Suicide shower head teardown

[Hydrawerk]

vinicius.jlantunes
How do you call these shower heads? Is there a wikipedia article on that?

[HackedFridgeMagnet]

Some tips from a pro traveller.

http://johnnyvagabond.com/travel-tips/survive-suicide-shower/

[vinicius.jlantunes]

@Hydrawerk: it's called chuveiro elétrico in portuguese, or simply chuveiro.
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuveiro

[Hydrawerk]

Thank you.

[Hydrawerk]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_heating#Electric_shower_heads

[janoc]

Proper installation will limit the risk, but I would still use one hand on my hip and the other hand to adjust the temperature, never two hands.

And that will help you how exactly when you are standing in the wet shower?  Or you get a stream of water at live potential over your head while standing there? 

"Suicide shower" is a pretty apt name for this thing.

[sarepairman2]

i would only trust something like that if there was a steam generator connected to the shower head designed in such a way that it was not possible for high pressure steam to get me

preferably a hot helium loop. i don't think i would want hot heatant dripping on me if it leaked too.

[BurningTantalum]

Wraper- This type of unit is most certainly used in the ex-Soviet Union countries. I spent several years working there and used this type every day. They are popular because most cities have a community water heating plant which does not operate in the summer (and sometimes in the winter...)
I prefered to buy a handful of the giant 'boiling sticks' in the market and drop them in the bath until it boiled, then switch off and remove before topping up with cold.
My mechanical engineer got it all out of sequence one day and pulled them out before switching off- he had not a stitch on and was peppered with shrapnel, plus the hotel power tripped off.
Ditto China (everywhere in the 90s, and probably still used away from the coastal wealthy zone) These were un-earthed metal, sometimes with feed wires hanging across from the wall which were bare wires with ceramic beads strung on for insulation. Horrifying !
I survived,  BT.

[AG6QR]

Yes, I vividly remember one of these from my travels in Venezuela.  Exposed wires feeding it, with wire nuts right next to the head, not in any sort of electrical box.  I didn't actually get any sort of tingling or shock from it, but I really hated using that thing.

The building did have circuit breakers, but of course no RCDs /GFCIs, whatever you want to call them.  The circuit breakers were nailed in place on a piece of wood, not enclosed in a metal power distribution panel of any kind.  In fact, they weren't enclosed at all.  They were on the outside of the building; the only protection from the weather was that they were up high under the roof eave, so rain wouldn't directly fall on them unless there was wind.

[vodka]

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It was mentioned below about the fact that the earth wire is made of copper and it would get crusty / corroded and not perform aluminum or some other metal less bound to cause problems .

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The ones that - that may be a problem indeed but I think most I have seem are actually  seemed to be copper did show corrosion definitelyYou too can use Galvanised steel rods with magnesium anode for avoiding the rust , the wear and tear

http://www2.schneider-electric.com/resources/sites/SCHNEIDER_ELECTRIC/content/live/FAQS/31000/FA31015/es_ES/ECT.pdf (Page E27)

[Fungus]

The thing that gets me is the bare copper earth wire. How would that survive hard water or even slightly corrosive water over time?

I don't think it would be a major problem. A lot of the kitchen pots and pans used to be made of copper. Some still are. Gutters are also commonly made of copper in some places.

...and you had to buff/polish them every time you used them if you wanted them to stay copper-colored.

[Fungus]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_heating#Electric_shower_heads

Interesting. The original design was for an earthed, all-metal head. That would prevent a lot more death than a plastic one with a single 2cm piece of bare wire in the water stream.

[Fungus]

@Hydrawerk: it's called chuveiro elétrico in portuguese, or simply chuveiro.

"Chuva" is "rain" in Portuguese, so "chuveiro" means "rainer".

"chuveiro elétrico" = "electric rainer".

The more you know...

[Fungus]

Dream:


Reality:


 

They didn't even put the top cover back on this one, you can reach up and touch bare metal:

[oldway]

There is often a big difference between theory and practice.

In theory, this shower is unacceptable as regards security.

The regulations generally require a minimum distance between a water source and an electrical connection in a bathroom.

There is also the problem of current leakage to ground through water pipes.

But there is no electric leakage by the water flowing from the shower because water flow became drops in a few centimeters unless you puts your hand directly on the water outlet.

Current is limited by water resistance to a low level.

In practice, millions of such showers are used in Brazil and no electrocution has never been recorded.

Indeed, in practice, several factors contribute to the lack of real danger.

- in Brazil, the water tubes are PVC and thus insulating.

