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Boy electrocuted by water heater - why govt did not provide circuit breaker?

Force 136

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
By Chai Hung Yin
The New Paper

He was taking his usual shower in the evening when, suddenly, he started screaming.

Shocked, the family rushed to the door, only to find it locked. Beside the door, an electrical socket connected to the water heater was smoking.

When they finally battered the door open, 18-year-old Gregory Ng was on the floor.

"We turned off the electrical switch and went to his side," said his grandfather, Anthony Ng, 62, a taxi driver.

His face was very pale by then, the older man told The New Paper at their Hougang Avenue 3 flat on Saturday.

The incident happened around 10pm on Friday. Mr Ng, a recent graduate of the Institute of Technical Education who was waiting for his national service call-up, was unconscious when the ambulance took him to Changi General Hospital. He died shortly after.

A Singapore Civil Defence Force spokesman said he died of a cardiac arrest. He was cremated on Saturday afternoon.

During The New Paper's visit, his grandfather explained that the young man had lived with his grandparents, his aunt and his two younger brothers in the three-room flat since he was a boy, after his parents' divorce.

Recalling the tragedy, the 62-year-old said that before the shower, Mr Ng had told his grandmother he'd talk to her after his bath.

His younger brother and aunt tried to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation, with instructions from the rescuer on the phone, but to no avail.

Gesturing to the water heater, which was connected to the socket by a wire, the grandfather said that they had bought it recently to replace the old one, which was not working.

He said he had picked a branded heater based on the shop's recommendations.

He was heard saying: "I spent more than $300 on the water heater and it killed my grandson."

Police have classified the case as an unnatural death and are investigating.
 

sochi2014

Alfrescian
Loyal
Every angmo homes I stayed got a circuit breaker which would prevent such things from happening. His blood is on HDB hands.
 

virus

Alfrescian
Loyal
all flats got lah... MCB and RCB. still think the heater was not properly grounded. n if old homes entire cable need to be replaced.
 

zhihau

Super Moderator
SuperMod
Asset
If I understood correctly, every household in HDB is equipped with circuit breakers, magnetic circuit breakers to be exact.

The product was probably earthed wrongly and/or electricity leakage in the heating component that would result in this electrocution. As the electricity can pass through the faulty heater, and that water is a pretty good conductor of electricity, the boy became a conduit for electricity as well since he was showering.

The electricity would have passed through the boy and to the ground, hence resulting in a surge of electricity passing through, the plug's fuse would have burn out quite rapidly, but it would be already too late.

A freak accident due to poor QC, where's the lemon law that would be applied?
 

virus

Alfrescian
Loyal
this would not b a case of lemon law but law of torts.... negligence failure to take reasonable care for a latent defect.
 

Seee3

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
....water is a pretty good conductor of electricity, the boy became a conduit for electricity as well ....
Just a correction. Water is not a good conductor of electricity. If the current from the heater flows to his body through the water, he may just only get a rude shock. He probably touched the casing of the heater(if it is make of metal, but I doubt so) The other possibility is for the current to flow through the shower hose, which in one of the pictures shown in other thread, has a spiral metal outer covering. This hose is connected to the pipe in the heater and the pipe must be 'live' due to faulty connection and the the equipment is also not properly earthed. So current flow from the heater pipe, through the outer metal covering of the shower hose to his hand.
 

zhihau

Super Moderator
SuperMod
Asset
Ah... Pure water is not a good conductor of electricity, packed with electrolytes, it becomes a better conductor. Our water is filled with electrolytes.
 

zhihau

Super Moderator
SuperMod
Asset
So current flow from the heater pipe, through the outer metal covering of the shower hose to his hand.

Only way to find out is through the forensics, to check the body for entry and exit burn marks.
 

frenchbriefs

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
its final destination,if he didnt die from electrocution,he would have died from slippery floor and asphyxiation by shower curtain wire.
 

eErotica69

Alfrescian (InfP)
Generous Asset
all flats got lah... MCB and RCB. still think the heater was not properly grounded. n if old homes entire cable need to be replaced.

Yet another stupid thread that attacks PAP without getting the facts correct!
 

Kuailan

Alfrescian
Loyal
Electrical system in SG has got circuit breaker in every house, unless the electrician
Was an unlicence foreign trash, or the house hold install the self which is not possible.

Anything electrical shock would trip the electrical system.
 

virus

Alfrescian
Loyal
Yet another stupid thread that attacks PAP without getting the facts correct!

if that is true, then the PAPzi should go and reflect on themselves on all the shameless and despicables stuff they hv done to the public and if they r truly sorry, they should find escher and borrow his piano strings and take turns to hang themselves from the street poles
 

zhihau

Super Moderator
SuperMod
Asset
Anything electrical shock would trip the electrical system.

bro,
I do tinker with plumbing work and electrical appliances in my house for years, the water heater installation involves the attachment of the heating unit to the wall, connecting the water inlet to the heating unit, connecting the outlet to the shower head. The heating unit is supposedly well insulated against splashes and earthed properly, then the power cord goes to the plug directly.
Looking at the picture of how the wall switch charred, it suggests a power surge before the 13A fuse fused. Can only suspect that the earth wire wasn't well connected to the heating unit :(:(:(
 
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