“Suicide” Shower Heads

renosteinke

renosteinke

Senior Member
Location
NE Arkansas
I recently saw a video (search YouTube) discussing Brazilian / South American shower heads that incorporate a modest electrical heating element in the shower heads.
As crazy as it sounds, it seems normal for them to dangle wires in the area of the shower head, then wire-nut the modest leads to the exposed cable. No box, no GFCI, often no ground.
The wires look to be no larger than #12, while the discussion claims a 60-amp draw at 110v. Multiple comments claim there is no record of anyone being hurt by these heads. The heads are claimed to add as much as fifty degrees (Fahrenheit) to the incoming tap water.
It’s an interesting idea. With today’s’ international web-based commerce, I wouldn’t be surprised to find the things at Amazon.
I find the NEC to be completely inadequate for this topic. GFCI? Somehow the NEC does not consider water heaters a serious risk of shock - regardless of the mineral content of your water, the use of metal piping, or voltage. “That’s just crazy” is not a valid code citation. The lack of any UL evaluation is not surprising; they’re an American firm with very limited relevance outside of the USA.
What are your thoughts?,
 
There is likely no adoption of NEC regarding these installations and products. If they are conderned, they will start with adoptions of appropriate standards. A friend sent me a similar product spec to review.
 
As I understand it, the device consists of a coil of nichrome wire directly immersed in the water. There will always be some leakage current via the water so it cannot be used with a GFCI.

As for safety, the pertinent question is where does the leakage current go? The device does come with an EGC that contacts the water inside the shower head so as long as the EGC is hooked up to a low impedance path to the source then the majority of leakage current should flow on the EGC and a minimal amount through the shower/occupant.

According to this guy, the tingling sensation he experienced while showering in El Salvador was attributed to a broken EGC.

Whats more concerning to me than the device itself is the ubiquitously sketchy ways in which they are commonly installed which significantly increases the likelihood of broken connections. It's not too hard to imagine both EGC and neutral coming unhooked, which would then result in 120v on the water.
 
They are not usually “110V” because outside of North America, that’s uncommon**. They are 220-240V depending on the country. They use different wire sizing, but they closest equivalent to 12ga would be 4mm2 wire, good for 20A which at 220V is good for 4400W in their world. Most that I have seen are around 5.5kW, so they have a 32A circuit breaker (again, THEIR standard size) and 6mm2 wire, equivalent to our 10ga.

They use a different system in which an entire group of circuit breakers is protected by one larger upstream “RCD unit” (Residual Current Device), which is their equivalent to a GFCI, which trips at 30mA instead of our 5mA. In fact they think WE are insane in NOT requiring an RCD (GFCI) on our electric water heaters!

Now, are the enforcement rules on how things are connected more “relaxed” than ours? Yes, no argument on that aspect. I have seen some really sketchy shower head installs and yes, it looks scary, but literally MILLIONS of people around the world shower with these every day without harm. Are there NO injuries or deaths? Of course not, just as there are no perfect installs here either.

** Lately I have seen adds for “110V” shower heads, likely as a response to North Americans looking for them on-line. But when you read the fine print, they state that they are 8.5kW 220V units, which WOULD require a 40A circuit at 220V. But like in any resistive heating element, you CAN connect it to a lower voltage, but you get a lot less POWER from it. So if you connect it to 110V, it’s only going to be 2.1kW, which would be a 20A circuit and probably a
cold shower! But AI bots don’t make that corrected extrapolation so when you ask, you get an inaccurate response, where it says you need a 50 or 60A circuit.
 
As long as it’s bonded (egc) it would be no different than a tank or tankless water heater. It’s just something we are not used to. You can stand in water and touch a regular water heater, and nothing happens, this is no different.
 
The plumbing is mostly plastic PVC and PEX in these areas, so it's not grounded in this way, nor are they grounded at all. Wire nuts are unheard of in most of these places. It's "twist and tape" for most connections.

Most are 240V from what I remember. It was freaky taking a shower and wondering "am I going to die today washing my hair?".
 
jim dungar said:
How is this really different than the self contained spa/hot tub in my backyard? I immerse myself in water heated by an electric immersion element.
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The difference is the heating element. The suicide shower elements are not insulated from the water in any way.
 
gthomas785 said:
Well I always thought so. I know water heater elements have a metal sheath and a ceramic filler to electrically isolate the heating wire from the water.
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Until the chemicals eat it away… which is why we have a GFCI!

I have replaced the heating elements on two hot tubs, I will not do it again. Most of them are not designed to be easily replaced on site, probably installed with the tub upside down or on edge. I have never sworn on a job site as much as I did on the second one. If people ask me now, I refer them to a hot tub repair place in town. I’ll troubleshoot it for them to narrow it down to the elements (disconnect them and see if the GFCI breaker can reset), but no more replacing for this old dude. My contortionist days are over…
 
gthomas785 said:
Well I always thought so. I know water heater elements have a metal sheath and a ceramic filler to electrically isolate the heating wire from the water.
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I should have said "aren't". It's what I meant anyway.

I agree with you.
Jraef said:
Until the chemicals eat it away… which is why we have a GFCI!

I have replaced the heating elements on two hot tubs, I will not do it again. Most of them are not designed to be easily replaced on site, probably installed with the tub upside down or on edge. I have never sworn on a job site as much as I did on the second one. If people ask me now, I refer them to a hot tub repair place in town. I’ll troubleshoot it for them to narrow it down to the elements (disconnect them and see if the GFCI breaker can reset), but no more replacing for this old dude. My contortionist days are over…
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Been there. Not worth my anger.
 
I went to Salvador, Bahia, Brasil many years ago and made the mistake of trying to adjust the shower head while it was running. My hand got zapped but not enough to hurt me. Learned my lesson!
 
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