- The shower is located above the person. If the person had an electric shock in his hand, the natural muscle contraction that happens when current flow causes contraction of the arm muscles, thus opening the circuit.

- Power switch can't be actuated in working condition. You must choose the temperature before you use the shower.

- The shower is made completely with insulating material.

So, yes, it's dangerous in theory, but in practice it is an inexpensive solution that works well and does not cause accidents ...

This is an excellent example of the brilliant Brazilian side who do not just just theory, but look for practical solutions.

-

[1xrtt]

It doesn't seems the be enough statistics regarding causes of eletrocution in Brazil,  so we are mostly talking about our own experience.

The best data I could find while googling around is from Abracopel (Brazilian Association for Awareness of Eletricity Dangers - rough translation), and it's from 2014:

http://abracopel.org/blog/numero-de-acidentes-com-eletricidade-em-2014-dao-um-salto/  (in Portuguese)

In brief, it reports a total of 822 electric shocks, with 627 deaths. The third graph shows that the majority of accidents happens at home (Residencia):


and this table indicates the typical death causes:



There were 3 cases reported when manipulating or fixing eletric showers, while 89 deaths while manipulating plugs, extenders or extension cords. If this makes any tourists coming to Brazil feel better or not, I can't say.

[Fungus]

I think we're basically relying on:
a) Water isn't very conductive.
b) Water in showers comes in disconnected drops.

So... you're probably not going to die if you're a reasonable distance from the shower head.

A shortass like Dave is probably completely safe. Me? I'm 192cm (6'4") tall, I'll be very careful if I ever go to South America.

[amyk]

I think we're basically relying on:
a) Water isn't very conductive.
b) Water in showers comes in disconnected drops.

The one in the video is specified for a maximum water conductivity, so they're definitely relying on that --- and I agree, plain tap water shouldn't be very conductive. There's a YouTube video of a crazy Iranian guy who shows this with mains and his own hand... I can't find it at the moment but I think it's been posted here before.

[wraper]

I think we're basically relying on:
a) Water isn't very conductive.
b) Water in showers comes in disconnected drops.

The one in the video is specified for a maximum water conductivity, so they're definitely relying on that --- and I agree, plain tap water shouldn't be very conductive. There's a YouTube video of a crazy Iranian guy who shows this with mains and his own hand... I can't find it at the moment but I think it's been posted here before.

Plain tap water is very conductive. You can put to plates a few cm apart, connect to the mains and boil it.

[Fungus]

There's a YouTube video of a crazy Iranian guy who shows this with mains and his own hand... I can't find it at the moment but I think it's been posted here before.

I was thinking of the same video when I typed that... 

[vinicius.jlantunes]

So... you're probably not going to die if you're a reasonable distance from the shower head.

A shortass like Dave is probably completely safe. Me? I'm 192cm (6'4") tall, I'll be very careful if I ever go to South America.

There are tall people around here and they don't die while taking showers. Just saying, not trying to convince you of anything - you think it's unsafe and I get that, it's fine.

[Fungus]

So... you're probably not going to die if you're a reasonable distance from the shower head.

A shortass like Dave is probably completely safe. Me? I'm 192cm (6'4") tall, I'll be very careful if I ever go to South America.

There are tall people around here and they don't die while taking showers. Just saying, not trying to convince you of anything - you think it's unsafe and I get that, it's fine.

I'm sure there's plenty of people who find a 50Hz tingle very invigorating in the morning.

[Sbampato12]

I remembered this image...

[Fungus]

Found it:



I'll certainly be carrying an LED with be next time I travel.

[rsjsouza]

Despite I have seen (and showered under) horrendous installations of chuveiros, I can attest that, after I lived 32 years in Brazil, I was never zapped. I have felt that tingling sensation in houses with galvanized iron piping and non-existing earth (it used to be the majority of houses in Brazil), but the statistics shown are tremendously unfavourable to the common sense.

The chuveiro shown in the video used to be a common one sold in Brazil - typical from the brand Lorenzetti (in my poor days I had a very similar one) - some even fancier models used to be sold with insulated resistance.

Regulatory agencies have made a number of improvements and IIRC modern houses require earth connections and RCD protection on the entrance circuit. Obviously that regulations don't trump idiocy by the electrician or the homeowner, but I have seen worst connections.

Regarding the tall people comment, even shorter people raise their arms to rinse them... But the tap water conductivity  varies a lot from place to place - in my home town I was only able to boil tap water (220Vac) from one or two mm apart.