Electrocution while swimming near a houseboat

[teejer]

Article on line addresses this phenomonon

Article on line addresses this phenomonon

I read an article on line about people suffering a body paralysis due to the electric shock from a poorly grounded shore power box or stray current from a nearby boat. The shock is not enough to kill you outright and leaves no typical electrocution signs, which explains why many of these deaths are often listed as drownings. It seems like a plausible theory, especially when you hear of people drowning very close to a boat. If I find the article again, I will post it.

 

[teejer]

Artile Which discusses shore power and drowning deaths

Artile Which discusses shore power and drowning deaths

Here is the link that explains the shore power shock drowning phenomenon that you are talking about.

http://ecmweb.com/mag/electric_case_hot_marina/

 

[pfalcon]

Electrical energy discharged into a body of water blooms from the hot to the neutral like iron filings arc around a magnet. Current density is typically the greatest in the tightest arc. Salt water having greater conductivity will have a smaller bloom area for the same power output. A lost neutral on a boat generator can create a bloom from the hot to the metal parts of the boat and thence back to the source.

When a foreign object is placed into the field it will behave as either an insulator or conductor. Insulators will increase the size of the bloom; Conductors will decrease the size of the bloom; both in accordance to their relative conductivity to the surrounding water. Power will flow through the foreign object relative to its conductivity and its placement in the field. Electricity takes all paths.

Just as on dry land getting cooked by the power is rare. Fibrillation death in water is a little more common but still not very common. Most common is sufficient paralysis (not total) that prevents the person from keeping their head above water - aka drowning.

Therefore a person in salt water will need to be closer to the source than a similar person in fresh water; A boat generator will typically supply less power than a shore source therefore creating a smaller death field; And by the time enough power has hit the victim to burn or fibrillate they are probably drowning.