Basic Electricity For Homeowners

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by kurt

Water is the best conduit for electricity.Now you dealing with the new “instant hot”the electric on demand.Apartment,hotels,trailers,not,maybe,here anything on jacks are considered a home,no wheels,travel trailers?Hookups?Propane tanks will be ....

I'm sorry sir but that simply isn't completely true.
It is the dissolved ions in water that are conductive.
Here is a link.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...Vgxb_5BqLM5Bkl

As for why the breaker didn't trip it was more or less a load and was using electricity when the heater wasn't on.

There can be many shorts in homes that are using electricity but not tripping the breaker.
Some cause fires.
An example is lamp cords and appliances.
Poor connections in boxes can cause over heating.
Breakers were designed to protect houses from the main wiring and over loads not the cheap stuff people buy.

[taboule]

I haven't looked at this thread in a long time, although electricity is a big part of my life, and I work with it often.

Worth said it right, water is NOT conductive. it is the salts or minerals within it that make it so. I'll share a personal experience here.

A couple of years ago, we had a very severe and long winter here in Boston, with TONS of snow that lasted FOREVER. Almost every house had massive ice dams -that's when thick ice builds at the roof eaves, and melting snow/ice from higher up backs-up under the shingles and into the house, causing leaks and WATERFALLS inside the house.

In the middle of the night, I woke up with cold water dripping on my face. I turned on the lights to check what's going on, and saw the leak dripping from the electrical box overhead into the large dome shaped chandelier. The thing was full to the rim, ~2 gallons of water, and started overflowing. In panic, I worried that the weight would pull the electrical fixture from the ceiling, so I grabbed a small pail and started emptying the dome, dipping my hand in the water to bail it out. Then realized, the 3x lightbulbs were on, underwater, same as one of my hands. It was eerie, but nothing happened. Breakers didn't trip. Note that I was standing on the mattress, fully insulated from the ground.

[Worth1]

I have done this before and did it again.
No pictures you will just have to take my word for it.
I filled a whisky glass with RO water it was 400K ohms,=400,000.
I dumped a bunch of salt in it and it went down to 33K ohms = 33,000.
A direct short will read around 1 or 2 ohms depending on how long the wire is.
The cup of water is a resistor depending on how much voltage you put into the water and the resistance of the water will tell you what the voltage drop is.
It doesn't take squat to kill someone.
The other phenomenon is electricity will follow the path of least resistance.
Dry feet on dry shoes and dont touch nothing but the water and you more than likely wont get shocked.
Wet feet on wet concrete and you will get the hell knocked out of you.

The electricity flowed through the heating coils and might ignore the water.
When the path of least resistance ended in the heating coils then it flowed through the water in a resistance that didn't trip the breaker it was simply a load like any other device in the house.

You want to see something crazy use CFL lamps on a lit wall switch.
Ever so often the CFL will charge up and flash when they are off.

[kurt]

Maybe my term of the word conduit was incorrect.Electricity travels very well thru water.We bought these saws years ago for that reason.All of our structures here,elevation dependent use ground rods that are 12 foot long and if they tap into our water table the quicker that lightning bolt dissipates.Sorry for the misunderstanding on my part.

http://www.sawstop.com/why-sawstop/the-technology

[Worth1]

I have an experiment I need to do you show anyone that cares the voltage drop in water.
Now how I do that will be a surprise to many.
Bizarre to say the least.

Worth

[PhilaGardener]

We know you wouldn't do anything shocking!

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by PhilaGardener

We know you wouldn't do anything shocking!

If I do it it will involve clear tubing with brine water in it sealed at both ends to act like a liquid conductor.

[nbardo]

Table salt separates into sodium and chlorine ions when dissolved in water. The ions give the moving electrons a place to go. Pure water acts as an insulator.


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[kurt]

Originally Posted by Worth1

I have an experiment I need to do you show anyone that cares the voltage drop in water.
Now how I do that will be a surprise to many.
Bizarre to say the least.

Worth

Sparky,layed in boat aluminum ,pulling in square groupers,out of nowhere,midnite,heat lighting,3 miles out.Went thru us,water sizzled,we got more than we came for,floating alive but stunned.Mullets.