# Electrocuted in water?



## mexsrfr (Feb 24, 2009)

Can you be electrocuted while floating in water? Spacifically while floating and not in contact with any other thing than water. Salt water? Fresh water? This obvousley matters. I want to actually see this proven on paper by math. Lets consider all possible scenarios. This is my first post my name is Mike! Hello everyone!


----------



## Joefixit2 (Nov 16, 2007)

Yes Mike, you can. There are studies and stories about this. You can read about some of them at Mike Holt.com. The most recent I remember was a mother and daughter electrocuted while swimming near their boat at a dock. I think what happens is the current (no pun intended) paralyzes your muscles and you drown.


----------



## william1978 (Sep 21, 2008)

Welcome to the forum, and you sure can be shocked or electrocuted while swimming or floating in the water.


----------



## mexsrfr (Feb 24, 2009)

william1978 said:


> Welcome to the forum, and you sure can be shocked or electrocuted while swimming or floating in the water.


 
No. I don't believe that you can because of your conductivity, compared to water. I am taking a ABYC electrical certification class for recriational boaters. They are claming that divers are susceptable to electric shock under certian conditions. I don't think that this could happen if you are suspended in water. I believe if this were possible it would be most likely to happen in distilled water, certianly not salt water.


----------



## mexsrfr (Feb 24, 2009)

I also believe that only shore power could shock you, not a generator or inverter onboard. Because onboard power sources are isolated from earth ground, therefore there is no circuit.


----------



## Speedy Petey (Jan 10, 2007)

There have been a couple of Mike Holt newsletters about people being electrocuted while swimming around dock areas.

Pretty much all were related to components becoming energized.

Here:
http://www.mikeholt.com/newsletters.php?action=display&letterID=463&[email protected]


----------



## Arc Angle (Feb 6, 2009)

Here's a neat trick. Pull the plug wire off your jet ski and hold onto it while you are cranking the engine over and standing in the water.

you will swear it's possible to be electrocuted in the water.


----------



## leland (Dec 28, 2007)

Arc Angle said:


> Here's a neat trick. Pull the plug wire off your jet ski and hold onto it while you are cranking the engine over and standing in the water.
> 
> you will swear it's possible to be electrocuted in the water.



please film it. I'm on your side.:no:


----------



## mexsrfr (Feb 24, 2009)

Arc Angle said:


> Here's a neat trick. Pull the plug wire off your jet ski and hold onto it while you are cranking the engine over and standing in the water.
> 
> you will swear it's possible to be electrocuted in the water.


 
So its possible with high voltage, 10000 plus volts (maybe up to 60000 volts on a spark plug). This means that lightening can kill you in the water too. What about 120VAC?


----------



## mexsrfr (Feb 24, 2009)

Speedy Petey said:


> There have been a couple of Mike Holt newsletters about people being electrocuted while swimming around dock areas.
> 
> Pretty much all were related to components becoming energized.
> 
> ...


 
This was a good read. I did confirm my suspicion of water chemistry having a great deal to do with this. I noticed that there is not one recorded incedence in salt water.


----------



## bjp_ne_elec (Feb 10, 2009)

Arc Angle said:


> Here's a neat trick. Pull the plug wire off your jet ski and hold onto it while you are cranking the engine over and standing in the water.
> 
> you will swear it's possible to be electrocuted in the water.


This "experiment" puts the user in touch with something other than water - not what the scenario the OP stated. But again, it is possible and depends if you're in the path of the current or not - not a chance I'd want to take.


----------



## Greg (Aug 1, 2007)

Being a diver, I can tell you you will get lit up in the water. Mine came from retrieving a 12VDC marine battery that went overboard, not a fun experience. As far as a boats generator/inverter, there is a path to ground. Marine boats/ships are theoretically an ungrounded system but, the reality is, there is a ground through inductive/capacitive coupling. Trust me that is one of the hardest lessons to understand as a Navy Electrician. Even an outboard power boat with an inverter can get you while in the water, the outboard is your path to ground.


----------



## Bkessler (Feb 14, 2007)

I witnessed someone being shocked my a boat lift standing in water, it was not to bad but I could tell he was not faking it.


