If the power is still on in a house that is flooded and someone walks in the water, why/how are they not electrocuted?

932 views

I keep seeing videos of people coming home to a burst pipe or the neighbors above them having a flood. The water pours down from the ceiling and from the light fixtures (lights are on), but the people walking around the house don’t get electrocuted.

In: 1433

27 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Main thing is, electrical code dictates a ground. If your house was built to code, the most efficient route for electricity is the ground wire which should be bonded to all metal pipes in your house.

The ground also happens to exist in every outlet and switch and should always be the closest possible discharge route from any live wire.

So.. even if the water does reach a source of electricity there should be a ground really close by which will always be the most efficient path. Given the high resistance of water, it might not trip the breaker but it will also not decide to take a much longer path and electrocute you. If your house was built even more recently, code requires arc fault and gfi breakers for a lot of the rooms which would 100% trigger and shut off in the above scenario.

Water has a very high resistance as does your body. If electricity will travel to a ground using you or water, it will always take the shortest possible path and your body will not be on it given what i said above.

You are viewing 1 out of 27 answers, click here to view all answers.