Discharging HV Caps

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "William Graves by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <graves-at-jps-dot-net>

Hi Folks,
    Just one thing.  ALWAYS crowbar a high-voltage capacitor before
assuming it is safe.  I have personally observed the result of failing
to follow this procedure and you don't want to repeat it. It was a 1
farad capacitor or thereabouts at probably 100 Volts: A magnet power
supply at a physics laboratory where I worked at the time.  The
technician left the bleeder disconnected.  We were lucky that all we
vaporized was a large screwdriver.

Best regards,
Bill Graves