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Old June 22, 2018   #272
taboule
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Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: MA
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I haven't looked at this thread in a long time, although electricity is a big part of my life, and I work with it often.

Worth said it right, water is NOT conductive. it is the salts or minerals within it that make it so. I'll share a personal experience here.

A couple of years ago, we had a very severe and long winter here in Boston, with TONS of snow that lasted FOREVER. Almost every house had massive ice dams -that's when thick ice builds at the roof eaves, and melting snow/ice from higher up backs-up under the shingles and into the house, causing leaks and WATERFALLS inside the house.

In the middle of the night, I woke up with cold water dripping on my face. I turned on the lights to check what's going on, and saw the leak dripping from the electrical box overhead into the large dome shaped chandelier. The thing was full to the rim, ~2 gallons of water, and started overflowing. In panic, I worried that the weight would pull the electrical fixture from the ceiling, so I grabbed a small pail and started emptying the dome, dipping my hand in the water to bail it out. Then realized, the 3x lightbulbs were on, underwater, same as one of my hands. It was eerie, but nothing happened. Breakers didn't trip. Note that I was standing on the mattress, fully insulated from the ground.
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