Hangover guy electrocutes himself going to the fridge, say police

[webfact]

Hangover guy electrocutes himself going to the fridge, say police


Image: Thairath

SAMUT PRAKARN: -- Police suspect that a man having a day off work with a hangover electrocuted himself when getting some water out of a fridge.

Prateep Yomram, 37, was found dead face up in yellow shorts. There were some things scattered about the body as well as quite a bit of spilt water. But there were no signs of a struggle or wounds on the body, reported Thairath.

The body was found by a relative called Ramphai Yomram who lived with him at the two storey town house in the Panya Nakorn housing estate of the Bang Pu Mai area of Samut Prakarn.

She told police that Prateep had come home very drunk on Sunday night and next morning had taken the day off from his job at a furniture shop in Bang Pu.

Everyone else in the townhouse had gone off to work but when they returned later in the day Prateep was sprawled near the bathroom by the fridge.

The fridge was slightly away from the wall, she said, and she believed him to have been electrocuted while getting a drink of water.

Police agreed but investigations into the death are continuing to make sure.

Source: Thairath

-- 2016-07-19

[trogers]

Wiring is not earthed nor is a Safe-T-Cut installed.

[cockatoowho]

Having a hangover certainly must be a factor, but yes, the yellow shorts certainly puts a twist on it.

[Wilsonandson]

It's happened before:-

A British tourist was electrocuted in Thailand while reaching for a bottle of water from a fridge.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/british-tourist-electrocuted-by-fridge-in-thailand-157735

[DrTuner]

Wiring is not earthed nor is a Safe-T-Cut installed.

None of the fridges I have have a three pin plug, I ran a separate wire from the ground pin to a screw on the fridge at my house. Safe-t-cut would likely have worked. Nasty way to go, should have at least been reaching for a beer and not water.

[Goanna]

Never mind. Restock said fridge, and continue as normal. Surely lightening can't strike twice same place.

[55Jay]

Electrics here scare the hell out of me more than driving and cobras.

We were getting shocks from the shower on/off faucet since last week, wife got one off the metal drum inside the electric clothes dryer and then some lights on one switch panel in particular, quit working. Progressive failure day by day it seemed.

Found a new electrician who said the heating element inside the water heater tank had corroded. It's only about 2 years old, but we have been saltier well water during the continuing drought so that made sense.

Upon inspecting my Safe-T-Cut, he was shocked to see the GFCI dial was set to DIRECT. He turned it to 25 amps and it tripped the mains off every time. I didn't know what that dial was for, but about 2 years ago, we were having breaker trip problems. Some Thai dude came out, fiddled around with it for a few minutes and announced it was "fixed". I'm sure now that's how and when it ended up on DIRECT, and it's been like that ever since.

So 2 days of work, we've got a new water heater in. A new Safe-T-Cut installed, set to trip at 20 amps. And I bought a 6' long grounding rod to replace the 2' rods I had the heater and water pump on. Worth every Baht and I feel quite a bit better about the electrical system now..... but there's still room for improvement. Watch yourself out there.

Old SafeTCut.

Edited July 19, 2016 by 55Jay

[metisdead]

A troll post has been removed as well as the replies.

[OccamsRazor]

"set to trip at 20 amps" ?

Obviously meant to be 20ma or you are toast.

[chainarong]

Should have stayed on Light Beer , I think everyone who has been in Thailand for sometime has a electrical story or 2 to tell, I caught one out replacing a 10 amp CB with a 20 amp CB cause the 10amp CB kept tripping , besides trying to burn the place down the cable running through one of the brick walls was slowly moving, stretching the cable ,causing the short , we had to re-run the cable................................................. .

Edited July 19, 2016 by chainarong

[The stuttering parrot]

They will want to get an autopsy done pronto otherwise this is just going to end up another cold case.

[Prbkk]

I don't understand this: there is not a single reachable metal piece in a fridge. It's all plastic. So how can he be electrocuted? Or have I been living in false sense of a security ? Confusing.

[55Jay]

"set to trip at 20 amps" ?

Obviously meant to be 20ma or you are toast.

Ok, thanks. Ma or mA now that I look at it.

Edited July 19, 2016 by 55Jay

[Happy Grumpy]

My guess is that the fridge will be 'repaired' for 200b, and is probably back in use in the same place it was previously.

[The manic]

Happened to a friend of mine in 91. But the Hangover headline is an irrelevance.

[scorecard]

Friend signed up for a luxury very big house in a new village in Pattaya. Developer was a rogue unpleasant powerful German guy his Thai wife had connections to a senior figure in a political party and connections to senior Pattaya police..

The brochure said 'full earthing for whole electrics system'.

All houses completed, all powerpoints had 3 pin plug set-up.

Didn't take long for a burn out and owner decided to get the whole house checked. He called in a qualified farang electrical engineer who was quickly horrified at what he found. There was no wire at all to the third pin at all the powerpoints, and more.

Owner got a second opinion and didn't reveal the name of the first 'inspector'. Same result.

Owner quickly hired the first guy to totally rewire the whole house to better than typical western standards, on the basis that he would have another qualified farang electrician (name not revealed) inspect the finished work before final 50% payment.

Work finished, 2nd inspector said 'all very well done'. Total cost from memory about 80,000Baht. Ten years ago.

Quickly many other owners got a total rewire.

