Just went to the bar and caught the tail end of a report that a guy near Berlin just electrocuted himself by driving spikes into his lawn and wiring them to the mains supply to kill moles, [ taupes ]. Moles survived.

Alan.

[This message has been edited by Alan Belson (edited 01-18-2007).]

Good Lord!.
Where do people get crazy ideas like this from?.

Yay!.

I'm now picturing an obscure (and somewhat strange) Czechoslovakian cartoon which was screened here when I was a kid -- "The Mole."

Yeah, and to make it worse that guy was a retired electrician!

Oooooh yes, that cartoon! I watched it when I was a kid too.
I especially remember one episode when a grumbly guy with a real impressing garden wanted to kill the mole with a huge bottle of poison... the mole absolutely ruined is garden, and he‘s sitting inside, watching TV, a commercial for poison... then they tear away his antenna and the picture moves as they move the antenna... then he carries home a HUGE bottle of some awful looking stuff... but somehow the mole survives. It was just cool!

A news release quoted police sources saying he used 380v!

I remember a Bugs Bunny cartoon where Bugs surfaces from one long "molehill" stretching back to the horizon and utters the immortal line-
"Nyyyea! I toyt I was headed to Albercoykee!"

Alan

No Brains !!

He should have known better.

Lucky he didn't kill anyone else.

Yup, and luckily a neighbor watched him, so he could at least keep the policemen from electrocuting themselves! They first took out all breakers (for some reason the panel was located in the garage) and pulled the plug before proceeding.

I don't think that guy really understood the idea of grounding... and to think he was an electrician...

Honestly, it's a tragedy with those perfectionist gardeners with too much free time.
My grandmother's landlord was one of them... he cut the lawn three times a week, in exactly the same pattern... result: permanent yellow lines where ever the wheels of the mower touched the lawn every time...

Or to remember that (Austrian) lady who could be seen taking her vacuum cleaner outside to vac the garden path... (honestly, I saw that myself!)

Krtek!

Alan,
My understanding of the European system, is that this should have blown a fuse or MCB before this guy got to the "install".
Earthing 2 phases, should trip something.
At least.

Ragnar,

you mean you dont vacuum your footpaths? I do. Not with an upright hoover, a cylinder one. It works quite well.

My dad used to hoover the apples from some of our trees before they grew and fell onto the grass.

Thinking about it now, it is probably a bit strange.

1. A three phase installation is regarded as the absolute standard here in Germany. No resonable electric cooking is possible without it.

2. The incident happened in the former GDR (check Google maps for "Zingst", although the guy originates from Berlin), and there you will still often find TN-C installations without any RCD protection.

3. It does not need much current at 400 V to kill you with a weak heart.

If he was indeed an electrician, as Tex says, he would have known enough to disable any RCD device fitted anyway, otherwise his cunning device of driving spikes into the mounds wouldn't have killed him. Wolfgang already pointed out last year the high resistance of earth rods, so the current flow between phases could have been substantial.

Hans Moleman [ from The Simpsons ] is just one of many famous moles, such as Mole from Wind in the Willows, Bottles from the Nintendo 64 game, the Pokémon mole Diglett, [ who evolves into Dugtrio then back again- don't go there!], the Berlin 3 phase Mole and the much loved " little Gentleman in black velvet" that killed the hated King William [ of Orange ] III in 1702 by tripping up his horse at Hampton Court. In fact, thanks to ECN, you now know more famous moles than you do Belgians!

Leave our moles alone!

Alan

Indeed, most Eastern European countries almost exclusively used TN-C to save metal (I've seen that recently at the Slovakian Hotel where I spent last week, the 4 star hotel had receptacles falling out of the wall...) unless the distribution system was/is (some areas of Berlin) 3x220V without neutral.

I assume if there even was an RCD he bypassed it /it wasn't working anyway (some of the Germans at the Elektronikforum even commented:"Most likely he took out that stupid thing that keeps tripping all the time!") and there was not enough current flow to trip an old 16A MCB or fuse. Maybe he didn't even get the rods into the ground before killing himself.

A scary idea anyway!

