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To help reduce deaths from electrocution, the Western Australian Government implemented new RCD regulations in August 2009.
The new legislation applies to people selling their homes and to landlords.
Every home sold or leased must be fitted with a minimum of two RCDs which must protect all power and lighting circuits.
When a new tenant takes up residency, landlords will need to install the devices before the lease agreement is signed. However, for homes with a continuing tenancy, landlords have until 8 August 2011 to fit the RCDs.
All new residential builds in NZ have required
RDC circuit breakers since around 2003/4,
if I recall correctly. However, stove and h/w
circuits were exempt, as I recall.
Visited again the neighbor with the faulty power outlet (dodgy earth). Despite being very clearly advised on 2 separate previous occasions (again today making 3) - not to use the outlet - it's dangerous - report it to the PM - she continues to. Some people are their own worst enemy.
Yes, the earth is quite important, mostly when you're using metal appliances.
What can happen is wire damage - where the cords enter the metal casing...so if the phase wire is scraped back to expose the copper wire, and touches a non-earthed metal box, the whole box becomes live. That could kill you. Some plastic appliances don't have an earth wire (class 2, I think) because you can never touch metal. Metal lamp fittings could also be a problem.
Mostly it's your heart, it fires with a small electrical pulse, and you need your heart to keep the blood pumping around your body. Mostly because our consciousness (high level brain activity) requires a good amount of constant energy to exist, and air (containing oxygen) is required for the energy reactions. The complexity of the brain is so high, that starving it of oxygen for a small time will cause irreversible damage. Really bad damage is known as death.
A shock kills you because the electrical current is pulsing so fast that it stops your own heart's pulse, and no pump cycle can happen.
Even when the electrical current is removed from the heart, it can still be vibrating in an odd faulty pump cycle.
(So if you get a shock, always see a Doc). A headache, after a shock, is a good indication that you are running on a faulty pump cycle. People can die the next day, after a shock.
In wet areas like bathrooms, you should be extra careful. When your skin is dry, it's not a great conductor, so it kind of slightly shields you from the electrical current, but when your skin is wet...forget it, even really really low current can cause your heart to malfunction. Don't take chances around water.
Yes. I know what you're thinking, how do electric eels get away without suffering themselves, and how are octopi so smart in an environment without all that oxygen?, no?, oh, just me then.
Last edited by McDuck; 26-05-2014, 09:25 PM.
Reason: sp.
Just to clarify a point on the great answer above from McDuck.
Water does not conduct electricity its self as it has covalent bonds to form the molecule, which are high in electronegativity difference so it is a highly polar molecule (unlike oil so they don't mix). Water generally contains impurities (salts) that form cations (+ ) and anions (-) and when they disassociate in a solvent (water in this case) they can move a charge as does the delocalised electrons in metal.
So it is ok stand in a bath full of water and drop your plugged in toaster as long as you don't sweat and the water is distilled / deionised, not standard tap water.
If normal water remember to jump out with both feet as if you step out you will create a potential difference between your feet and fry yourself.
I would not recommend testing this though as I bet you would be sweeting profusely just before you let go of the toaster.
Plan and invest wisely - You only get one life so make the most of it!
So it is ok stand in a bath full of water and drop your plugged in toaster as long as you don't sweat and the water is distilled / deionised, not standard tap water.
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