Got zapped by a dryer door switch that should've been harmless

Last Tuesday I was swapping out a heating element on a Samsung dryer out in Oak Park. Figured it was safe since I had the unit unplugged for 10 minutes. Turns out the capacitor still had enough juice to give my finger a good jolt when I brushed the door switch terminals. My whole arm tingled for an hour. Anybody else get bit by a capacitor that they thought was totally dead?

3 comments

3 Comments

price.tara1mo ago

Should've been harmless" - that phrase RIGHT THERE is what gets people in trouble. Those film capacitors in dryer door circuits can hold a charge for WEEKS, not just minutes. I learned this the hard way fixing an old Whirlpool, got bit so bad my watch stopped working for a day. The REAL issue nobody talks about is that the bleeder resistor on those boards can fail open, so the capacitor never drains down like it's supposed to. You basically got the full wall voltage stored in there, just waiting. Always short the terminals with a screwdriver BEFORE touching anything, even if it's been unplugged for a month. That tingle was your lucky warning before something worse.

jakeb251mo ago

Oh come on, is it really that dangerous? People have been poking around inside appliances for decades without turning into human lightning rods. Most of those capacitors are tiny, and the door circuit runs on low voltage anyway. Sure, you might get a little jolt, but your watch stopping sounds more like a tall tale than actual physics. If you're really that worried, just keep one hand in your pocket and use a multimeter to check before touching anything. The screwdriver trick is fine, but you're way more likely to get hurt slipping on a wet floor in the laundry room than from a cap that's been sitting for a month.

elizabethtaylor1mo ago

Hoo boy, you just reminded me of the time I tried to fix my mother's old vacuum cleaner without unplugging it first. I was just poking at a loose wire with a pair of scissors and the whole thing sparked so bad it threw the breaker and I singed my eyebrow off. Took me a week to grow back, and she still brings it up at Thanksgiving. So yeah, respect that zap, I say from hard earned experience.