14-Year-Old Girl Electrocuted after Cell Phone Incident in Bathtub

caddys83 said:
14 years old and already have a cell phone??? Back in my day when pagers were a thing. I didn't get a pager until 16. I didn't get a cell phone until i was 18!
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Why is this surprising to people still? Lots of kids in middle/high school have cell phones now. Hell my 8 year old niece has a Iphone 4. It not even banned to have one nowadays. You just cant have it out during class. When I graduated high school in 02 they were instantly confiscated and you had a sit down with the school cop. You were automatically assumed to be a drug dealer for having a cell phone in the schools I went too.
 
i read about this yesterday, but i didnt realize that it happened here in my town. well not my town, but where i live...
 
vegeta535 said:
Why is this surprising to people still? Lots of kids in middle/high school have cell phones now. Hell my 8 year old niece has a Iphone 4. It not even banned to have one nowadays. You just cant have it out during class. When I graduated high school in 02 they were instantly confiscated and you had a sit down with the school cop. You were automatically assumed to be a drug dealer for having a cell phone in the schools I went too.
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Yeah he's a little behind the times. Everyone having phones, even younger kids, has been a thing for about a decade now. I sold Verizon from 2005-09 and I saw the change happen.
 
mord said:
After reading several different reports on this, I see no more hard facts. The family thinks she either grabbed the phone, or plugged the phone charger in while in the tub because officials said they saw a burn mark on her hand. Ok, I'd say it's much more likely she was on the phone, battery got low, she plugged it in and her wet hand/finger was touching the hot outlet prong as she plugged it in. That would be a direct path to ground through her body from mains. The wet skin would lower the resistance quite a bit. Enough to let the 110v AC build up a fatal level of current through her body (heart) on the way to the tubs drain.
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Very likely the cause. She touched something live with her wet hand while she was standing in the tub, which was probably grounded with a metal drain pipe.
A working GFI plug would have saved her.
I would encourage everyone to install GFI plugs anywhere contact with water is possible (outside, kitchen, bathroom, etc.)

One of the 1st lessons the teacher explained to us in the electrical wiring class I had in college, was to never allow a path through the heart.
A shock that wouldn't normally kill can easily stop the heart if the charge travels from arm to arm or from an arm to the feet.
 
Uvaman2 said:
Had the fucking battery been large enough to last a real use whole day, less odds of this happening.
Also, extension, then charger then USB cable?
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Or maybe if people realized they aren't that fucking important and can be out of contact with others for 5 minutes or more without needing check their messages or FB posts she would still be alive.
 
Ultima99 said:
Yeah he's a little behind the times. Everyone having phones, even younger kids, has been a thing for about a decade now. I sold Verizon from 2005-09 and I saw the change happen.
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Yeah I mean for example once my wife and I got phones getting a third one on the line cost next to nothing.
 
Shame how a $20 gfi would have most likely saved her. also wtf can kids not go 20 mim with out a phone now?
 
Lovington police Detective Sgt. David Miranda told The Associated Press on Tuesday that a cellphone, a charging cord and an extension cord were found by the bathtub. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission told NBC News that it is looking into the report.
 
aokman said:
Chinese knock off chargers... Charger has no ground and basically the electrical isolation failed between the mains side and the 5v side.

NEVER use cheap knock off chargers, it isn't worth your life either through electrocution or fire hazards.
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You still shouldn't die unless your household electrics are ancient or directly flawed.
 
I like how they threw in how smart she was, but yet apparently wasn't smart enough to use common knowledge at 14yrs old from tech class and that's not to use electric near water.

She lacked knowledge on that, lacked knowledge on knowing what's around your bath tub... and lacked common sense not to put a phone next to the tub.

Book smart, and common sense are two different things. One can be smart with knowledge, and be dumb as rocks when it comes to the real world.
 
TLDR; Way too much speculation. You CAN be electrocuted, and killed, even with a properly installed GFCI outlet.

The GFCI, as explained above, looks at the current going out through the hot and back through the neutral. If they differ, that means some current is going...elsewhere. It is assumed that it "grounds" out: the hot current goes through something and finds a ground. It is that current differential which is important.

