SAFETY PRECAUTIONS IN HANDLING ELECRICAL APPLIANCES

The only safeguard against an injury or death while handling electrical appliances is to strictly follow the required precautions at every stage. If accidently the live wire comes in contact with the body of a person ,the current finds a path through a body to the earth .if this current is high , it adversely affect the nervous system, the heart and respiratory system ,and as a the muscular functions of the body are paralyzed . This may cause severe burns, stoppage of breathing and even death. Following safety precautions must be taken while working with electrical installations or while handling electrical appliances. 1. Make sure that all metallic parts of the electrical equipments are effectively earthed. 2. Broken switches, plugs etc. should be replaced immediately. 3. Use a line tester to check whether a terminal is live. Still better is to use a test lamp, is the line tester can show a glow even with a small voltage. 4. Before replacing a broken switch, plug or blown fuse, always put off the main supply. 5. Never use equipments and appliances with damaged or frayed lend wires. 6. Never insert bare wires in the holes of socket, for taking a connection. Always use a proper plug. 7. Use rubber sole shoes while repairing \testing electrical equipments. If this is not possible, use some dry- wooden support under your feet, so that your body has no direct connected with earth. 8. Use rubber gloves while touching any terminal or while removing insulation layer from a conductor. 9. Always use well insulated tools (such as screw drivers, pliers, cutters etc.). 10. Never touch two different terminals at the same time.

Testing of electrical installation

After completing the electrical installation or after extension work of existing installation, the supply should not be connected unless following test has been successfully connected. The installation should be put into service only after no defect in detected in the tests.

(1) Testing of insulation resistance of complete installation to earth

The objective of this test is to ascertain whether complete wiring is sound enough to keep leakage current within prescribed limits. As per Indian electricity rules, the leakage current of an installation should not exceed 1/5000 of the maximum supply demand of the consumer. As such the insulation resistance of complete installation to the earth should not be less than 1M Ohm.

For measuring such high resistance, we use an instrument called megger. The insulation resistance is measured on dc voltage generated in the megger itself. The testing dc voltage should not be less than twice the standard supply voltage. However, it need not exceed 500 v for testing the medium voltage circuit. Before the test is conducted, we must ensure that (1) The main switch is in OFF position. (2) The main fuse is taken out, or main MCB is put off. (3) All other fuse are in their position, or all other MCBs are ON. (4) All switches are in ON position. (5) All lamps are in their holders, and (6) The live and neutral wires of the installation are shorted at the main switch board Now the positive line of the megger is the live wire at the main switch and the negative line to a good earth joint. The handle of the megger is rotated to generate the require voltage. The resistance value is read on the dial of the megger. The insulation resistance in mega ohms, as measured above, should not be less than 50 divided by the no of points in complete installation.

(2) Testing of insulation resistance between two conductors

The objective of this test is again to ensure that the insulation between the live and neutral conductors is good enough to keep the leakage current between them at a very low level. Normally, this insulation resistance should not be less than 1 M ohm. Before the test is conducted, we must ensure that (1) The main switches are in OFF position. (2) All main fuse is taken out , or main MCB is put OFF (3) All other fuses are in their position, or all other MCBs are ON. (4) All switches are in ON position , and (5) All lamps are removed from their holders. Now, the two terminals of the megger are connected to the live and neutral wire. The handle of the megger is rotated to generate required voltage. The of the insulation resistance is read on the dial of the megger.

(3) Testing for earth continuity path

This test is conducted to ensure proper earthings of all the metallic parts used in the installation. For this test we need an instrument called earth continuity tester.