An electric shock from a kettle can be caused by static electricity, a damaged cord, a damaged plug, or water on live parts. This post will try and explain why an electric shock could occur from a kettle from an electrician’s perspective.
How Does An Electric Shock Occur?
An electric shock occurs when contact is made between something with high electrical potential (such as a wire or metal conductive surface) and earth. This could be someone touching a live wire, either directly or indirectly.
This results in current flowing from the live wire, through the body to earth. The pain of an electric shock is what is experienced when current passes along the skin and through the body to earth.
The intensity of an electric shock depends on the amount of current and the length of time exposed to the shock. The more current and length of time, the worse an electric shock will be.
For this reason, residual current devices (RCDs) are installed on circuits to ensure that power automatically gets shut off should an ‘electric shock’ fault occur.
An RCD works by sensing whether current is leaking to earth (for example, someone is getting a shock or about to get a shock).
Once a certain threshold of current and time has passed, the RCD breaker will trip, turning off the circuit and hopefully protecting the person before they receive permanent damage from the shock.
This threshold is 30 milliamps of current within 300 milliseconds. This shows that only a relatively small amount is required to cause harm to humans. For the elderly and children it is even less.
Electric Kettle Fault Finding
An electric kettle will be plugged into a wall socket.
Legally, all wall sockets in the home must be protected by an RCD.
RCDs are located in the switchboard. Older homes may not contain RCDs and instead only have MCBs or even plug in re-wirable fuses.
If your home doesn’t have RCDs this means that you aren’t protected in the event of an electric shock so it is a good idea to upgrade your switchboard if so. An RCD is typically labelled ‘RCD’ or ‘residual current device’ in the switchboard.
The wall socket (which has the electric kettle plugged into it) should also be protected with an MCB for short circuit and overload protection.
If someone has gotten a shock from an electric kettle there is a possibility that an RCD has tripped in the switchboard.
Electric Shock From A Kettle – Reason #1
Static Electric Shock
Likelihood: High – particularly if someone is wearing polyester or humidity is low.
Static electricity is a phenomenon that occurs when charged electrical particles build up on clothing, hair and skin over time. Eventually, this static gets discharged resulting in an electric shock. It is possible that someone had a static charge on their body then received a shock when making contact with the kettle.
Electric Shock From A Kettle – Reason #2
Damaged Cord
Likelihood: Moderate to High – if the kettle is a high use appliance.
A damaged cord can occur as a result of wear and tear over time.
Before checking for a damaged cord ensure that the kettle is unplugged from the wall socket.
A damaged cord will have broken insulation which will reveal shiny or dark wire strands.
These wire strands may have voltage and if someone makes contact with the strands either directly or indirectly (such as via a wet bench the wires are touching) they will get a shock.
Electric Shock From A Kettle – Reason #3
Water On Live Parts
Likelihood: Low – unless kettle is used near a water source.
As tap water is conductive to electricity, electrical current can flow.
Water getting onto live parts will definitely cause an electric shock. This is a possibility if the kettle has been used near a water container and used on a conductive surface (such as a metal bench). Water could also get into the outlet.
Electric Shock From A Kettle – Reason #4
Damaged Plug
Likelihood: Moderate
Similar to a damaged cord, a damaged plug can occur as a result of high use of the kettle. A damaged plug exposing live wires can definitely result in an electric shock.
Damage to a plug can include broken plug pins, broken plug casing and pulled away wires.
Electricians Perspective
Static electricity is probably the most likely cause. A damaged power cord is also common and water getting onto live parts is also possible if the kettle has been used near a kitchen sink for example.
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