Electrical safety - lock out kits

[RBailey]

I got nervous changing some light pendants so bought myself a cheap electrical isolation kit.


It means I can lock out a breaker and avoid anybody turning power back on inadvertently, (especially if any other halves are used to just resetting breakers).

(Water heater for illustration only.)

Thought it was worth a share.

Cheers,
Richard B.

 

[paulc]

All well and good locking out the MCB, but it only isolates the live wire. Neutral could still be "live", so potential for a shock on that side.

 

[fernicarry]

You need several simultaneous faults for the neutral potential to become dangerous. Not saying it can't happen but it is really quite unlikely. I do however make a habit of testing all conductors before starting any work.

 

[RBailey]

All well and good locking out the MCB, but it only isolates the live wire. Neutral could still be "live", so potential for a shock on that side.

True, I always test first as well.

These lockouts are because I was more worried about the wife realizing there was no power and just flicking the breaker back on without checking with me. (On my internal risk assessment I think it has at least a moderate probability risk.)

 

[LadyArowana]

These lockouts are because I was more worried about the wife realizing there was no power and just flicking the breaker back on without checking with me. (On my internal risk assessment I think it has at least a moderate probability risk.)

Totally unnecessary here, the chance of His Lordship doing anything whatsoever to try and restore power is unthinkable. When confronted by this exact situation at our Singapore apartment he phoned me…… in London. I was having coffee with a friend and confess I just laughed and asked what he expected me to do about it from thousands of miles away. When I calmed down I directed him to the security staff / maintenance for the apartment complex and they found the box and flipped the switch. It happened repeatedly and was eventually traced to some worn insulation on the big cables for the aircon units outside, only did it once when I was there, but it was a big bang! Now we have our own house he does know where the box is, and we don’t have aircon, so fingers crossed.

 

[Zebra]

That kit looks more tiptop than what the professionals use!.. (a piece of electrical tape over the breaker). But then, I guess, they've not had your wife on site.......

 

[malcolm]

They had those on my high voltage training course (compulsory for access to a factory floor). They had smaller padlocks so more than one could go on one breaker. That's so the electrician didn't turn the circuit back on when they had finished the job but someone else was still working on another machine.