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Electric shock from kettle
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<blockquote data-quote="jumpjamesjump" data-source="post: 473993" data-attributes="member: 30868"><p>My girlfriend got a an electric shock off of the kettle the other day when she simultaneously came into contact with it's metal lid and the metal sink at the same time. Just to give some context I am a heating engineer so have alimited understanding of how electrical installations work. So after the shock I decided to test the kettle with my multi-meter and found that it had 240v on the metal lid and that it had 0.1ohms resistance between the earth probe on the plug and the kettle's live lid. The consumer unit has no RCDs and it is one of the older Wylex type consumer units with re-wirable fuses and 1, BS60898 Type B 20A MCB. Now my limited understanding is that as soon as there was a live to earth fault on the kettle then a huge ampage should have been pulled down the earth wire thus tripping either the MCB or blowing the CU's rewireable fuse or 13a fuse in the kettle's plug. I talked to an electrician on the phone that my landlord gave me the number for and he said that these older types of fuses/MCBs would not normally trip, he also ensured me that the installation was tested a few years ago and is all fine. </p><p></p><p>I understand that taking an electric shock will not trip the fuse straight away and therefore isn't as effective as if it had an RCD but I think that either the earth wire has too much impedance on it or it is not connected. Any help would be greatly appreciated.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="jumpjamesjump, post: 473993, member: 30868"] My girlfriend got a an electric shock off of the kettle the other day when she simultaneously came into contact with it's metal lid and the metal sink at the same time. Just to give some context I am a heating engineer so have alimited understanding of how electrical installations work. So after the shock I decided to test the kettle with my multi-meter and found that it had 240v on the metal lid and that it had 0.1ohms resistance between the earth probe on the plug and the kettle's live lid. The consumer unit has no RCDs and it is one of the older Wylex type consumer units with re-wirable fuses and 1, BS60898 Type B 20A MCB. Now my limited understanding is that as soon as there was a live to earth fault on the kettle then a huge ampage should have been pulled down the earth wire thus tripping either the MCB or blowing the CU's rewireable fuse or 13a fuse in the kettle's plug. I talked to an electrician on the phone that my landlord gave me the number for and he said that these older types of fuses/MCBs would not normally trip, he also ensured me that the installation was tested a few years ago and is all fine. I understand that taking an electric shock will not trip the fuse straight away and therefore isn't as effective as if it had an RCD but I think that either the earth wire has too much impedance on it or it is not connected. Any help would be greatly appreciated. [/QUOTE]
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