----------



## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

mexsrfr said:


> No. I don't believe that you can because of your conductivity, compared to water. .....


What's the largest single component of the human body? _Water_. Now, admittidly, water (and I mean_ pure_ water here) tends to be a rather good insulator. But mix it with other stuff (impurities), and it get's pretty good at conducting electricity. If your body is 72% water, then the rest of the stuff that makes you up (again, 'impurities') will turn you into a conductor.

If you're in water, and the water is conducting electricity, you _will _conduct electricty as well. *Will* you get electrocuted? Depends on the circumstances and all the variables involved.

Open up your book to chapter one, and look under Ohms' Law, Parallel circuits.


----------



## Shaffer87 (Feb 11, 2009)

Typically electrocution occurs when the person in the water attempts to leave the pool. Even if they do not use the metal pool ladders concrete does not cure for about 100 years so it still contains moisture even when dry.


----------



## 220/221 (Sep 25, 2007)

One of my client's dauughter was electrocuted in a lake.

Their sailboat mast came in contact with a high voltage overhead power line crosing a small bay area by the marina. I guess sparks were flying like crazy and the father thought he was doing the right thing by tossing her away from the boat. When she was obviously in trouble he jumped in too.

He was airlifted and survived, she did not.


----------



## william1978 (Sep 21, 2008)

220/221 said:


> One of my client's dauughter was electrocuted in a lake.
> 
> Their sailboat mast came in contact with a high voltage overhead power line crosing a small bay area by the marina. I guess sparks were flying like crazy and the father thought he was doing the right thing by tossing her away from the boat. When she was obviously in trouble he jumped in too.
> 
> He was airlifted and survived, she did not.


That would be very very very tough to live with.


----------



## Speedy Petey (Jan 10, 2007)

william1978 said:


> That would be very very very tough to live with.


I don't even like thinking about it.


----------



## william1978 (Sep 21, 2008)

Speedy Petey said:


> I don't even like thinking about it.


 Me either!!


----------



## mexsrfr (Feb 24, 2009)

I just want to thank everyone that replied to my thread.


----------



## CHADCROCKETT (Nov 29, 2014)

*electric shock drowning*

Electric shock drowning can happen anywhere there is water and electricity present. In fresh water it is more common than salt water because salt water is more conductive than fresh water.
http://www.electricshockdrowning.org/


----------



## drsparky (Nov 13, 2008)

mexsrfr said:


> This was a good read. I did confirm my suspicion of water chemistry having a great deal to do with this. I noticed that there is not one recorded incedence in salt water.


Read it again, you must of missed the salt water ones.


----------



## Big John (May 23, 2010)

mexsrfr said:


> ...I want to actually see this proven on paper by math....


 I gotta ask why. There are cases every year in the US of people being electrocuted exactly as you describe, in freshwater pools and lakes, and in saltwater marinas. The fact that it actually happens seems to make the math a little pointless.


----------



## McClary’s Electrical (Feb 21, 2009)

The ops theory is partly correct. I'm site he is thinking farady cage. However, the same theories about step potential, would apply to water. I just work a call at a boat dock. Numerous people getting shocked while swimming. The kids normal complaint was, SOMETHINGS BITING ME, SOMETHINGS BITING ME, this was while they were swimming, suspended in water, not touching anything. I first investigated the panel and found a3 wire feed, but the original installer had removed the mbj, and left it laying in the bottom of the panel. So all grounds were isolated, with no path back to the house. Secondly, I found a staple over driven, causing a hot to ground fault, which was not only energizing all metallic surfaces (boatlift in water, jet ski lift in water) but it was also energizing the entire grounding electrode system. After I repaired the staple fault, and installed the mbj, all is safe. I can CAN WITNESS first hand, shocks can be felt even without touching any surfaces.


----------



## 220/221 (Sep 25, 2007)

mcclary's electrical said:


> The kids normal complaint was, SOMETHINGS BITING ME, SOMETHINGS BITING ME, .


I have felt that twice. Once without GFCI protection. 

With GFCI protection, you only get one tiny bite.

Without GFCI protection you drop the water hose and move quickly out of the area. :thumbsup:


----------



## jbfan (Jan 22, 2007)

Zombie thread!


----------

