Man dies while charging boat battery

[Scott Danforth]

Found this on another forum that I am a member of. Thought it would be pertinent to the boating crowd.

Man Dies While Charging Boat Battery On Eagle Lake ? CBS Minnesota


Apparently he was attempting to charge his battery, had the charger plugged in while standing in 20" of water and lost his footing.

 

[gm280]

Re: Man dies while charging boat battery

Found this on another forum that I am a member of. Thought it would be pertinent to the boating crowd.

Man Dies While Charging Boat Battery On Eagle Lake ? CBS Minnesota


Apparently he was attempting to charge his battery, had the charger plugged in while standing in 20" of water and lost his footing.

While I do feel sorry for the family, it just goes to prove that stupidity comes in all ages...

 

[Vintin]

Re: Man dies while charging boat battery

Wow! It sounds like his wife was almost a second death. Good thing the neighbors had good heads on their shoulders. I wonder if the wife was in the water with him when he dropped the plugged in battery charger............or if she jumped in to help him after he had fallen? Electricity is an invisible killer.

 

[PiratePast40]

Re: Man dies while charging boat battery

Why didn't the breaker trip? Perhaps it's not required by code, but wouldn't common sense tell you to have a GFCI on an outlet by the water?

 

[gm280]

Re: Man dies while charging boat battery

Why didn't the breaker trip? Perhaps it's not required by code, but wouldn't common sense tell you to have a GFCI on an outlet by the water?

Didn't pull enough current to trip the circuit breaker but obviously pulled enough to kill a person... It takes so little current to kill you with 115VAC...in the milliamps!

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: Man dies while charging boat battery

gfci might have saved his life but for what ever reason it either was not used or did not work.

 

[Maclin]

Re: Man dies while charging boat battery

Not all outlets are GFCI, or even 3 prong for that matter

 

[joed]

Re: Man dies while charging boat battery

GFCI is not the protection many think it is. Watch this video. With no alternate path for the current(lack of ground pin) the GFCI does not see a fault. The same current is flowing on the neutral and the hot even while under water.

Hair dryer water heater - YouTube

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: Man dies while charging boat battery

People get away with a lot of carelessness around electricity; mix in some bad luck and you get a very sad outcome.
But it's a bit surprising that there are not more tragedies.

Wonder what OSHRA would say about this one....metal ladder, pool, electric drill, bare feet....:facepalm:

 

[2 Eagles]

Re: Man dies while charging boat battery

GFCI is not the protection many think it is. Watch this video. With no alternate path for the current(lack of ground pin) the GFCI does not see a fault. The same current is flowing on the neutral and the hot even while under water.

Hair dryer water heater - YouTube

That's not a GFI outlet. Take a real good look at it. It dosen't have a test or reset button. It's a standard outlet.

 

[captain_ron]

Re: Man dies while charging boat battery

Wow just Wow !

 

[Vintin]

Re: Man dies while charging boat battery

That's not a GFI outlet. Take a real good look at it. It dosen't have a test or reset button. It's a standard outlet.

There are GFI outlets and GFI circuit breakers. The whole bathroom may be protected by a GFI circuit breaker and that may have been the case in the YouTube video. This would mean the outlets in the bathroom would be normal outlets but protected back at the main box.

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: Man dies while charging boat battery

A gfci is designed to detect a difference between the power going out on the live and the power returning on the neutral wire. some are also designed to detect any voltage on the ground pin. If a hairdryer was dropped in a plastic bucket full of water (a bath is a plastic bucket unless the house is old and the pipes are copper) the current would only be able to leave the plastic bucket by the neutral wire so as long as the water resistance is high enough not to cause the standard breaker to trip then I would not expect it to trip.
Now if there was a way that 7ma could escape from the plastic bucket then the gfci will trip. (7ma or higher is the fail test on a gfci. most will trip at less than 4ma). So the gfci may not trip when a hairdryer is dropped into a plastic bucket but it will trip when someone trys to get it out as they will create the 4ma bleed to trip the device. (do not try it as 4ma may seem small but it will rock your world). The idea is that the gfci will not stop a shock but it will disconnect the power before it kills you.

 

[2 Eagles]

Re: Man dies while charging boat battery

There are GFI outlets and GFI circuit breakers. The whole bathroom may be protected by a GFI circuit breaker and that may have been the case in the YouTube video. This would mean the outlets in the bathroom would be normal outlets but protected back at the main box.

Yes your right. But they said it was a GFI outlet and it's not.

 

[2 Eagles]

Re: Man dies while charging boat battery

glenn property of pam is right too. The thing is without seeing a GFI outlet or a GFI circut breaker we'll never know if that would work or not.

 

[PiratePast40]

Re: Man dies while charging boat battery

If it takes so little current to kill, why haven't all of us died when we make a mistake when wiring an outlet and accidently touch the wrong wires? Sure, it feels like you've been hit with a hammer, and it's not something that I would want to repeat, but I've lived through it. In fact, more times that I care to admit. I've even heard some people say they prefer to do minor wiring tasks, like outlets and switches, with the circuit hot. Guess I'm a bit of a coward, I always open the breaker, put a piece of tape over it, and test the circuit, several times, before touching anything. At least I do now!

So what's the deal? It'll kill you in water but not on land? Or have I just been damn lucky and missed the finals for the Darwin award?

 

[BoaterFord]

Re: Man dies while charging boat battery

GFCI is not the protection many think it is. Watch this video. With no alternate path for the current(lack of ground pin) the GFCI does not see a fault. The same current is flowing on the neutral and the hot even while under water.

Hair dryer water heater - YouTube

Notice that the handle was never submerged. The motor windings are ( atleast should be ) totally sealed.

If it takes so little current to kill, why haven't all of us died when we make a mistake when wiring an outlet and accidently touch the wrong wires? Sure, it feels like you've been hit with a hammer, and it's not something that I would want to repeat, but I've lived through it. In fact, more times that I care to admit. I've even heard some people say they prefer to do minor wiring tasks, like outlets and switches, with the circuit hot. Guess I'm a bit of a coward, I always open the breaker, put a piece of tape over it, and test the circuit, several times, before touching anything. At least I do now!

So what's the deal? It'll kill you in water but not on land? Or have I just been damn lucky and missed the finals for the Darwin award?

In order for one to die from an electrical shock, the current has to pass through the heart ( low current ). This affectively stops the heart. In water the current travels through every part of the body. Higher currents kill by internal damage ( Like a gun shot ).

 

[PiratePast40]

Re: Man dies while charging boat battery

Great explanation - thanks.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: Man dies while charging boat battery

folks. it only takes about 40 milliamps to kill someone if it travels to the heart.

The issue is the guy was carrying the battery charger to the boat while standing in 20" of water. the battery charger was plugged in as well.

shop 101 - connect the battery charger secondary leads to the battery, then plug in the charger. Thats the way the I was taught, and that is also how the instructions are written on the side of my old battery charger.

in this case, Darwin award may apply. I do feel for the family.

 

[levittownnick]

Re: Man dies while charging boat battery

It may pay to remember that one can do dangerous things and get away with it sometimes but not guaranteed. Is your life worth the gamble?