The girl was in a tub of water. That does NOT mean she was grounded. If she had been grounded, the current from the hot would have gone through her, to ground. The neutral current (return current) would've been less than the hot current. So, the GFCI is called a "Ground Fault Current Interruptor".

If you grasp the plugs and you are NOT grounded, then all the hot current will go through you and return to the neutral. There is no differential between the hot and the neutral. All of the current going in is equal to all of the return current. You fry.

In a modern fiberglass tub, if the plumbing is not metal (most is not), then you are not grounded while in the tub. (The only metal parts are the drain and the nozzles/handles. If they are not grounded (or are not metal), then the fiberglass acts as an insulator.)

The poor girl's wet hand probably allowed the current to zap her.

The above is simplified, but is used to show that just because there is a GFCI properly wired, unless you are grounded, you are NOT protected.
 
c3k said:
TLDR; Way too much speculation. You CAN be electrocuted, and killed, even with a properly installed GFCI outlet.

The GFCI, as explained above, looks at the current going out through the hot and back through the neutral. If they differ, that means some current is going...elsewhere. It is assumed that it "grounds" out: the hot current goes through something and finds a ground. It is that current differential which is important.

The girl was in a tub of water. That does NOT mean she was grounded. If she had been grounded, the current from the hot would have gone through her, to ground. The neutral current (return current) would've been less than the hot current. So, the GFCI is called a "Ground Fault Current Interruptor".

If you grasp the plugs and you are NOT grounded, then all the hot current will go through you and return to the neutral. There is no differential between the hot and the neutral. All of the current going in is equal to all of the return current. You fry.

In a modern fiberglass tub, if the plumbing is not metal (most is not), then you are not grounded while in the tub. (The only metal parts are the drain and the nozzles/handles. If they are not grounded (or are not metal), then the fiberglass acts as an insulator.)

The poor girl's wet hand probably allowed the current to zap her.

The above is simplified, but is used to show that just because there is a GFCI properly wired, unless you are grounded, you are NOT protected.
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Pretty much.
Its all about common-mode or differential fault.
A GFCI (or an RCD in the UK) looks for a current imbalance... Current in LIVE should be returning via NEUTRAL --> their field cancel out. If some current is returning via EARTH there is a flux imbalance -> throw the RCD.
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Now in the UK there are a number of different types:

RCD is the term that covers a family of devices.

RCCBs are RCDs without any overload protection.

RCBOs are RCDs with overcurrent protection included in the device.

CBRS are circuit breakers with residual current protection which may or may not be integral.

SRCDS are socket outlets with RCD protection.

PRCDS are RCDS built in to a plug.

MRCDS are independantly mounted devices that provide a signal to trip another device.

SRCBOS are sockets incorporating an RCD and overcurrent protection.

RCDs without overcurrent protection must be protected by a separate overcurrent device.


Likewise every appliance should be fused.


But forget about UK, forget about the appliance should have had an RCD/GFCI



She was in the bath --> wet, low resistivity. The 5V @ 1A SMPS could easily have gone via her hand. The cable was probably damaged prior to this event permitting this to occur. 1A can do some damage if the full amperage is permitted to flow.
 
vegeta535 said:
Not these generations of kids. They know nothing and lack common sense. School have cut out class they would learn stuff like this. They wouldn't even retain the knowledge anyway.
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Well, guess there is going to be plenty of good old fashioned Darwinism in the upcoming years.

DarkStar_WNY said:
Yeah I mean for example once my wife and I got phones getting a third one on the line cost next to nothing.
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Certainly cost us less than the original gameboy my parents bought me back in the day.
 
Also just throwing it out there that you don't need a licensed electrician to install a GFI outlet. All it takes is a working ground and 5 minutes with a screwdriver.
They also make these 10$ (or less) testers if you're worried you did it right:
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=gfi+testers

I didn't check out the video above about being electrocuted, but there has to be a path for electricity to travel through your body to be electrocuted. sticking your finger in isn't going to do it. Standing in water which is conductive (not distilled) that's also attached to a ground (metal drain pipe) will do it.
 