Nobody approached the original developer, everybody frightened of him. Developer did at one stage try to stop the 'rewires' saying that it voided the warranty on every house. Owners went ahead anyway with rewiring.

Edited July 19, 2016 by scorecard

[ChrisY1]

I don't understand this: there is not a single reachable metal piece in a fridge. It's all plastic. So how can he be electrocuted? Or have I been living in false sense of a security ? Confusing.

It doesn't make sense.....opening a fridge....rummaging around inside ......nothing in there to get a shock from....either he fooled with the power cable or outlet.....or was possibly assisted

[scorecard]

And is

I don't understand this: there is not a single reachable metal piece in a fridge. It's all plastic. So how can he be electrocuted? Or have I been living in false sense of a security ? Confusing.

It doesn't make sense.....opening a fridge....rummaging around inside ......nothing in there to get a shock from....either he fooled with the power cable or outlet.....or was possibly assisted

And is your typical police guy qualified to make assessments in regard to electrical stuff?

[bbradsby]

Same story, different appliance - its usually the water heater in the shower. The freezer section inside the fridge is metal, so maybe he was fried when he reached for ice, etc. Or he touched the metal back panel while bracing the flimsy, small fridge in order to open the door. Also, note that if yo have old fridge, it may have a metal case screwed to the chassis. Mind your grounds - this is Thailand...

[tifino]

luckily word didn't have to wait to get out

- after a third person entering the kitchen finds:

a dead man,

and a dead girl (Ramphai) with her hands around his feet...

[NickJ]

Just some mirrors and fuen shui should do it.....just never open the fridge after dark. For absolute saftey. Dump the fridge in the local where all the abandoned Spirit houses are. This would ensure peace of mind.

[Thian]

Thailand doesn't need eart/ground wired.

Even big brands like Bosch Pro or MAkita or Karcher don't have them on their pressure wash machines.

But maybe this guy drank fake alcohol?

[Torrens54]

Almost as Unlucky as a guy in Oz, who in the grip of "Demon Drink" one evening, decided to Pee on an Electric Fence.

He was found stiff as a board and a wee-bit charred the following morning.

[jerojero]

No wounds? Electrocution does burn skin, entry exit points for the electricity as it flows through the body.

[dotpoom]

Wiring is not earthed nor is a Safe-T-Cut installed.

None of the fridges I have have a three pin plug, I ran a separate wire from the ground pin to a screw on the fridge at my house. Safe-t-cut would likely have worked. Nasty way to go, should have at least been reaching for a beer and not water.

Just curious.....if none of your fridges have a 3 pin plug, how come they have a "ground pin"?

[NongKhaiKid]

And is

I don't understand this: there is not a single reachable metal piece in a fridge. It's all plastic. So how can he be electrocuted? Or have I been living in false sense of a security ? Confusing.

It doesn't make sense.....opening a fridge....rummaging around inside ......nothing in there to get a shock from....either he fooled with the power cable or outlet.....or was possibly assisted

And is your typical police guy qualified to make assessments in regard to electrical stuff?

In the politest way I say " Why Not ' as they jump in quickly with unqualified comments on everything.

Indeed last week one diagnosed the mental health state of a suspect.

This reinforces my belief in not drinking water and not just because of the caution issued by W.C. Fields !

[Goanna]

Our new samsung came with a 2 pin plug, but has a ground wire to be attached somewhere. It sort of makes sense when you think that thai powerpoints mostly have 2 pin plug, or if three pin, no earth wire attached.

So if you have earthed sockets, you would need to put a new 3 core lead to the fridge.

Fridges are mostly made of metal. I've not come across a plastic one yet. Only the inner liner is plastic.

Ever wonder why your fridge magnets don't fall off?

Edited July 20, 2016 by Goanna

[DrTuner]

Wiring is not earthed nor is a Safe-T-Cut installed.

None of the fridges I have have a three pin plug, I ran a separate wire from the ground pin to a screw on the fridge at my house. Safe-t-cut would likely have worked. Nasty way to go, should have at least been reaching for a beer and not water.

Just curious.....if none of your fridges have a 3 pin plug, how come they have a "ground pin"?

I was referring to the socket hole for the missing pin. I routed the end of the ground wire directly into the socket and screwed it to the ground terminal. In effect adding that missing ground wire. Changing the power cables would be a prettier solution, but probably voids the warranty.

[spacebass]

Wiring is not earthed nor is a Safe-T-Cut installed.

None of the fridges I have have a three pin plug, I ran a separate wire from the ground pin to a screw on the fridge at my house. Safe-t-cut would likely have worked. Nasty way to go, should have at least been reaching for a beer and not water.

Just curious.....if none of your fridges have a 3 pin plug, how come they have a "ground pin"?

My LG double door was supplied with a separate green earth wire hanging off the back.

[whatproblem]

And is

I don't understand this: there is not a single reachable metal piece in a fridge. It's all plastic. So how can he be electrocuted? Or have I been living in false sense of a security ? Confusing.

It doesn't make sense.....opening a fridge....rummaging around inside ......nothing in there to get a shock from....either he fooled with the power cable or outlet.....or was possibly assisted

And is your typical police guy qualified to make assessments in regard to electrical stuff?

It was the relative that told the police that he was electrocuted and the police being so professional saw the quickest easiest answer agreed