Meh, are you trying to kill me?
5So a couple of irk’s ago I got this lovely cuisinart personal blender and was overjoyed. See, I make smoothies for breakfast everyday and it’s a pain in the butt to use the big blender. This cuisinart one was the perfect size for my smoothies. When blended it was practically full, so it really is my personal size blender. This thing rocked too, it cut through ice cubes and frozen berries like nobodies business.
So anyways I’m making my smoothie like I do any other day, I put the cup on the base and press the start button and got the the biggest shock of my life literally. I felt this huge jolt of electricity go through my arm and down my leg that hurt so bad and then I felt my hair to frizz and static and stand up. LET ME TELL YOU IT WAS NOT FUN! I had to sit on the couch with a heating pad for the day bc the jolt of electricity seriously hurt. So meh, now you owe me another 4 cup personal size blender (and one that actually works) bc you could have killed me and for my pain and suffering.
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Mehder most foul!
Ok my guess for clue…it was mediocrebot in the kitchen with the electrified blender.
My question is…do you regret your purchase now? I think it was payback for actually enjoying your haul rather than the regret being instant. This is Meh after all.
I could see this happening if liquid made its way between the power components and the housing.
Do you have GFCI receptacles in your kitchen? If they’re present and functioning (test button), they should have tripped to prevent the short from going through you.
@narfcake
I pretty sure there wasn’t any liquid in between the cup and base bc I looked every time and o don’t know what gfci is but I still use that outlet with my regular blender with no problems.
@narfcake @Star2236 GFCI outlets are the ones with the two buttons between the outlets. They protect from some dangerous electric situations and are required for new construction in kitchens and bathrooms. So Narfcake was saying that it should have protected you (if the outlet is a GFCI).
I’m wondering if the blender’s plug is two or three prong. If three the safety should have prevented the case from shocking you (unless there is a problem with the socket). But if the case is mostly plastic then it might only be a two prong plug.
@fibrs86 @narfcake @Star2236
Yeah, the above GFCI reference is to the National Eelectric Code (or NEC, aka NFPA 70) standards for kitchen outlets. Those are designed to prevent/mitigate just that problem of getting shocked by an appliance in use.
@chienfou @fibrs86 @Star2236 If the house was built before the mid-1980s, the kitchen receptacles did not have to be protected. They would look like this and would be installed at the first receptacle in a circuit with additional receptacles connecting off of it. The more recent standards require self testing.
/image GFCI
Some more info on GFCI:
https://www.bobvila.com/articles/gfci-outlets/
@chienfou @fibrs86 @narfcake
Yeah my house was built in the 00’s, the next outlet on the other side of the window has those. I know what that feeling feels like from working with electricity in high school (I was in a special program that built electric cars) and I know it came from the blender.
@fibrs86 @narfcake @Star2236
GFCIs do have a finite lifespan. Have you checked to see if the one by the window trips if you push the test button? If it does, before you reset it, check to see if you have power at the outlet that your blender is plugged in to.
Scenario one: (Power still on at the ‘blender’ outlet) that GFCI does not protect your ‘blender’ outlet.
Scenario two: (Power off at the ‘blender’ outlet) the GFCI is “upstream” from the ‘blender’ outlet. In which case you might want to have someone with some electrical skills check the GFCI to be sure it will function correctly if it does in fact, encounter a ground fault short.
@chienfou @fibrs86 @Star2236 And when some failed, they failed close so power remains ON.
I believe current code requires them to fail open, so if there are issues, power will remain disconnected.
@chienfou @fibrs86 @narfcake
So I pushed the test button after I checked that there was power to the blender and there was no power and reset it and power again. So does that mean I should have someone look at it? This is all very confusing for me
@chienfou @fibrs86 @narfcake @Star2236 Pushing the test button should trip the interrupt. So no power means it is working. And reset should cut the power back on. Why it didn’t trip with the fault in your blender I don’t know.
@chienfou @fibrs86 @narfcake @sammydog01 @Star2236 yes a GFCI not tripping under those conditions is odd. And it is normal to have down stream outlets wired in series which you confirmed by tripping it. Newer GFCI are “self test” but I think if the manual test works it should still be fine. There is a chance it was low enough current flow that it was alarming to you but not enough to trip a full on ground fault.