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Megalith said:
A teenage girl in Lubbock, Texas, died early Sunday morning after being electrocuted in a bathtub. Madison Coe's mother and grandmother say that she was in the bathtub and either plugged her phone in or simply grabbed her phone that was already plugged in. Comments would suggest there is more to the story: perhaps the outlet was faulty.

Her family says Madison was in the bathtub and grabbed her phone that was plugged into a charger in a bathroom outlet. "There was a burn mark on her hand, the hand that would have grabbed the phone. And that was just very obvious that that’s what had happened," O'Guinn said. Madison's family believes this terrible accident is something that could happen to anyone. But now their mission is to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
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Shocking!
 
Sad. While it was a very stupid thing to do, I won't condemn her. I've done stupid shit in my youth that could have killed me. I think everyone needs a little compassion and recognizes that someone's child has died here.
 
If you are bringing an extension cord with you will you take a bath, something bad is about to happen.
 
Ok bathtub bad, sure. Plenty of us use a phone on the toilet. If I'm charging my phone, and the boys fall in for a swim; I could really die instead of thinking i just did?
 
c3k said:
The poor girl's wet hand probably allowed the current to zap her.
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Yeah but if it's just *A* wet hand, then chances are the current doesn't go through her heart. Now if she was plugging in with metal case where a crappy charger electrically connected to the case, then plugged it in with the other hand... then yeowch. Without reading an autopsy report of the situation it wouldn't surprise me if she didn't get shocked, maybe hit her head against something and knocked her out and drowned.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Yeah but if it's just *A* wet hand, then chances are the current doesn't go through her heart. Now if she was plugging in with metal case where a crappy charger electrically connected to the case, then plugged it in with the other hand... then yeowch. Without reading an autopsy report of the situation it wouldn't surprise me if she didn't get shocked, maybe hit her head against something and knocked her out and drowned.
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Absolutely agree. The path is important. Not that it will bring her back or alieve the suffering of her family, but I am curious about the true mechanisms hidden behind the headline.
 
for those of you that think you cannot get wacked by a phone charger in water



if it is a crap design you get mains voltage where you should not
 
So it turns out it was nothing todo with the charger or the phone...

Dodgy, frayed extension lead on a non-GFCI, non-grounded bathroom outlet

http://www.kcbd.com/story/35890178/...y-teen-before-she-was-electrocuted-in-bathtub

1) why the hell was a frayed extension still being used
2) why the hell was there no GFCI
3) why the hell was the mains non-grounded, especially is what is classed as a wet-zone.

The BS-7671 is the regulations that domestic wiring in the UK must adhere to, section 701 is associated with bathrooms.
http://electrical.theiet.org/wiring-matters/53/section-701/index.cfm
 
naib said:
So it turns out it was nothing todo with the charger or the phone...

Dodgy, frayed extension lead on a non-GFCI, non-grounded bathroom outlet

http://www.kcbd.com/story/35890178/...y-teen-before-she-was-electrocuted-in-bathtub

1) why the hell was a frayed extension still being used
2) why the hell was there no GFCI
3) why the hell was the mains non-grounded, especially is what is classed as a wet-zone.

The BS-7671 is the regulations that domestic wiring in the UK must adhere to, section 701 is associated with bathrooms.
http://electrical.theiet.org/wiring-matters/53/section-701/index.cfm
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1. It happened in New Mexico, USA. Not the UK.
2. People use dangerous-hazardous-faulty equipment 24/7 and are never harmed.
3. Electrical code does not pertain to pre-existing wiring.
4. Shit happens.
 
This occurred in New Mexico, US. The wiring codes are different. As well, older homes are not required to have electrical brought up to new standards unless renovation is being done in that room. I don't know how old the house is.

What a shame.
 
c3k said:
This occurred in New Mexico, US. The wiring codes are different. As well, older homes are not required to have electrical brought up to new standards unless renovation is being done in that room. I don't know how old the house is.

What a shame.
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But still, she should of known not to use a frayed extension cord. Sure the outlet wasn't up to par, but she could of used a cord that was. At the very least, does her dad not own any electrical tape? If I see a frayed cord, I'll either replace it, or wrap it in tape.
 
