Is it dangerous to shower with the heater turned on? |

Is it dangerous to shower with the heater turned on?

January 29th, 2012 | Author: Gladys

Having Fun with Electricity in Honduras | Johnny Vagabond

Based on a design by Ben Franklin, the heating element is actually built into the shower head. Knowing that the only thing shielding me from certain death is a pair of wire nuts hanging just six inches above the spraying water makes me think “You know, maybe those smelly hippies have the right idea…” Having Fun … Now, if you've been here before you may know that I tend to give anything remotely dangerous the “of Death” suffix, but this thing really was frightening. …

Electric shock from shower – All About Circuits Forum

forum.allaboutcircuits.com12/4/11

I can see now that it is called a shower head heater. And I can see that experts think they are very dangerous. So probably they only use it here because they want hot water, right? And they don't know that it is dangerous, …

I have met many people that told me to turn off the water heater when I take a shower, because if I don’t don’t, they say I that I could get electrocuted.

But if you ask these people to explain how this might happen, they look kind of blank and speechless like a deer that’s been caught by your headlights.

You ask them “Is it possible to spray electricity in water”, and they look pensive and sometimes attempt to explain how it might be done, but I’ve yet to hear a valid explanation, so I don’t think that it’s at all possible.

Can it happen, and if, “yes”, then how?

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Posted in dangerous, death, electric shock, electricity, urban legends

2 Responses to “Is it dangerous to shower with the heater turned on?”

yellowstone says:

February 8, 2010 at 8:03 am

The thing is that it sounds real and you can just imagine some kind of short circuit somewhere, and because you’re standing in water and it’s pouring all over you.

Boom, and lights out!

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jive-a** says:

March 8, 2010 at 6:38 pm

I can’t see how having the water heater switched on could be dangerous, but it is possible to get killed in the shower and even when using a corded phone during a thunderstorm.

As for homes in the U.S., it’s been law since the 1950s that all plumbing be grounded, meaning that all metal piping that leads from the ground to your shower-head must be grounded so you can’t get any kind of shock.

Almost every newer home now has PVC piping which doesn’t conduct electricity and the upside to getting electrocuted in the shower is that you’d most likely be clean when the paramedics arrived.

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