"Pat Thronson" wrote

Do you mean like a common car starter?
Sounds like you blew out a bunch, of starters causing excessive explosive
dust and the water created the electrical pathway?

I'm not sure, but with you saying, "car starter" I think you don't know what
type of device he was blowing out.

For starting devices, like large electric motors, which require lots of
voltage (480 is for a BIG motor2, and big motors use lots of amps, too) a
switch can not handle that much power.

The solution is to let the switch to start the motor energize an
electro-magnet, which pulls a set of contacts shut, which are sized to
handle that much power.

When you want to shut off the machine, you shut off the power to the
electro-magnet, which lets a spring pull the contacts apart, thus stopping
the massive flow of electricity.

The device is called a magnetic starter, and yes, when he blew it out, the
water in the air hose made a path for the voltage in the box to flow up to,
and through his body.

And yes, holly bomb, Batman.

I have had 120 volts use me for a wire many times, and 240 volts, a couple
times. I hope I never have 480 volts use me, because the 240 was WAY MORE
than enough!
--
Jim in NC