lopburi3 Posted December 18, 2002 Report Share Posted December 18, 2002 They all come with warning to attach a ground here in LOS but I suspect few are installed that way. Recent incident in my home had leakage when water pressure switch activated, even with unit turned off, that went through metallic shower hose to hand held shower unit and did not activate leakage breaker or home GFI. Make sure unit is grounded! Don't think that because it is screwed into cement wall it is safe. They use plastic inserts for those screws and there is little/no ground. Use only plastic shower hose. Some units, like my old one, use a brass tap so a metal hose makes a great ground wire. Made sure new unit had plastic thread at output to shower (both National and Sanyo units I have do) Test the leakage system regularly. There is a plastic shaft than can become frozen on some models if not checked and prevent the breaker from moving. Note that the new Sanyo has large Thai warning on front of unit that it must be grounded so suspect there has been more problems than a little shock for some people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thalenoi Posted December 18, 2002 Report Share Posted December 18, 2002 Grounded??? What's that? Nothing is grounded here at my place. Scares the hell out of me. I can't touch my PC without sensing some electric vibes Can someone provide information on what need to be done? I suppose first ground the house and then redo all the wiring? It's a rented house.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanukdee Posted December 18, 2002 Report Share Posted December 18, 2002 I haven't heard or read of anyone in Thailand getting electrocuted in the shower yet. But that doesn't mean it hasn't happened. Maybe it's all too common and not newsworthy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falang Posted December 18, 2002 Report Share Posted December 18, 2002 [color:"blue"] "I suppose first ground the house and then redo all the wiring? It's a rented house.... ." [/color] Like I just said in a other thread on this board, you better know what you are doing because if you try to ground the house and some of the wiring is not polarise the right way you may find at you owne expense that maybe there is 240 V on the ground wire you want to connect. Also since most of the houses doesn't have a ground if your's have one never, never diconnect that ground because maybe you are the ground for the electrical grid around your neighbourhood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lopburi3 Posted December 19, 2002 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2002 If you have 240v on your ground you are making a profit as doubt that any load line has that high a voltage. :: The danger is not having a ground rather than worry about polarization (grounds were used long before anyone developed polarized plugs). Neutral should be grounded at electric pole; and here in Bangkok it is. Still strongly urge anyone to protect home with RCD/GFI/SafteyCut or whatever we want to call them to detect faults even without a ground. But, as these can fail for mechanical as well as electric reasons we should also ground if able. I suspect there have been more than a few deaths related to electric showers as the red warning has half inch high letters as you would see in a hospital emergency room to warn that it must be grounded; in addition to the other normal warnings in both manual and on inside of unit. Note that this warning was not on store display unit. For computer/printer/monitor would advise using a grounded power strip and running its ground wire out the window to a ground rod if unable to get landlord to rewire home. Grounded wire is now common here in Bangkok but probably not as much upcountry. To rewire home would require new 3 conductor wire/ground type plugs/ground wire to main panel/breaker box and ground rod. The danger is very high here, and I have had friends die; because of the no shoes and tile floors and heat we become great ground points for electric current. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mentors Posted December 19, 2002 Report Share Posted December 19, 2002 there is another thread on this board about this problem, i think Technologie!?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rickfarang Posted December 19, 2002 Report Share Posted December 19, 2002 To add to that, one of the shower water heaters in my house came with a defective ground fault interrupter -I noticed this when I first tested it out. That 5 year warranty? Its only good for the water heater. As for getting a buzz from the computer, you can pick up a ground rod at an electrical suppy house, or you can do like me and tie a wire to the cell phone/tv antenna mast, which is sunk in the ground. Every outlet in my house has a ground fault adaptor in it, including all the major applicanced (washer, refrigerator, television, etc). These ungrounded 240VAC systems are not just annoying but dangerous and the original warning (check the GFI, use plastic hose, make sure the unit is grounded) for the shower heaters is good basic safety and should be observed by all. Yes, even if you have to run a wire out the window. Its a bit of trouble, but isn't your life worth it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
decon12 Posted December 19, 2002 Report Share Posted December 19, 2002 Did read in the newspaper here in sydney last week of 2 elderly women found dead in the shower on the same day, they lived in adjacent units . As it turned out their showers shared the same wall and they were electrocuted when turning the shower on because of faulty wiring in the hot water system. Regards decon12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falang Posted December 20, 2002 Report Share Posted December 20, 2002 [color:"blue"] "Neutral should be grounded at electric pole; and here in Bangkok it is. " [/color] Sorry to argue with you but I work daily on poles and one thing they teach you about security is that you should consider the neutral like a live wire. Some have paid with their life forgetting about that. The neutral should be ground at the pole but also at the house with a groung rod or at least on a metal water pipe. [color:"blue"] "(grounds were used long before anyone developed polarized plugs)" [/color] Why do you think they came up with polarize plug? To make sure that you don't have power on the neutral wire or ground. :: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lopburi3 Posted December 20, 2002 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2002 Sorry to argue with you No problem. The more information we can provide the better. I am also aware of floating grounds and have been bitten by hot neutrals. But point I was trying to make is that any ground is better then none (if it might be you). But agree anyone working on lines should make sure both are broken, which would be by a breaker rather than a fuse (which is only the load line and often the only cut off here for small homes). If you really treat neutral as hot don't see how the polarized plug makes much difference. All it does is insure the plug of an item has the load wire attached as it was designed. This is most often used to eliminate the ground wire in double insulated items by insuring the neutral rather than the load wire would be exposed in the event of first insulation breakdown. I agree such plugs are useful in real world but at this point am trying to get the first item on peoples mind - and that would be ground and GFI/RCD protection IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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