Be warned !!! They really are dangerous !!

[Dazza1976]

As qualified electricians we all know we shouldnt use the neon screwdrivers to test if voltage is present, well the other day i learnt the hard way, and was lucky to come out unhurt.

I didnt have my approved voltage tester to hand, and being lazy and despite the warnings i decided to use my neon screwdriver to test if there was a voltage on a fused spur for an immersion heater. I put the screwdriver on the live terminal and put my thumb on the end, and before i knew it there was one almighty flash and BANG and sparks flew out almost like a fire work going off ! I **** myself and jumped back. The tip of the screwdriver had gone black and literally melted.

Amazingly i didnt get a shock out of it, but the fright was more than enough for me to vow NEVER to use one again, and i promptly threw it in the bin.

Have any of you ever had a bad experience using one ? It makes me wonder how they are allowed to sell them ?

 

[rob121]

I used to do a lot of plastering for a building company a couple of years ago, the spark had been in a run all his cables + boxes, i was patching up around them, all metal back boxes, anyway i was scraping the plaster out the boxes with my finger when i could hear a ticking, so I thought I would check it with a test screwdriver, put it on the end of the cable and f**k me this thing shorted between the cable and wet plaster and blew this tester straight out my hand and about 7 foot across the room into another plasterer working there. Turned out the electrician had connected everything up in a JB and was MEANT to leave the supply out but obv was in a rush. Lesson learnt there for me and the other spreaders. Could of been a lot worse, finger in back box with cable, metal trowel straight over cable, dodged a bullet there!

 

[Thenitwentbang]

It's surprising that they ever found their way into toolkits in the first place.

Testing for voltage using a neon is a little like checking your car for binding brakes by grabbing hold of the disc after a long drive!!! Unfortunately, there are those, who think both are valid tests and, in the case of neon screwdrivers, this would include certain tool manufacturers!!!

 

[Kamikaze]

Good job you can’t plaster faster than your guardian angel can strut his stuff.

 

[1shortcircuit]

I think a Neon Screwdriver should be supplied free of charge to anyone that purchases electrical goods from the well known sheds.

After an almighty shock they MAY well decide the next time they pick something up it'll be a telephone to a certified person

*Perhaps they're added to electricians tool kits to give out to numpty customers who think they know everything and more about the job you do*?

 

[Godderz23]

i am a trainee ad i cut through 10mm shower cable with uninsulated cutters if it wasn't for the rcd they would have been washing what was left of me down the grid...i learned one thing never take the advice of a plumber when he says its dead...the tool

Some would say your a tool for not checking yourself mate.

I always check things myself, takes 10 seconds and could one day save your life.

 

[sparkdog]

Neon screwdriver was the main bit of test kit when I was an apprentice in the 1960s,never any trouble although I wouldn't even think of using one now.