R I P

[phil d]

Well people, it's been confirmed over the weekend and I have the sad duty to report the death of a dear friend of ours, he'd been ill for some time and it was brought to my attention over the weekend that he had finally passed away. Most of you will have known him, he was a decent chap and helped a great many people on a number of occasions, his name was Common Sense!

His passing was confirmed when I read an article about a 32 year old male who had died whilst taking a bath, he'd taken a lead into the bathroom so he could charge his IPhone whilst using it!

The Coroner in his summing up at the inquest announced he intends to contact Apple to try and get them to put a warning in the manual that extension leads should not be taken into bathrooms.

As I said earlier, R I P common sense!

 

[Sharpend]

Sad very sad, the techno has come of age! Tradition namely CS has been duly rested. 

Sad very sad, the techno has come of age! Tradition namely CS has been duly rested. 

Never mind that twonk got what he deserved, however what about the father of Rock 'n' Roll, Mr Chuck Berry himself,

RIP Chuck. God bless. 

 

[Evans Electric]

Well people, it's been confirmed over the weekend and I have the sad duty to report the death of a dear friend of ours, he'd been ill for some time and it was brought to my attention over the weekend that he had finally passed away. Most of you will have known him, he was a decent chap and helped a great many people on a number of occasions, his name was Common Sense!

His passing was confirmed when I read an article about a 32 year old male who had died whilst taking a bath, he'd taken a lead into the bathroom so he could charge his IPhone whilst using it!

The Coroner in his summing up at the inquest announced he intends to contact Apple to try and get them to put a warning in the manual that extension leads should not be taken into bathrooms.

As I said earlier, R I P common sense!

Phil    Just to be sure ....and others may be unsure too .....can you confirm that your tongue is firmly in your cheek  as there is an element of truth & sadness in your post  ?

 

[ProDave]

This reminds me of my visit down under a few years back where you will find most bathrooms have a double socket next to the shower. You will find the washing machine plugged into one (yes sat right by the shower) and a hairdryer with a long curly cord plugged into the other.  When I mentioned to my BIL that we were not allowed to do that his reply was "if you are bloody stupid enough to use the hairdryer while you are actually in the shower, then you bloody well deserve to die"

 

[Evans Electric]

Well the Aussies don't have Big Brother  the State looking after them from cradle to grave ..........Good Grief !! They'll be controlling imigration next  !!!

 

[Andy™]

Phil    Just to be sure ....and others may be unsure too .....can you confirm that your tongue is firmly in your cheek  as there is an element of truth & sadness in your post  ?

its true. the idiot did take his phone, on charge, into the bath and fried himself. i think he deserves a darwin award

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39307418

 

[ProDave]

Yes, but because there was no socket in the bathroom, he had to use an extension lead.  Might it actually have been safer if there had been a socket in the bathroom?

 

[Andy™]

probably not. if your stupid enough to take something thats plugged in into the bath with you then socket or no socket in the bathroom isnt going to make any difference

 

[Evans Electric]

This has reminded me of a local case ,many years ago during one of the World Cup series .

Lad runs extension lead into bathroom in the approved manner , plugs TV in , places it on the soap tray across the bath and yes , it fell in .   Early '70s I think.

 

[ProDave]

When I was a boy someone died like that having an electric bar heater sat on the soap tray, until it fell off.

 

[datadiffusion]

There is something about this story that doesn't add up. I know the media will be desperate to jump on the juicy bits and not the boring facts.

I know an RCD wouldn't protect from a transformer, but 5vdc shouldn't kill, so was the shock from a charger or the flying lead extension itself?

Also coroners recommendations don't mean a jot. A while back one wrote to the North East Ambulance service or something recommending all

staff were trained in active restraint. I think the reply came back along the lines of that being fine if he could arrange the funding and agency cover

for the monthly refresher training day... It's not in any way binding what they say.

 

[phil d]

There is something about this story that doesn't add up. I know the media will be desperate to jump on the juicy bits and not the boring facts.

I know an RCD wouldn't protect from a transformer, but 5vdc shouldn't kill, so was the shock from a charger or the flying lead extension itself?

Also coroners recommendations don't mean a jot. A while back one wrote to the North East Ambulance service or something recommending all

staff were trained in active restraint. I think the reply came back along the lines of that being fine if he could arrange the funding and agency cover

for the monthly refresher training day... It's not in any way binding what they say.

I understand that by and large coroners recommendations do not have to be followed, however what got me was the very fact that he felt the need to state he was going to speak to Apple about this, hence my comment about the demise of common sense, after all it states on packets of peanuts that small children can choke on them but you still get idiots feeding them to their kids.

As far as I am aware the shock was from the lead, now if that was a 2 core cable and a modern fibreglass bath then it wouldn't trip an rcd, oh dear I feel another warning coming on, "warning this property is fitted with a plastic bath, using a 2 core extension lead to power equipment which may fall into bath may result in death, please use a 3 core cable at all times"

 

[pewter]

Mr Bull is believed to have plugged his charger into an extension cord from the hallway and rested it on his chest while using the phone, the Sun reports.

He suffered severe burns on his chest, arm and hand when the charger touched the water and died on 11 December, the newspaper said.

:facepalm:

 

[Rob.]

I can't see in that write up, but I'd imagine him using a cheap knock off charger that caused this accident. Poor or zero separation from the mains. 

A lot of cheap double sockets with the build in USB ports suffer with this problem after seeing some reviews and tear downs. 

Not the brightest idea but I wouldn't feel bad using a 5v dc source around water.

 

[datadiffusion]

I guess without access to all the official reports (mind you, you'd be amazed at how much inaccuracy there is in those, speaking as someone that has had to give evidence at Coroners, albeit not as an 'interested party') we will never fully know.

I have to agree I've never liked the look of those £15 for 3 Screwfix type USB sockets, god knows what the quality of the guts is you're wanging straight onto a 32A circuit.

 

[Rob.]

Quite a lot of them were found to have the metal 'shield' of the USB socket tied inadvertently to the neutral of the 230V side. 

No issue when there isn't a fault. Wouldn't show in an IR test, and would be quite nasty for anyone plugging something in under certain fault conditions. 

 

[datadiffusion]

Here's hoping the MK ones are decent. I have been asked to fit some... not in a bathroom

 

[Evans Electric]

Cheapo chargers are one of the most dangerous things to buy it would seem .     There was a warning years ago about the varnishes breaking down in cheap chargers ,  case of someone badly burned when he answered a call while the charger was attached,  insulation broke down & 240V into the phone .

 

[datadiffusion]

Apple aside it's not even as if genuine chargers are that dear... But I suppose why would Joe Public know any different 'they must all come from the same factory'.

Still, at least the almost weekly recall of laptop chargers seems to have ended! I guess this is due in part to laptops using less power and stressing the AC adaptors less.

I always loved those Tosh ones where you plugged the 'cassette recorder' mains lead into the laptop itself. I guess they don't make any with integral mains chargers now.

 

[Lurch]

Here's hoping the MK ones are decent.

I should hope so for the price! I have just fitted an office out with MK kit and was going to add a few MK USB sockets here and there. Priced them up, customer decided to just use plug in USB chargers, don't blame him at all!