Electricity and water

27col

The op should go and sit in a darkened room and stop thinking up ridiculous scenarios.
Though I do like the one about the possibility of domestic water pressure stripping insulation from a cable.

ariba10

In our house when the water reaches the electricity the fuse blows or the breaker trips.

As has been suggested have a cup of tea and find something else to worry about.

getmore4less

You have electricity running under your bathroom are you mad?

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

Question 1
Is your wiring in your bathroom actually needed?
If No, REMOVE
If Yes Re-Route

Or you could stand in the bath and hope for the best that the circuit protection device would save you!

societys_child

Probably best to securely lock the bathroom and NEVER go in there.

phill99

Is paranoia a very British problem, or do other cultures experience it as well?

Ectophile

Clean water is a pretty poor conductor. So if a pipe bursts and soaks the electrics, it's unlikely to conduct enough power back to you to be dangerous.

The RCDs should protect you anyway. It takes a sustained current of about 30mA or more to kill you. The RCDs are set to detect any leakage of 30mA or more and immediately cut the power.

They work by monitoring the difference between the currents in the live and neutral wires. If the two are the same, everything is good - the current is going in the live and out the neutral just as it should. If you accidentally tough a live wire, then some of the current goes through you to earth. Since that current is no longer going back through the neutral, the RCD detects an imbalance and switches itself off.

randomi15

Much appreciated all that was needed and now it makes sense

casper_g

Electricity doesn't like people especially, it just likes a low-resistance path to earth.


In the situations you describe it is highly unlikely that the easiest path to earth will be through you. It will more likely be through a water pipe (you know, the one that just burst) or the earth conductor of a cable - like that piece of twin+earth that your ultra-high pressure water just stripped!


Have a nice cup of tea and stop worrying!

maninthestreet

Ectophile wrote: »

Clean water is a pretty poor conductor. So if a pipe bursts and soaks the electrics, it's unlikely to conduct enough power back to you to be dangerous.

It's distilled/deionised water that is a poor conductor - tap water will conduct electricity.