Will an electric fence give you a shock if you touch it while wearing hiking boots?

[Dilbertian]

Will an electric fence shock you if you touch it while wearing hiking boots?

Oh, this brings back a memory. We wired up our first electric fence about 12 years ago. Our very feisty mongrel, Mickey Blue Eyes touched it and it 'bit' her. True to form, she turned round and bit it back...for the first time in her life, she lost the fight!!!

No, I've scrolled through all the posts to see if anyone has asked, as my first thought was why do you want to know this ?

If you stand on a polystyrene tile you won't be. You need to be fully insulated to not get zapped.

It's fun! Damp grass on an electric fence (run off a 12v battery) was part of my childhood entertainment! It was a very sad life ...

If you do touch it, regardless of footwear, you’ll get a shock but not so bad to do real harm. It’s not pleasant, but it’s not going to kill you.

Unless the Ramblers' Association has noticed there's a public footpath straight through the T-Rex's enclosure...

If there is enough slack in the wire to stand on it to push it down to the ground for others to step over then you'll be fine. DH does this regularly on organised group walks.
If you're asking if the wearing of hiking boots will stop you getting a shock if you touch the fence with any other part of your body then obviously they won't.

Your post reminded me of that episode from brainiacs

link

They aren't designed to electrocute you! It's a little zap that's unpleasant enough to send you on your way.

Why do I want to know this?

Dinner table discussion. Ds was telling us how his class had been learning to wire plugs at school. Conversation moved on to how the trips in our RCDs work via the bit of his computer he had recently destroyed by hard-wiring the wrong thingamabob to it, and rambled on until we reached electric fences.

I stupidly grabbed hold of one whilst I was giving someone some space to move past during the first lockdown. It's the strangest feeling - I didn't know it was an electric fence, and I swear it was like a glitch in the matrix. One second I was stood on some grass and the next I was stood on the path feeling like someone had punched me in the chest. Didn't hurt at all but made me feel weird.

Sorry but 🤣🤣🤣. I rigged one up to keep the dogs from eating the soft fruit straight off the bushes. DPup touched it, shot inside and wouldn't go outside again for the rest of the afternoon.

A lot depends on whether it's linked yo a battery/solar energiser or a mains one. Mains gives a hefty kick. The others vary a lot.

One of the girls where I used to work (horse place) took a short cut out of a field by rolling under the electric fence. These were permanent fences as opposed to the car battery ones, so not ones you could hop
over, and quite highly powered. As she was halfway under her radio blipped and she lifted her head on reflex, hit the fence and was briefly knocked out… came around, lifted her head and again and was knocked out again! This story was told at her ten year award presentation, so she lived 😂

My old dog went to touch noses with a donkey under one of the post and tail fences and got a belt from a strand of tape I hadn’t seen, and from that point on assumed donkeys were electric and would go nowhere near one 🙈😂

The morals of the tales being that sometimes it DOES hurt to touch a fence, and also that you should watch out for donkeys ⚡️

Horses and Cows are point loaded so the shock is more for them than a person.
They are also valuable animals so the shock isn't strong enough to damage them (physically)

I had some foam wedges in the 00s that were big enough to fully insulate me. Tricky to muck out in though.

If you all stand in a line holding hands with the youngest furthest from the fence you can get them right up in the air.

I once accidentally touched an electric fence as I stumbled when climbing over it. To try and stop myself falling I grabbed hold of my friend so they got an electric shock too!!

Ah this thread has taken me back. Did loads of playing in fields as a child. We used to chuck stones at them.

It's only a little zap anyway. My DD used to create electricity everywhere - I used to dread pushing her in a trolley as the damn thin

Oops

The damn thing would zap me every time she was sat in it. I was afraid to get her off the trampoline - her hair would be on end and she'd zap me when lifting her off.

Actually, is that weird? 🤣🤔

You don't get electrocuted if you piss on them, apparently.
I read recently that a urine stream isn't continuous enough to conduct the electricity.

Why ‘of course’? The electricity relies on a circuit being completed, just like a light switch. One end of the circuit is grounded, the other end is attached to the fence unless the two ends are somehow joined together there is no circuit. You touch the wire, you are the switch that connects the circuit.
Rubber is an electrical insulator so in theory, prevents the circuit being completed. But…
as the voltage pulse is so massive; 30-40,000v or more, you will need some seriously thick soles to stop the circuit. Bear in mind also, most hiking boots will have some metal in them somewhere!

@TugWeston
You're a bit late to the party 😂

A friend of mine once, when camping, got up in night for a pee.
Didn't see the electric fence!😳

Yes of course

It may electrify you enough to turn you into a ZOMBIE just like this thread .😂

It doesn’t really hurt. We used to compete to see who could hold onto one the longest in Brownies…