the prongs. If any of your 220 V tools is designed this way, something must be terribly wrong and it is a miracle that you are alive.
Aurel Ionica
I suggest you look up double insulated
I have many years of experience keeping me alive. Not any fairys miracles.
dgreen,
To be honest, I do not remember seeing anywhere the terms explained but I am very familiar with different kinds of wiring and it may be just my way of interpreting the terms. But if you are right that double insulation means one wire insulated from the ground and the other one used as the electrical ground, and single insulation both wires insulated from the motor and the grounding to the earth done with a separate wire, what I said about the possibility of causing shock by reversing the wires is not possible, particularly with 220 V equipment because all such equipment can only be wired single insulated and reversing the wires makes no difference. According to your terminology, reversing the wires can cause electric shock only on double insulated equipment, but such wiring can be used on gadgets like hair dryers but never on a table saw. My son happens to be a professional electrician and when comes home I am going to ask him how he understands the two terms.
You are very confused.
Never was good with electricity, but if you reversed the wires wouldn't you make the saw itself (the old ground) live so that if you touched the metal of the saw and somehow also in contact with a ground you would be shocked. Is it like screwing up the wiring from a switch to light fixture making the fixture hot?
I generally trust people who have studied these things and I think the man in question was lucky if he could only receive a 120 v zap. Lucky she didn't kill him but she got the point across.
Peter
Regardless of how she switched the wires, the highest voltage he could be exposed to by touching the saw would be 120 volts.
Like you said, she made her point!
It would depend on which two wires she reversed, right? My 220v tools have two hot wires and a ground. Reverse the two hots and nothing will happen, but flip the ground and one of the hots and the grounded parts of the saw will be live. If the operator is reasonably well grounded when they touch a metal part of the saw, they'll get 120v. Is this right?
Yes, Quickstep, you're right
Yes, Quickstep, you're right of course. Except even if she switched the ground with a hot wire, he'd probably get less than 120 volts, especially if the premises is only supplied with 230 volts. Depending on what material the floor is made of, the voltage potential could be considerably less than 120 volts. If it were a dry wooden floor, you probably would not be able to feel it. Keep in mind that here is no such thing as a perfect conductor nor is there such a thing as a perfect insulator.
Keep in mind that here is no such thing as a perfect conductor nor is there such a thing as a perfect insulator.
Tink,
....nor is there such a thing as a perfect murder...
Cheers!
-Jerry
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