Regarding the more humourous topic of moles:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/15/mole_busting_german/

Ok, if that guy was a construction foreman and not an electrician it doesn't really surprise me as much... after all, I witnessed construction guys trying to burn down my very own house using horribly butchered extension cords about ten years ago... they DID succed setting it on fire and then blame the house wiring!
The official cause never got out, but I'm pretty sure it was said extension cord, having more tape than actual insulation and running under a big cardboard box right through the center of the fire.

Ok I am going against the grain here but I used to do this regularily to get worms out of the ground when I was a kid and i am still alive. We regularily took a cord and a couple of coat hangars stuck in the ground about 5 feet apart and plug it in and wait till the worms came out of the ground. We used 120 volts and I think we wore shoes too. Never blew a fuse and there was no GFI then. Also cooked hot dogs this way too using 2 nails and a zip cord. If our German friend was using 480 or 380 volts I can see this being a greater hazard just for step voltages but I doubt you would blow a breaker. 380 volts at 25 ohms give around 15 amps. Stay 20 to 30 feet away from the electrodes and watch the ground smoke. Ok it is damn dangerous and I would not recomend anyone try it but it could have been done without killing anyone. Did anyone report weather he made contact with the electrodes or was he standing between them and was shocked by step potentials? It is not just morbid curiosity as I am a little surprised he would have been killed with rubber soled shoes. Was he kneeling? there needs to be a good potential difference and quite a lowering of normal contact skin resistance. Sure if he put the electrodes 5 feet apart the step voltages could be quite high 150 volts in 1 step.

I doubt whether the precise details are known, unless there was some burning or other evidence to show exactly what happened. The report just says that he was found dead lying next to the cable and spikes.

The 380-volts was most likely from two phases in his house (European homes often have 3-ph services), in which case it would have been 220V from each hot wire to ground.

Any kids [ or adult Darwin Award Nominees ] reading this, using 120v and coat hangers to get worms, [ or for that matter moles, rattlesnakes, rabbits from Albercoykee, coal miners or hermits ], is not recommended. You might end up in a thread like this as your obit!

Here's what I used to do as a lad to get nice big juicy worms for a spot of night barbel fishing on the Thames. [ Which was BTW illegal but just added to the fun! ] On damp warm nights the worms come half way out of their holes in lawns, [no idea why]. Sneak up with a lamp and grab one- you have to be nimble as they move surprisingly fast! Pull firmly but not so hard as to snap the worm, and eventually it will tire and come out. Be selective- pick the biggest. If it's not damp weather and the worms are staying in for the evening, make up a thin pourable mustard and water mix. Look for a big wormcast and pour some mix down the hole. Out pops the worm- jeez that must sting! A quick wash in water, [ no need to be cruel ] and into the bait tin. Keep worms under a damp sack in a box if not using immediately.
BTW don't use salt or brine, as it kills both the worms and the lawn!

Alan

You will keep us informed of any Ossi jokes that come of this incident won't you Tex?

Ouch, you're mean!
So far I haven't heard any.

I see a number of replies that seem to say "no one in their right mind would do the."

It may interest all to learn that such a product was actively marketed in the USA in the late '70's ... late night TV infomercials and all. Needless to say, the product was removed from the market as soon as the first reports of injuries and lawsuits began to arrive...

Alan,
Couldn't agree more, mate!.
There is always someone that could get the wrong idea from reading a website and try and copy an idea that was stupid from the beginning.
The less that ideas like this catch on, the better!.
Not only is it silly to attempt a thing like this, it is also cruel, step voltage would be a nasty way to die, if you are an underground animal, yeah sure moles might be pests, but chances are they were there first.
Moles are nocturnal aren't they Alan?.

Mike, you are thinking of bats. They come out at night. Like my teeth.


I'm not a bat or a rat or a cat,
I'm not a gnu or a kan-gar-oo,
I'm not a goose or a moose on the loose,
I am a mole and I live in a hole!

I'm not a cow or a chow or a sow,
I'm not a snake or a flake or a drake,
I'm not a flea or a chimp-an-zee,
I am a mole and I live in a hole!

I'm not a ram or a clam or a lamb,
I'm not a hog or a frog or a dog,
I'm not a bus or a hipp-opoto-mus
I am a mole and I live in a hole!

Alan






[This message has been edited by Alan Belson (edited 01-28-2007).]