Trying to figure out why I was electrocuted

[JayEm96]

Hi. Hope I'm allowed to post here. Something terrifying just happened and I'm trying to figure out why. I have no clue about anything to do with electrical.

I was playing my electric guitar, pretty loud and couldn't hear that it was thunderstorming outside and I was electrocuted through my guitar. It wasn't super serious but it was enough that the guitar flew out of my hands and landed upside down on my coffee table cause it scared the heck out of me that bad and I definitely got a good jolt. Had I known it was storming, I would have shut my amp off immediately but it was loud and I had no idea that a storm had rolled in.

I have an outlet tester and according to the tester, my outlet is properly grounded. My amp is plugged into a surge protector. I do have quite a few things plugged into it though. I have a lot of things plugged in down in my playing area in general due to a lack of outlets. Is it possible maybe I just have too much plugged into that outlet? Should the surge protector not have tripped when that big of a surge came through? Should it have even came through due to the outlet being properly grounded?

I have a TV plugged into that same surge protector and it was on while it happened as I have a laptop hooked up to it and had music playing that I was playing along with as well as a sound system that is also plugged into the same surge protector. The TV and sound system are fine. I don't know about the amp, it's still storming and I'm scared to turn it on right now. It was a pretty intense jolt that I got. Like I said, I dropped my expensive guitar onto my coffee table and could feel it in my finger pretty good. But I am fine. Just looking for some insight from people who know a lot more about electrical than I do.

Thanks.

 

[telectrix]

a close lightning strike could explain it. you would have had a large charge onto your grounding for a few milliseconds.

 

[pc1966]

As just said, could be momentary current flowing through you due to the lightning. What sort of floor do you have in that room? Concrete, suspected wood, etc?

Certainly I would get all of your outlets and power leads checked just in case. Most folk killed by electricity in the music business have been due to faulty earth connections followed by a 2nd fault and touching to objects (e.g. guitar & mic). The use of RCD / GFCI in recent years (along with radio mics / guitar pickups) has helped a lot for safety, but you should still check out the basic electrical safety aspects.

 

[magnoliafan89]

Whenever someone tells me they were "electrocuted" I cant help but think of this:

 

[Lucien Nunes]

The problem with electrical storms is that they can induce voltages in all sorts of different ways, so unless anything scores a direct hit and burns up, it can be hard to identify the route that a spike took, after the event.

Is your power line overhead or underground? Overhead lines are obviously more likely to be affected. Even when correctly grounded, voltage surges induced in them can propagate through the wiring of the building. Surge protectors might help prevent catastrophic damage to the equipment, but might not completely eliminate some aspects of the surge so you can still be shocked.

The amount of equipment plugged in won't really have any effect other than to trip the breaker if it is too much for the circuit, or the GFCI if there's too much ground leakage in total. Most electronic devices are small loads anyway.

Get the wiring and equipment checked as a precaution; make sure your main ground rod is to installed to code and intact. And don't play so loud

 

[Wilko]

Sorry to hear you’ve had a shock!
Did any breakers trip?
Your surge protector maybe a little crispy inside, just saying.

 

[Edtwozeronine]

Whenever someone tells me they were "electrocuted" I cant help but think of this:

Now now all trades have their vocabulary, I doubt I'd know what a plumber was on about if he started using trade speak, or speaking in general...

 

[magnoliafan89]

Now now all trades have their vocabulary, I doubt I'd know what a plumber was on about if he started using trade speak, or speaking in general...

True but its not trade speak as such. Electrocuted came from the words electric and executed.

 

[Megawatt]

Hi. Hope I'm allowed to post here. Something terrifying just happened and I'm trying to figure out why. I have no clue about anything to do with electrical.

I was playing my electric guitar, pretty loud and couldn't hear that it was thunderstorming outside and I was electrocuted through my guitar. It wasn't super serious but it was enough that the guitar flew out of my hands and landed upside down on my coffee table cause it scared the heck out of me that bad and I definitely got a good jolt. Had I known it was storming, I would have shut my amp off immediately but it was loud and I had no idea that a storm had rolled in.

I have an outlet tester and according to the tester, my outlet is properly grounded. My amp is plugged into a surge protector. I do have quite a few things plugged into it though. I have a lot of things plugged in down in my playing area in general due to a lack of outlets. Is it possible maybe I just have too much plugged into that outlet? Should the surge protector not have tripped when that big of a surge came through? Should it have even came through due to the outlet being properly grounded?

I have a TV plugged into that same surge protector and it was on while it happened as I have a laptop hooked up to it and had music playing that I was playing along with as well as a sound system that is also plugged into the same surge protector. The TV and sound system are fine. I don't know about the amp, it's still storming and I'm scared to turn it on right now. It was a pretty intense jolt that I got. Like I said, I dropped my expensive guitar onto my coffee table and could feel it in my finger pretty good. But I am fine. Just looking for some insight from people who know a lot more about electrical than I do.

Thanks.

@Jayden You got lucky this time I’ve seen receptacles blown out of the wall. Your in luck since Canada works out of the Same code book that America does and in the 2020 NEC edition you have to have a SPD or (surge protection device). It must be installed in or on your outside panel

 

[Edtwozeronine]

True but its not trade speak as such. Electrocuted came from the words electric and executed.

Yeah, but even an electric shock can be deadly innit...