24-year-old Thomas Milner was killed Thursday after he reportedly jumped into the water from his nearby family dock -- only to start screaming moments later and calling for help ... apparently, he was being electrocuted from within the lake itself.
-Chris
Crappy report. Sounds as if what happened is that a local power outlet -on a dock, perhaps- electrified the water nearby. Yep, that happens. Age, bad install, no GFI, etc- known problem, but hard to spot until somebody gets shocked. The rest of the story is "OMG don't swim in the lake, they make 'lectrissy in it" or near it or something. A good story would have ended with "check your dock outlets, people".
ReplyDeleteI was going say, lots of private docks around here have those green underwater lights for night fishing, wouldn't take much for some bubba-engineered wiring job to develop a short, but seems like that lake has a much bigger problem that a single loose wire. Besides, any wiring you have to the dock should be on a GFCI, so I'm thinking the hydro-electric dam might have something to do with it.
ReplyDeleteGFCIs go bad, and should be tested twice a year. Guess how many homeowners test them? That's right, none. So it doesn't take an amateur electrician to cause this problem, it just takes a typical homeowner.
DeleteThat said, the old saw about "Q:What does it cost to hire an amateur electrician? A:Everything you own." is all too often true.
Oh, and remember to run around the house and test all your GFCIs every solstice. Or at least every Christmas. It may save your life, or your loved ones life, and only takes a few minutes. This is the reason that GFCIs have a "test" button in addition to a "reset" button.
And this is actually the reason why I hate the new AFCI requirements. It's true that worn out sparking outlets are the primary cause of electrical fires in homes. But AFCIs wear out just like the GFCIs, and since nobody tests them, they won't actually do any good 20 years later when the outlets are worn out and start to arc and heat up. At best 1/4 of them will still work, and even then it'll be dismissed as false alarms that the homeowners will ignore until it actually starts a fire. No, the money would be far better spent on hospital-grade outlets so they don't wear out in the first place. Yeah, they're $5 apiece, instead of 50¢, but even at that price they're still cheaper than all those useless finicky AFCI breakers.
John G
The hydro-electric has something to do with deaths in the lake, but not by electrocution. The water comes out of the turbines near the bottom of the lake, and creates currents that can pull a man down and drown him.
DeleteThe electricity is due to a leak developing in underwater wiring or a fixture, with a bad GFCI (or none). Maybe it was bubba-wired with the GFCI left out or wired without a ground so the GFCI never trips. Maybe it was a good professional job, but after 20 years the GFCI has silently died, then a seal fails.
GFCI outlets don't need a ground to trip. They measure the difference between the line and neutral and trip when it exceeds their rated value. That is why a GFCI can be put on a two wire circuit with no ground to provide a three prong outlet.
DeleteI hate the auto reset ones. Had to replace one last week. Dangerous when there is a problem.
I remember reading somewhere about current flowing through the path of least resistance back to to generator. Through wites preferably but if the common wires are compromised the little electrons still want to go back to mama.
ReplyDeleteElectricity follows every path in inverse proportion to the resistance of the path. Many older overhead services will have corrosion in the neutral connector by the weatherhead. If the house is older with no ground rod, a person running a metal cased tool can get a nasty jolt. 10 milliamps crossing the heart can kill you. Few deaths happen because it takes about 250 volts to push that much current through the average person.
DeleteStarker here,
ReplyDeleteFox5 Atlanta reports that there have been 2 more deaths since this 24yo.
https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/lake-lanier-deaths-drownings-georgia-electrocution
Electrocuted, brain infection, when it's your time it's your time
ReplyDeleteOne of my best friends in high school died that way. His family's boat had an electrical problem. As he swam closer, he stiffened up, sank, and drowned. I still miss Bill.
ReplyDelete