Yeah, she knew: she posted the picture of the extension cord (on a towel on the floor) with a comment implying that she's willing to take risks to keep texting. (Link is in naib's post, #106; the kbcd link shows her last message.)

So, she was aware that there was danger, but she didn't weigh how dangerous the situation could be.
 
Jim Kim said:
1. It happened in New Mexico, USA. Not the UK.
2. People use dangerous-hazardous-faulty equipment 24/7 and are never harmed.
3. Electrical code does not pertain to pre-existing wiring.
4. Shit happens.
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I am fully aware that this is America not UK. I posted the UK regs because we have some of the toughest and they are tough for a reason, electricity kills and deserves respect.
The immediate culperability is with the household for permitting a damaged electrical wiring to be still in circulation. I don't give a rat's arse if people do it all the time without any harm, it's retarded and irresponsible. It's like saying you sleep around and don't use protection because you haven't caught anything. Take responsibility.

The lack of RCD is something different and any homeowner should take responsibility and ensure adequate household configuration

The socket in a bathroom/wet-area is straight up Darwin award potential..

Defend it all you want, it's straight up stupid and deadly, all of it
 
c3k said:
Yeah, she knew: she posted the picture of the extension cord (on a towel on the floor) with a comment implying that she's willing to take risks to keep texting. (Link is in naib's post, #106; the kbcd link shows her last message.)

So, she was aware that there was danger, but she didn't weigh how dangerous the situation could be.
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Like I said.. Stupid. You cannot protect stupid people from themselves.
 
naib said:
I am fully aware that this is America not UK. I posted the UK regs because we have some of the toughest and they are tough for a reason, electricity kills and deserves respect.
The immediate culperability is with the household for permitting a damaged electrical wiring to be still in circulation. I don't give a rat's arse if people do it all the time without any harm, it's retarded and irresponsible. It's like saying you sleep around and don't use protection because you haven't caught anything. Take responsibility.

The lack of RCD is something different and any homeowner should take responsibility and ensure adequate household configuration

The socket in a bathroom/wet-area is straight up Darwin award potential..

Defend it all you want, it's straight up stupid and deadly, all of it
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Last time I checked it wasn't a perfect world and neither are the people that live in it.
Be careful getting off that high horse lest you fall and break your arse.
 
Without getting into a political battle, different places have different levels of control over the every action of their citizens, some places don't allow you to shit without permission others you can do what you want. There are pros and cons at every level.

As for this story, I am only slight surprised this is still in the news. Can't go any more into that comment without going full on racist.
 
Electrical outlet in the bathroom ?

Thought shit like that was a no-no ?

I aint got any electrical outlets in my bathroom, only the light and fan are hooked up, but nothing I can plug shit into.
 
naib said:
1) why the hell was a frayed extension still being used
2) why the hell was there no GFCI
3) why the hell was the mains non-grounded, especially is what is classed as a wet-zone.
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4) why the hell was she using an extension cord in the bathroom? ! I mean dangerous outlet, dangerous cheap chinese charger, all these things I could in some way partially excuse but using an extension cord? Good fucking christ this bitch was dumber that a sack of bricks.

c3k said:
Yeah, she knew: she posted the picture of the extension cord (on a towel on the floor) with a comment implying that she's willing to take risks to keep texting. (Link is in naib's post, #106; the kbcd link shows her last message.)

So, she was aware that there was danger, but she didn't weigh how dangerous the situation could be.
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Like I said dumber than a sack of bricks. This is why I have to nod my head whenever I hear about addiction in youth of various sorts, obviously phones have some sort of addictive quality to them. Upside, she won't continue to the gene pool of America.
 
sfsuphysics said:
4) why the hell was she using an extension cord in the bathroom? ! I mean dangerous outlet, dangerous cheap chinese charger, all these things I could in some way partially excuse but using an extension cord? Good fucking christ this bitch was dumber that a sack of bricks.


Like I said dumber than a sack of bricks. This is why I have to nod my head whenever I hear about addiction in youth of various sorts, obviously phones have some sort of addictive quality to them. Upside, she won't continue to the gene pool of America.
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Seems strange to snap a picture of a frayed electrical cord to your friend before dying from it...to the point where I'd suspect it was intentional rather than an accident.
 
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