Power Blew Out Whilst Taking A Shower

[davejonesbkk]

I have a bathroom where the shower is not seperate so water goes everwhere when you use it. I was just showering now and suddenly there was a bang and the light went out. I leapt out of the bathroom, and then saw that all of the electricity in my apartment had gone off. Anyway I got the 'engineer' from downstairs to have a look, he went int the fuse room and put the power back on in my room and then took my shower head away saying it needed to be repaired (how does this affect the electricty??? ).

There is a plug socket next to the sink which I have never used but now I've taped the dam_n thing up just in case but after reading some posts about people getting shocks at home I'm pretty dam_n scared to stand in the shower in case I get fried.

Can anyone with knowledge on this subject answer these Q's:

How much water is needed to conduct a lethal shock? If I'm taking a shower and somehow the electricity gets into the water or metal shower am I dead?

If I put a rubber mat down would this be safer?

Anything else I can do or should watch out for?

David

[lopburi3]

Are you using an electric shower heater in your bathroom (wall type)? If you are is it grounded (three electric wires)? Does it have a RCD/GFI device on it and do you test it occasionally? Some shower heads do feedback information for motor control using water pressure (Panasonic) but doubt that is the reason he took shower head for repair. Could the head be splashing water everywhere and some entered the electric outlet?

[davejonesbkk]

Pretty sure it's not electric. The engineer has just replaced the shower head.

The shower is about 2-3 metres from the wall socket so maybe that was it, so I've taped that up now.

I have attached some pics that I just took.

[lopburi3]

Believe it was likely splash water into the outlet. The outlet is much too close to sink/liquids and very dangerous. I would have electrician remove it and if unable to cut off power from source at least remove the outlets and cap or tape over wires and place a blank cover over it (would only take five minutes to replace for new tenet). One cheap (about 4,000 baht) safety item to help protect you everywhere would be an RCD device such as Safe-T-Cut on your main supply. If you do not have this landlord might spring for the cost and pay a portion. It is not hard to install so should not cost much for that. That acts to turn off electric when it goes through you to ground in a split second and can save your life so in my opinion well worth the cost. Your water heater seems to be outside the bath so is not a direct issue.

[Crossy]

Glad you're ok apart from having the cr@p scared out of you

Do you have any idea of what went bang? I wonder if it was a fault that has now been blown out by the explosion and is waiting to re-occur and scare you again

Pure water is a very poor conductor, however water mixed with shower gel combined with a wet person is a recipe for a lethal shock.

Check your water heater, it must have a ground wire (usually green) connected to the metalwork if it is to be safe, and obviously that ground wire needs to go to, well, ground

I second (3rd, 4th.....) Lopburi on the subject of having a GFI/RCCB/RCD/ELCB/Saf-T-Cut installed, it's reasonably cheap and can be an absolute life saver.

I too would remove the bathroom outlet, insulate the ends of the wires (use a connector, not tape) and fit a blanking plate.

[DavidS]

Some years back, a Thai singer was electrocuted and killed due to a leak when he was in the shower, so yes it can kill you.

Made me very nervous staying in rented accommodation after I read about that in the papers. In our own place now and the Stiebel Eltron** heater I installed has a cutout system built in, in addition to the cutout at the mains.

I think it is very good advice about the Saf-T-Cut.

** Apologies for any confusion with the original 'Panasonic' - I have Panasonic on my brain because of disappointment with a new rice cooker I bought, but that is another story.

Edited February 14, 2008 by DavidS

[davejonesbkk]

Ok here are the pics of the water heater thats under the sink.

I live in a serviced apartment, the manager is nice but not sure she'll have any idea about a Saf-T-cut, where can I get an electrician to sort this and how much would it cost?

Would a rubber mat on the bathroom floor help?

[lopburi3]

I would be thinking about moving myself - I don't have any experience with that heater but assume that there is electric behind and inside it and it is located below your sink and in on open shower splash. Not good. If inside shower it should be high on wall well above splash areas. It appears to be rusting out so obviously getting wet. A rubber mat only helps if dry and you are only on it and do not touch a ground.

Still suspect the problem you had was splash into open outlet box rather than the heater but really hate to see it that low in an open shower bathroom.

Edit: after closer look it may be red lettering on a warning label that I see looking like rust (it is probably plastic case).

I am sure Home Pro could arrange instillation of a Safe-T-Cut type RCD but you may already have - they (manager) should understand that name as has been made here for over 30 years.

[bino]

In the second picture, the fattest black wire leading in to the top of the unit looks like it is hastily wrapped in black tape...?

[lopburi3]

Did not even see that mess at the top - had believed it was being fed by outlet behind the enclosure. Indeed it does look as if there is a splice there - and two black wires and then another white wire on the other side so not sure what is what. But most assuredly not a good installation. Remember that aircraft that had electric loss with leak from sink? Same installation fault issue here. Electric below water is not a good idea.

[backflip]

"How much water is needed to conduct a lethal shock?"

You don't need water to receive a lethal electrical shock. You need electricity.

[davejonesbkk]

Thanks for the advice.

Spoke to the manager yesterday, she assured me there is Safety cut system for the whole room.

No hot water this morning though, so the engineer is here now putting a brand new heater system in as I speak.

Oh and yes it was red writing and not rust on the old system

[Crossy]

No hot water this morning though, so the engineer is here now putting a brand new heater system in as I speak.

Post some piccies of your new installation, hopefully the nasty taped up wires will have gone

[davejonesbkk]

Everything's the same on the outside, I think he just replaced something inside it.

[morris78]

Make sure the unit is truly grounded, which is significant protection even when other subsystems fail. Not just that they say it's grounded, but that it's truly grounded. This is another recent topic of discussion on this forum:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=169000