Electricity and water

randomi15

This will sound stupied but here it is

How far can electricity travel through water to electricude you?

Here is what I am thinking,

I have lots of wires under the bathroom floorboard and if water leaks through the waterproof sheet and drops on an exposed wire, does it travel all the way back up to you?


Or the lightings fixed to ceiling, what happens when you showering and water somehow gets there for instance you loose control of the shower head and it points toward ceiling?

ljonski

are your wires exposed?

randomi15

Let's imagine they are . To answer your question specifically no

I am more thinking if water pipe bursts and the pressure under floor takes the insulation off

I know this is too much of bad luck but I am curious

ljonski

Take the advice of someone on another thread of yours!

Put your floors back down, cook yourself a lovely Sunday roast & stop worrying about pipe causing cancer & compression fittings

randomi15

The thing is I have seen the plumbing and wiring which are close hence why K am worried with lots of if

lstar337

randomi15 wrote: »

I am more thinking if water pipe bursts and the pressure under floor takes the insulation off

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

You are doing more damage to yourself worrying about these kind of things than you ever will due to electric shock.

The situation you are describing is not going to happen in the home. The pressure you would need to strip insulation off of a wire is way in excess of what you would find in a home situation, and even if it did, electricity will take the path of least resistance which will be through the water to the earth wire which will trip the supply at the consumer unit.

Wi88le

randomi15 wrote: »

This will sound stupied but here it is

How far can electricity travel through water to electricude you?

Here is what I am thinking,

I have lots of wires under the bathroom floorboard and if water leaks through the waterproof sheet and drops on an exposed wire, does it travel all the way back up to you?


Or the lightings fixed to ceiling, what happens when you showering and water somehow gets there for instance you loose control of the shower head and it points toward ceiling?

Stop worrying.
Light fittings in the bathroom should be ip rated for their location within the bathroom and may even be 12v ones. they won't be shower proof so how likely are you to lose control of the shower head?

No wiring under the floorboards would be "exposed" or at least I would hope not, insulation will take a little water getting on it, even if it is under pressure.

Have you got rcd/rcbos fitted to the consumer unit (fuse-board)

randomi15

Yes and lights are ip65

Under floorboard you have pipe and wire hence why i asked if it burst

Yea have a bg fuse box 16 din with two rcd

How does it trip the supply off?

Don't know much on how grounding works and how it trips the fuse off:)

Rain_Shadow

randomi15 wrote: »

This will sound stupied but here it is

How far can electricity travel through water to electricude you?

Here is what I am thinking,

I have lots of wires under the bathroom floorboard and if water leaks through the waterproof sheet and drops on an exposed wire, does it travel all the way back up to you?


Or the lightings fixed to ceiling, what happens when you showering and water somehow gets there for instance you loose control of the shower head and it points toward ceiling?

Yes. This is why firemen fighting house fires with water hoses wear rubber soled boots.

jk0

Rain_Shadow wrote: »

Yes. This is why firemen fighting house fires with water hoses wear rubber soled boots.

Oh, don't tell him that. He'll be showering in his wellies.

[Deleted User]

randomi15 wrote: »

How far can electricity travel

Thousands of miles, but the issue is one of voltage, resistance and current, not distance.

The mains voltage is 240V, and it takes a current of about 20 to 30mA to become dangerous, so you would need a total resistance of less than 12kΩ to risk electrocution. Lets assume your floors are wood, damp wood has a resistivity of 1-10kΩm. Assume your footprint is 200mm*80mm, and the floorboards are 16mm thick.

Resistance of floor =1000*0.016/.2/.08 =1000Ω
Body resistance =1300 to 1800Ω
Total resistance =2300 to 2800Ω

This is well below 12kΩ, so yes if your only insulation were damp floorboards you could get electrocuted. You mention a damp-proof membrane though, so this would mitigate in your favour.