Sink & tub safety

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sparky_magoo

sparky_magoo

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I was explaining to my helper yesterday that under certain circumstances, a hairdryer could be dropped into a full sink or tub and not trip the GFCI.

It occurred to me that if sinks and tubs had a metal drains bonded, then dropping an appliance into the water would trip the GFCI. Is this a good idea?
should it be reqiured? Should sinks & tubs be reqiured to have conductive drains with bonding lugs?
 
sparky_magoo said:
I was explaining to my helper yesterday that under certain circumstances, a hairdryer could be dropped into a full sink or tub and not trip the GFCI.

It occurred to me that if sinks and tubs had a metal drains bonded, then dropping an appliance into the water would trip the GFCI. Is this a good idea?
should it be reqiured? Should sinks & tubs be reqiured to have conductive drains with bonding lugs?
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Its a pretty good bet that it wouldn't trip the GFI if there is no place for ground fault current to flow to.
 
If the hair dryer were turned on when dropped in the water, a small amount of current would flow through the bonded drain and trip the GFCI.
 
sparky_magoo said:
If the hair dryer were turned on when dropped in the water, a small amount of current would flow through the bonded drain and trip the GFCI.
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Agreed, and even without a bonded drain, if someone thrust their hand into the water to retrieve the hair dryer, and current pass through their body, the GFCI would trip.
 
LarryFine said:
Agreed, and even without a bonded drain, if someone thrust their hand into the water to retrieve the hair dryer, and current pass through their body, the GFCI would trip.
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We hope.
steve
 
Minuteman said:
And, who would like to volunteer and test that theory?
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A parachute tester?


"This one doesn't worrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrkkk!!!"
 
Minuteman said:
And, who would like to volunteer and test that theory?
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It takes a complete path for current to flow. Should the person (me) retriving the blow dryer not be grounded then there would be no danger.
Yes I have retrived the blow dryer from the sink full of water with out tripping the GFCI.
 
jwelectric said:
Yes I have retrived the blow dryer from the sink full of water with out tripping the GFCI.
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That is very surprising.





I never would have guessed you to be a hair dryer user. :D
 
Mike,
Should the person (me) retriving the blow dryer not be grounded then there would be no danger.
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I would agree as long as you don't put both hands in the water. There is current flow in the water and if you put both hands in the water you are a parallel path. Wet skin is a better conductor than is water so more current will flow through you than through the water.
Don
 
don_resqcapt19 said:
There is current flow in the water and if you put both hands in the water you are a parallel path.
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Would there be current flowing through the water if there was nothing bonded in contact with the water?

Either way I am not trying it out.:)
 
I only did this only once as I thought others might get the idea that they might try and end up getting hurt.

Yes if I put both hands in the water I would have received a shock and I did receive a tingle after the dryer left the water.
I can?t explain why I felt the tingle but I did receive enough to trip the receptacle but it was after the dryer left the water.

I was using an old Black and Decker 1000 watt dryer that had two speeds, low and high. There was not a switch for just the blower. It was a two wire cord.
It was a good thing that the dryer didn?t work after this little experiment and we never tried the water thing any more.

I have thought many times of trying a toaster but haven?t done so as yet.
Maybe the tingle from the blow dryer has me a little gun shy but then again Mom may be right. She always said that even an idiot can learn.
.
 
don_resqcapt19 said:
Mike,

I would agree as long as you don't put both hands in the water. There is current flow in the water and if you put both hands in the water you are a parallel path. Wet skin is a better conductor than is water so more current will flow through you than through the water.
Don
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Click to expand...
don...I'm not sure that I get that. How can current flow if you have the same potential at both ends (each hand)?
steve
 
:)
jwelectric said:
It takes a complete path for current to flow. Should the person (me) retriving the blow dryer not be grounded then there would be no danger.
Yes I have retrived the blow dryer from the sink full of water with out tripping the GFCI.
Click to expand...

Not to be insulting but why would you?:)
 
We're off topic here. I do believe dropping a live appliance into a sink or tub, with a bonded drain, would trip the GFI. Would it be a good idea to reqiure such bonding?
 
sparky_magoo said:
We're off topic here. I do believe dropping a live appliance into a sink or tub, with a bonded drain, would trip the GFI. Would it be a good idea to require such bonding?
Click to expand...

Personally I don't believe bonding the drain should be required, If a shock was to happen I think then it would trip the gfci, thats what there designed to do is trip in the event of a shock, I don't think running a bonding conductor through out the house and bonding all the drains would be the answer, Maybe the answer would be to drain the water before you blow dry your hair.
 
How would the GFCI trip? The shock received would be caused by current flowing from hot to nuetral. The GFCI would see this as normal current flow. For the GFCI to trip, current would to find another return path.
 
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