Why is it dangerous to shower when there’s a lightning storm?
In: 156
I know several people struck by lightning. One was standing by a hose pipe outside that came out of the ground and the lightning struck the bathroom inside connected to it and traveled to the pipe he was touching. He was thrown and shocked but not badly injured. This was not in the US. The other was a teacher at my school (we lived in an area with more lightning than most places in the US) and he was struck several times and his hair was permanently white after the first strike–I remember the specifics of his hits.
Extremely rare but I saw lightning come though our kitchen faucet when my mom was filling the kettle during an electrical storm.
Everyone is talking about getting electrocuted but I was always under the impression that you don’t want to be in a wet, slippery environment when there’s a chance of a power outage
I was struck by lightning while showering. Nothing super crazy.
I was 17 at the time and had been doing yard work all day. A storm came rolling in so I quit the yard work and quickly hopped in the shower. At the time, we had a shower, not a tub, so the drain was in the middle of the floor. Well, after washing up, I sat down in the shower to enjoy the hot water, since I had been exhausted from working outside all day.
Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a flash of light from the bathroom window and then instantly felt like I got punched in my right butt cheek (my cheek had been touching the drain in the floor). I screamed and shot up off the floor and ran butt naked out of the bathroom. For the next few minutes my right butt muscle kept convulsing like I was tensing it.
Nothing came of it. I don’t have super powers that I know of.
It’s not. This is one of those wives tale things that people just believe because it’s what they’ve heard.
Because if the lightning causes a power outage while you’re covered in soap, you won’t be able to rinse it off and you’ll end up getting a rash.
If your house is wired correctly and you’re using PEX tubing, showing during a lightning storm is not that risky. As SmackEh points out, even covered with water, you’re still higher-impedance than other current paths in your house.
The problem is that sometimes, people decide they can use the cold water line as a ground. (I remember as a kid, having electronics experiment kits that specifically instructed kids to find a cold water pipe to use as a ground.) [That’s what kills people](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/mar/26/electrocution-usa-iraq-military).
Happened to me! I was showering in the locker room after golf. Lightning struck a pipe outdoors by the putting green and zapped me unconscious in the shower. I woke up sitting on the floor of the shower because all the hot water had run out and the shower was pouring ice cold water on me!
Up to code houses already have a ground wire(hopefully). So lightning strikes directly on the house is safe even when you are in the shower
growing up I remember the cautionary tales of beling electrocuted during a shower but as Ive gotten older the real danger is losing power and now your wet and naked in a dark environment where it’s easy to slip fall and injure yourself. So not dangerous as in death per se but still dangerous in regards to injuring yourself.
Latest Answers