Last Friday was electric.. or shocking…. Cleaned a drain and ended up in the ER!

I’m 42, Master and I gave all my guys this past Friday off because we just finished a massive restaurant early and they earned some extra PTO..
I got a call for a clogged main line and while I had been scheduling everything for the next week I figured they were close and it was some easy cash so I’d go knock it out myself..

Get to the house, get the Ridgid K-150 setup at the cleanout, run my cable into the cleanout and down the line until I hit the blockage. Plugged the machine up and then I started moving some shit out from around the cleanout so it wouldn’t splash me and I touched the cable with the sharpshooter and thought I saw a couple of sparks but it didn’t make any sense and I had my sunglasses on and thought, “couldn’t have been.."

So, i get the shit moved and then turn the machine on and cleared the blockage super quick then ran another 30ft out to clean it to the city sewer. Everything was going well, been there about ten minutes and I’m done.

Then I went to pull the cable out of the sewer and grabbed it with both hands and started getting shocked. I couldn’t let go of the cable, it was shaking me, I knew what was happening and I couldn’t stop it. I was hollering for help hoping the woman in the house or the neighbor would run out and cut the machine off or pull the plug or anything to help me out of the situation and no one was coming to my rescue.

I had plenty of time to realize what was happening, start wondering when/if i was going to pass out or when my heart would give out, or whatever else might happen. Didn’t really get the whole “life flash before my eyes” experience but I’ve had that before, this time was more of this is how I’m going to be found.

I realized thought that while I couldn’t do anything with my arms or hands, I could still move my legs. So I spent some time trying to switch off the machine with my boot but was not having any luck. But I was able to kick my machine over and then put one foot on the extension cord and kick at it with my other foot to get it unplugged and then just hit the ground.

When I fell, I guess my Apple Watch went off and called 911 and an ambulance showed up. By the time they did though I had kinda recovered and felt pretty normal, had even loaded my machine and cable back into the truck but because the electricity had passed through my chest, they told me it’d be smart to take the ride and let them monitor my heart for a bit.. Apparently, it’s not uncommon for you to be alert and awake after it happens and then for your heart to stop later. So, to the ER we went...

Just wanted to share my wild experience and tell everyone to make sure you plug into a GFCI. My machine had one but it went bad and instead of replacing it, I just put a new pigtail on it. I never really use it, I have two drain trucks at the shop but I did use it and could’ve been in a morgue right now. But at the very least a cheap GFCI extension cord could’ve saved me a lot of time and a hospital bill.