When I was a marine electrician we were instructed on the back hand method. When we went around and checked our motors we would touch the frames to make sure they were not too hot. "Too Hot" I'm still not sure what this means my hand wasn't a percise thermometor. The ship was three phase delta and the ground was the hull of the ship. There was a bonding jumper from the frame of the motor to the hull because of rubber mounts to lessen vibration. They told us to use the back of our hand just incase the bond went crappy and our muscles would contract and hopefully we would survive. Nice Thought! Maybe this is where the guy picked it up. That is where I heard of it before. Anyway For what it matters I think this is a good habit to have, but if you noticable saw something wrong I would use a meter instead of my hand.
[This message has been edited by RobbieD (edited 07-25-2004).]
