Does a toaster bath really work??

[ImNotReal]

It's such a cliche way to go. But I never hear any stories or anything about anyone toaster bathing. I'm moreso just curious lol

 

[DivineSpark]

I remember there was accident, woman in bathtub was using her smartphone and got electrocuted to death. (darwin award)

 

[ImNotReal]

I remember there was accident, woman in bathtub was using her smartphone and got electrocuted to death. (darwin award)

Omg hi Johan Liebert

 

[dead dav]

Unlikely to work with modern electrical systems the current would be cut off in micro seconds

 

[dead dav]

May work with pre 1980s electrical systems with rewirable fuses

 

[ElTopo]

In older times, yes. Nowadays your electricity will probably just shut down.

 

[unluckysadness]

Please don't do it. You'll probably just go to the hospital...

 

[EmptyBottle]

In older times, yes. Nowadays your electricity will probably just shut down.

oh yes, a sparking toaster tripped the fuse reliably. Even a kettle had some tripping power (both trips were *not* due to intentional water immersion, however I suspect the kettle had moisture affect the contacts, tho couldn't see proof)

Spoiler: unrelated side note

The 2nd time the kettle tripped or so, the hotspot kept a site running without timing out the Tor user. But switching back to wifi after updating gave 20 mins of intermittent downtime coz Tor is Tor.

 

[usernamesarehard]

Am an electrician, don't work in residential, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

I think it might be possible if you use an extension chord to go from, say a living room socket to the bathroom. Using the socket in the bathroom, no, they're made to trip out if whatever's plugged in gets submerged in water.

oh yes, a sparking toaster tripped the fuse reliably. Even a kettle had some tripping power (both trips were *not* due to intentional water immersion, however I suspect the kettle had moisture affect the contacts, tho couldn't see proof)

Assuming you're using this in the kitchen, yup everything checks out. Kitchen outlets, like bathroom outlets, are GFCI protected, so they're more sensitive to tripping.

I remember there was accident, woman in bathtub was using her smartphone and got electrocuted to death. (darwin award)

I looked this up, but couldn't find anything about how the phone was connected to the outlet (ie was it connected to a bathroom outlet, which should be GFCI protected, was she using an extension chord to connect to a non GFCI protected outlet, was the house just old, so no GFCI), so I can't be certain that you still could use the toaster bath method with current electrical wiring.

 

[Zardoz]

Would it be a test to make up an electrical lead that is just a simple wall plug at one end, going into bare wires instead of the usual appliance at the other, and stick that in a bath/sink of water? (Very carefully, wearing suitable insulating gloves/clothing etc). So no appliance fuse to blow.
I would think that would trip the circuit breaker in a domestic circuit (eg the house ring main)? like when you turn on too much power hungry stuff at the same time. If so, a toaster probably would too. I think you could bypass the circuit breaker switch, if you know how (serious risk of electrical shock), but then you'd likely set the house on fire instead of tripping the circuit perhaps. They are there for a reason.
Idk. I'm not an electrician, I really don't know what I'm talking about, but it sounds like an interesting experiment though.
I think the whole 'toaster in the bath' always was a bit of a myth maybe?