It’s extremely abnormal to have an appliance with a plastic body/button and control board be able to shock you at all though. Then you still need a decent ground through your feet which would depend on flooring/foot wear. Id be interested to see the interior. A conductive fluid leak is still the only thing that sounds logical…
Precious owner left some live unfinished wiring which I brushed past once and gave quiet an interesting shock. But I don’t remember if I was wearing my rubber sandals… Thankful it was more a buzz than a shock.
@chienfou @fibrs86 @narfcake @sammydog01 @unksol
I can’t remember if I was standing in just my socks or had my slippers on, there’s a good chance I had my slippers on and they do have sort of a rubber bottom or whatever it is it feels like rubber. What are you interested in seeing? The interior house or the interior of the blender?
@chienfou @fibrs86 @narfcake @sammydog01 @Star2236 I just meant if I had it in my possession I’d take it apart and look for anyway the short could have happened. Just because I’d be curious. And I might try and fix it. Cause electrical engineering. I wouldn’t really suggest you do that since it already shocked you. Although if it easily unscrews you should be fine to open it up.
You’re GFCI sounds like it should be working. They are designed to interrupt a surge that could kill you with a pretty good ground. Like standing in water. Hence kitchen/bathroom/basement/garage.
Technically if you can get cusinart to take it they will want it untampered with to investigate what happened. But since it was in an irk and pretty rough on the box… I’m assuming no warranty.
@chienfou @fibrs86 @narfcake @sammydog01 @unksol
I’m still gonna try
@chienfou @fibrs86 @narfcake @sammydog01 @Star2236 it’s worth it if there is a potential defect in their product or repair process if it was a refurb. Even if it’s rare. They won’t know if no one tells them. I’d want to know what happened if I was them and know why even if it was just shipping damage.
I think you just pinched a nerve. That’s happened to me before and it sucks, but I don’t believe your incident has anything to do with electricity.
I looked up the model in question and it has plastic buttons that go to a low voltage circuit board. Even if there was enough liquid on the buttons to reach a spot on the control board that as the LED voltages, the voltage wouldn’t be enough to shoot through your body like you describe.
Hope you feel better.
@Willijs3
I have multiple pinched nerves from a work injury about a decade ago and this feeling was totally different. I get burning, shooting, numbing, tingling and pins and needles feelings all the time in my arm and breast from the pinched nerves and that was not it. I also think the blender was possible a return bc it looks like a shipping label had been cut out of it.
V glad you are alive and well enough to recount this incident to us.
Hey Meh!
DO NOT KILL CUSTOMERS!!!
uh, ok meh?
@f00l
that does seem like a pretty bad business model… unless you are an assisted suicide service.
.
@chienfou @f00l
@f00l I don’t know. Imagine being in a big theatre where occasionally they called out two random seat numbers and those two people had to come on stage and fight each other with knives…
That could be quite thrilling. I can imagine looking around and wondering who might be next.
“I could take her if I had to… But he looks pretty tough”
Could get the same sense of thrill if meh put one explosive device in an Irk each Mehrathon. If you box arrives untaped, you know you’re safe… If your box arrives taped there will be that moment of excitement and exhilaration as you tell your family to stand back not knowing if this will be the box that is rigged to explode… And the sheer sense of overwhelming relief when it doesn’t.
Or… you could ask your spouse to open the box for you.
@OnionSoup
Might make a tolerable “hideous-future” movie script.
I fear that IRl the fear/anticipation of these stress events quickly fades into simple weariness and anger.
@f00l would you feel anger if you survived? I think you would feel relieved and happy that meh decided not to kill you.
@OnionSoup Change that “explosive” to a “glitter bomb” and meh might have the basis for a special IRK.
@rockblossom they should totally rig one irk up as a glitter bomb each time.
Here’s a pic for reference meh
@Star2236 Glad you are OK.
Maybe they were trying to give you naturally curly hair?
All joking aside contact the manufacturer too and let them know what happened.
@Kidsandliz
I already gave really curly hair lol
@Star2236 I like your socks.
@njfan
Thanks, I have a thing for funky socks.
@njfan @Star2236 maybe your socks were good conductors
Are you feeling better now?
Hope you are doing fine now.