Blow dryer shock

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ritelec

ritelec

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Jersey
My niece says that several times she's been shocked by her blow dryer.

I checked the GFI recept on the wall all seams good. The blower dryer and chord... all seems safe and intact...the gfi on the blower cord works.
I just talked to her again, seams it happens in one hand not through her, mostly if after a shower and maybe some moisture in the bath.
It tripped the gfi on the blower cord.
I asked if it was new.. she said a couple weeks old, it was cheap like $20 from walmart and she has no issues with other things she plugs in..
Is it possible it's a cheaper plastic ? Any thoughts? At this point I said maybe get another dryer or dry your hair in another room ??
thank you
 
ritelec said:
My niece says that several times she's been shocked by her blow dryer.

I checked the GFI recept on the wall all seams good. The blower dryer and chord... all seems safe and intact...the gfi on the blower cord works.
I just talked to her again, seams it happens in one hand not through her, mostly if after a shower and maybe some moisture in the bath.
It tripped the gfi on the blower cord.
I asked if it was new.. she said a couple weeks old, it was cheap like $20 from walmart and she has no issues with other things she plugs in..
Is it possible it's a cheaper plastic ? Any thoughts? At this point I said maybe get another dryer or dry your hair in another room ??
thank you
Click to expand...

Is this happening when she is plugging it in or un-plugging it?
 
she did mention plugging it in once... another time holding the blower in her hand.. I did a google search, there is a recall on a blow dryer for fire and minor electrical shock.. this isn't the make or model but maybe there's something wrong with it???
 
ritelec said:
she did mention plugging it in once... another time holding the blower in her hand.. I did a google search, there is a recall on a blow dryer for fire and minor electrical shock.. this isn't the make or model but maybe there's something wrong with it???
Click to expand...

If it's all plastic like most cheap dryers are, I can't imagine getting a 120 volt shock from the dryer through the plastic.

Your cheapest and best route may be to buy her a $30 hair dryer and throw the other one away.
 
K8MHZ said:
If it's all plastic like most cheap dryers are, I can't imagine getting a 120 volt shock from the dryer through the plastic.

Your cheapest and best route may be to buy her a $30 hair dryer and throw the other one away.
Click to expand...


lol...yes , I agree, thank you.
 
Is your water supply relatively hard water"
A water film in steamy bathroom can be conductive enough for a few mA. .
 
Actual pure steam yes, but a shower is a lot of simply splash hot water particles. Don't think many folks take a 100C or 212F or hotter shower?
 
junkhound said:
Actual pure steam yes, but a shower is a lot of simply splash hot water particles. Don't think many folks take a 100C or 212F or hotter shower?
Click to expand...

I have a humidifier that operates at room temperature. It blows air through a filter type wick and the air comes out humidified at room temperature. The wick gets plugged up from the minerals in the water and I have to change it every couple months. That tells me that the water has been depleted of electrically conductive minerals just like if it was distilled at 212 degrees F.
 
retirede said:
A couple weeks old - return it. Walmart has a pretty liberal returns policy.
Click to expand...
Be sure to break it in some visible way so they can't just put it back on the shelf and shock someone else.

K8MHZ said:
I have a humidifier .... The wick gets plugged up from the minerals in the water and I have to change it every couple months. That tells me that the water has been depleted of electrically conductive minerals just like if it was distilled at 212 degrees F.
Click to expand...
No, it tells you that SOME of the minerals have been removed from the water and deposited on the wick.
It doesn't tell you that ALL of the minerals have been removed and none have been carried over into the humidified airstream.
 
drcampbell said:
No, it tells you that SOME of the minerals have been removed from the water and deposited on the wick.
It doesn't tell you that ALL of the minerals have been removed and none have been carried over into the humidified airstream.
Click to expand...

The water is totally dissolved into the air. There is no mist. What can the minerals be dissolved in if the water is 100 percent evaporated into the air?

If you took some of this water and set a small amount of it on a glass and let it evaporate,the minerals would remain on the glass. How could they escape into the air?
 
To add to the above, I started out with an untrasonic humidifier. You could see the mist. The minerals from the water turned into a dust and covered everything close to the humidifier. That's why I bought the wick humidifier and got rid of the ultrasonic.
 
ritelec said:
My niece says that several times she's been shocked by her blow dryer.

I checked the GFI recept on the wall all seams good. The blower dryer and chord... all seems safe and intact...the gfi on the blower cord works.
I just talked to her again, seams it happens in one hand not through her, mostly if after a shower and maybe some moisture in the bath.
It tripped the gfi on the blower cord.
I asked if it was new.. she said a couple weeks old, it was cheap like $20 from walmart and she has no issues with other things she plugs in..
Is it possible it's a cheaper plastic ? Any thoughts? At this point I said maybe get another dryer or dry your hair in another room ??
thank you
Click to expand...
I don't know my hand held hair dryers, but I can't recall ever seeing one that wasn't all plastic for the outer case either. Most don't even have an EGC in the cord as there is nothing to connect it to. I'd try to make sure she isn't experiencing some sort of static shock as a shock from the supply circuit seems pretty unlikely unless you would happen to immerse it in a sink/tub of water and reach in to grab it.
 
Yes, it's all plastic with a two wire.
static shock maybe, I was also thinking, do you know how at times when your working on a circuit (that's even dead) and it feels like you get a shock ?? Maybe a nerve thing ??

I found this recall and it mentions minor shock.. not the unit she has, but all plastic and minor shock ...

https://clark.com/consumer-issues-i...-by-walmart-amazon-pose-burn-and-fire-hazard/

I'm leaning to water, but maybe something else... don't know.
 
ritelec said:
Yes, it's all plastic with a two wire.
static shock maybe, I was also thinking, do you know how at times when your working on a circuit (that's even dead) and it feels like you get a shock ?? Maybe a nerve thing ??

I found this recall and it mentions minor shock.. not the unit she has, but all plastic and minor shock ...

https://clark.com/consumer-issues-i...-by-walmart-amazon-pose-burn-and-fire-hazard/

I'm leaning to water, but maybe something else... don't know.
Click to expand...
But for the most part you would have to immerse the thing in the water to have much risk.

Nerve thing - more applies to an electrical worker that is aware of exposed live components, any strange feeling gets interpreted as an electrical shock, at least for a few milliseconds just because that risk is at the back of the mind. A girl with her hair dryer likely doesn't have that sort of reaction, thinking it is a shock, unless there was some experience in the past with enough similarities to trigger it.
 
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