Safety observation from a newbie

[NFI]

Hi All
Just an observation from a newbie.
I have read through the Newbie's corner safety in distilling post and just feel that it is may be missing one important observation (that is almost blindingly obvious) that could be added.
Although I did not get any damage or anything worse I thought I should speak up as the consequences could be life threatening in some instances.
The boiler (and all the rest) get very, very hot rather quickly - please always check that your element power leads and any non-metal water hose are held away from the still for the duration and afterwards until the temperature has dropped below say 50 deg.
Although the water hose would mainly just make a big mess they could also create a potential electric shock situation or shorting out in some instances.
The element (or other) cables could cause the entire still to become electrified and be a death trap. I know we all should be running on an RCD circuit but that should only be safety as a last resort.

On my first run I was timing how long it took from switch on to first plate to start getting hot by touch when the level of heat output from the boiler became very obvious, which made me go My god :scared-eek: are all the cables etc clear. from memory they were but I still moved them further and used some cement sheet off-cuts to push and keep the hoses away and I rerouted the cables so they could not easily move back towards the boiler, so all good in my case but by luck rather than knowledge. I could have tried to feel the first plate and been zapped. As a retired electronics tech I am not particularly fearful of electricity (but I do have great respect for it) and am quite use to being zapped from time to time.

If that is covered and I am just a bad reader of things on screen please disregard.

Cheers all and fingers crossed for a better year this time around. :obscene-drinkingdrunk: :-D :happy-partydance: