Help electrical shock!!

Healthy Skeptic

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What they said...

Hello,
The wire that is hooked to the Red knob is a Hot wire. The needs to be insulated.

Do you have any garden hose you can cut and run the wire thru? Or Insulators?
 

greybeard

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What they said...

Hello,
The wire that is hooked to the Red knob is a Hot wire. The needs to be insulated.

Do you have any garden hose you can cut and run the wire thru? Or Insulators?

Thanks. I'll email them a link to this thread and perhaps they'll reconsider.
I do very much suspect all their competitors will be laughing their rear ends off over that 'sage' advice.

From Kencove fencing, one of the largest and best known electric fence companies in the US:
Use at least one 12½ gauge double insulated cable as your leadout. Two or more joined in parallel are better, as this lowers the resistance of the wire.
https://kencove.com/fence/100_Fence+Construction_resource.php

From Premier:
Energizer Installation & Operation Instructions
1. Keep energizer ground system 30 to 40 ft away from any other electrical ground source. This includes house ground systems and wells.
2. Use only galvanized lead-out wire and galv. ground rods. Do not use copper lead-out wire or copper ground rods.
3. Use only insulated wire designed for electric fencing. Do not use wire rated at less than 10,000 volts.



https://www.premier1supplies.com/img/instruction/35.pdf

I can assure you, that every manufacturer and every distributor and every installer of electric fence energizers will tell you the same thing..use the double insulated lead out cable.
Cheap insurance against injury, voltage bleed off, and loss of livestock.

There are dozens and dozens of electric fence threads on this board, and hundreds, if not thousands across the internet. They all say the same thing too.
Double insulated lead out wire.

Why is a garden hose (and most other hoses) a bad idea? Because of what they were made to do, and it isn't to insulate us from electricity. They are designed and made to keep water in most of the time and water is made up of molecules. 2 hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom bound together. That's all a hose is made to do..keep water molecules inside even under water well pressure. Just keep the water from squeezing between the plastic molecules of the hose. Pretty small, water molecules are, each is about 0.000282 millionths of a meter in diameter.......but then, everything is relative.
There are 3 atoms in a water molecule. Each of those atoms is 100 million times bigger than an electron. Electricity is electrons, moving. Bumped off the outer orbit of a wire (conductor) atom.

Wire insulation, is made to keep electrons in, and electrons are really really REALLY small. It's not the thickness that matters most..it's the density...how close together the molecules are packed together. Compared to an electron, a water (or air or anything) molecule is humongous. Electrons are so small that no one has been able to determine their true size, but they have calculated the largest their radius could be, and that's one billionth billionth of a meter. One 1/billionth of a billionth of a meter.
Any covering that can keep an electron in, can keep an atom or molecule in, but the inverse cannot be said to be true. Most garden variety garden hoses will bleed electrons like an old worn out sock. The material the hose is made from only has to be dense enough to keep a big ol water molecule inside.

But ultimately, the choice is your own.
 
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Wehner Homestead

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Running wires through a doorway isn’t advisable. The door won’t seal properly and could even blow open easier during certain weather conditions exposing the contents to less than preferred circumstances (rain, snow, wind, hail.)

Ours is NOT wired that way. The insulated wires leave our charger (inside the building and actually on the opposite side) and go underground to the fence from the building. They have small exposed area where they are attached to the wires that we’d like to carry the electricity. This makes only the actual fence a risk for human shock. Much safer for all involved.

Note: my three children have never been shocked. They learned to stay away from the fence by happening to witness a dog, pig, or calf making contact. That’s all it took for them and they keep their distance.
 

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The person that gave you the advice via email, or via phone call, was almost assuredly NOT a professional or electrician, as they would have NEVER told you that. They were probably some 20 year old hourly employee, paid to answer the phone or emails and "satisfy the customer" at all costs.

Nobody here is "picking on you" or "downing you"... they/we are ALL trying to HELP you. To explain to you HOW to do it right and more importantly... WHY to do it right. If that hot wire becomes exposed due to rubbing against the door jam and door, and electrifies the sill, and there's a puddle of water on the ground outside, and someone steps in that damp ground and grabs the door knob, what could the result be? The cost in $$ and time to do it right, is far less than the cost of the potential tragedy could be... Electricity is NOT your friend! It is nothing to be trifled with! You can do a google search for electrocution deaths to find statistics if you really want to. There is also the possibility of fires. Please consider heeding the advice given here and do it right. The life/property you save, might be your own. :fl
 

greybeard

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To be factual, very very few people in North America ever die from a fence charger incident if the fence is electrified by a charger. Some DO die because morons hooked a fence up to 110v house current and lots of people have gotten hurt when they touched and then were trying to get away from a properly charged fence.

Still, touching one can be 'a religious experience."
 

Healthy Skeptic

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All very informative.

So I should change out all the wire I bought to insulated and then drill new holes in the aluminum siding to put them through? But isn’t aluminum metal?
 

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You use insulated wire from the charger, to the starting point of the hot wire run. It is (can be) also used from the charger to the first ground rod, though some folks don't bother with insulated wire for the ground, since it is supposed to be grounded anyway. Drill a small hole, large enough to feed the wires through in the steel wall/side of the shed/bldg. You can use spray expanding foam or caulk etc. to seal around the wires once they are passed through. As long as the hot wire is shielded, you can run both through the same hole with no issues. Of course you CAN'T use the same hole with bare wires.
 

Healthy Skeptic

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Ok hahaha! I must sound stupid. But I’ve never dealt with this stuff before. So any insulated wire? Just pick one and buy?
 

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