Any way to prevent static on a backyard slide?

JTsyo

Lifer
Nov 18, 2007
11,967
1,095
126
Seems when kids go down the plastic slide in the backyard it builds up a charge. My son is scared to go on it now since he got shocked twice. Is there any way to ground it to prevent a charge build up?
 

Fritzo

Lifer
Jan 3, 2001
41,920
2,161
126
Seems when kids go down the plastic slide in the backyard it builds up a charge. My son is scared to go on it now since he got shocked twice. Is there any way to ground it to prevent a charge build up?

Turtle wax.
 

Fritzo

Lifer
Jan 3, 2001
41,920
2,161
126
Spray it with Pam. That should work.

...and leave a bit of a stain.

I'm serious about the wax. We had a swingset professionally set up and they applied that to the slide for that very reason.
 

DrPizza

Administrator Elite Member Goat Whisperer
Mar 5, 2001
49,601
167
111
www.slatebrookfarm.com
Look up triboelectric series. See the list of materials. Choose clothing that is closer on the series to the material the slide is made out of. The farther apart the materials, the greater the degree of charging you're going to get. I.e., there will be a huge difference between wearing clothing made of cotton & clothing made of polyester.

If I were a smart ass, I would suggest covering the bottom of the slide with a sheet of aluminum foil. Then, have the kid wear something that makes a lot of static. Then, rolling some aluminum foil down the top of the slide, then touching the top with one hand and the bottom with the other hand. I'm just joking though - DON'T DO THIS - it will knock you on your ass (or worse.)

Edit: I changed my mind. Do this and post the video. Do *not* allow your kid to do this though.
 
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Rastus

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
4,704
3
0
I've seen the crayon fix used before. I'm not sure if it was effective though.
 

dighn

Lifer
Aug 12, 2001
22,820
4
81
lead. it's soft so you can rub it all over the slide.

or just spray it a bit with water before use
 

Matthiasa

Diamond Member
May 4, 2009
5,755
23
81
When I was younger, we intentionally built up charge doing that to shock others... or ourselves.:p
 

destrekor

Lifer
Nov 18, 2005
28,799
359
126
Look up triboelectric series. See the list of materials. Choose clothing that is closer on the series to the material the slide is made out of. The farther apart the materials, the greater the degree of charging you're going to get. I.e., there will be a huge difference between wearing clothing made of cotton & clothing made of polyester.

If I were a smart ass, I would suggest covering the bottom of the slide with a sheet of aluminum foil. Then, have the kid wear something that makes a lot of static. Then, rolling some aluminum foil down the top of the slide, then touching the top with one hand and the bottom with the other hand. I'm just joking though - DON'T DO THIS - it will knock you on your ass (or worse.)

Edit: I changed my mind. Do this and post the video. Do *not* allow your kid to do this though.

Seriously? That's awesome!
I need a video of this, people! :awe:

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
69,678
13,317
126
www.betteroff.ca
Oh man I remember when I was a kid at the lake there was this park, the standard 6x6 wood/metal construction. The really fun ones you don't see anymore because of liability BS. This park also had a nice big spiral yellow plastic slide. There was a bolt at the bottom of the slide that attached it to the ground I'm guessing. Every single freaking time you'd get a nasty shock at the end. It was actually pretty funny. You'd see a kid go down and hear a loud TICK at the end and if it was someone new to the park that did not expect it, you'd hear them scream. I got good at dodging that bolt on the way down, so I'd just touch somebody on the way back up to give them a shock. :p It hurts less when you discharge it on somebody else. Haha. Fun times.
 

destrekor

Lifer
Nov 18, 2005
28,799
359
126
FFS, DISABLE THIS SHIT.

I really don't care what you're using to make a post.

I don't care that you don't care.

And it's on by default. Really, it's not about the device but the fact that it's stating I'm not at my PC using a keyboard.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
 

destrekor

Lifer
Nov 18, 2005
28,799
359
126

If the mods are bothered about that and enforce it, they need to reduce ridiculous signatures as well. Some are inflammatory and some list lengthy PC specs... those annoy me, but I'm not whining.

Oh, I updated it BTW. I won't disable because IMHO it's a courteous message. Now it's more to the point.

Happy?

[tapatap'd warning: may contain autocorrect errors]
 

jagec

Lifer
Apr 30, 2004
24,442
6
81
If the mods are bothered about that and enforce it, they need to reduce ridiculous signatures as well. Some are inflammatory and some list lengthy PC specs... those annoy me, but I'm not whining.

Oh, I updated it BTW. I won't disable because IMHO it's a courteous message. Now it's more to the point.

Happy?

[tapatap'd warning: may contain autocorrect errors]

Better, yes, thank you. For some reason normal sigs don't bother me because I ignore everything under that line.