Back in 2016, my 7-year-old daughter was taking a bath in our upstairs bathroom. She was playing by carrying water in her hand and dumping it on the bathroom floor. As I was sitting in the living room directly under the bathroom, I noticed water dripping on the living room table. I looked up and –to my horror- the water was coming from the spot-light fixture in the ceiling. Water and electricity is a dangerous combination! What to do?
What to do if you have a water leak near an electrical outlet or light fixture?
If you see water leaking near an electrical outlet or from a ceiling light fixture, move away from the area without delay. Avoid light switches! Then, immediately go to the Circuit breaker (electrical panel, breaker box, fuse-box, service panel) and shut off the electricity to the room or area where the leak is. If you are not sure which breaker to shut, shut off the electricity to the entire house. Now, the immediate danger is averted. You can take time to deal with the water leak. Unplug any appliances or devices involved and dry the area thoroughly. Do not turn the electricity back on until you are sure all water damage is taken care of.
That was the emergency response to protect yourself and your family. Now, we can all take a deep breath and talk about the issues of water and electricity, and how you can prevent this potentially fatal accident from ever happening again.
Check the area for outlets, protected wires, exposed wiring, any electrical appliances or items, or switches. With the result being possible electrocution, water and electricity are not two elements to play around with.
Water and Electricity:
Everyone knows: Do not touch anything electrical while it is wet, or while your hands are wet. Water and, more specifically the minerals and contaminants in water are excellent conductors of electricity. The danger of electrocution is real, and sometimes fatal. We have all seen many movies and cartoons with the: toaster in a bathtub scenario.
The Day After
So you had an incident where an electrical outlet or fixture got wet. You handled the emergency by shutting the power down, and you stopped the water leak. Now what? It is still dangerous to use any electrical fixture that has been in contact with water. Keep the power off! If you are handy (and comfortable), remove the cover from the outlet or fixture and allow it to drain.
Do not use a vacuum cleaner to suck up water; you may short the vacuum and hurt yourself.
Inform your family members –especially kids- to stay away from the light switch, pull chains, or any device that had water damage.
Prevention:
In order to prevent electrical accidents (of any kind including water), you should know your home well.
On a relaxed day, take time to locate the Circuit breaker (electrical panel, breaker box, fuse-box, service panel) of your home or apartment.
Make sure each fuse/breaker is labeled properly. Which room, or part of a room, does it control and shut down? Which breaker controls your washer? Which one controls the Air conditioner and so on?
How to test and properly label your electrical panel?
If your home’s Circuit breaker (electrical panel, breaker box, fuse-box, service panel) does not have a clear label specifying which room –or a major appliance- each breaker controls, you have some work to do.
Get an old fashioned radio or boom box (not an internet-connected one like Amazon’s Alexa) and hook it to an outlet in a specific room. Turn it up, and start switching off the breakers one by one in the electric panel. Once the radio shuts off, assign that specific breaker to the room in question.
The reason you want to avoid an internet radio (or Alexa), because it may go silent if you shut the power to your internet modem.
If you do not have a radio/boom box, you can use a lamp (you need a friend to watch it and tell you when it goes off). Otherwise, you have a lot of walking to do back and forth.
Now that you have your electric panel all labeled and mapped out, you can rest assured that you can act quickly in an electric emergency. Think of this as your safety switch.
Put on your inspector glasses and walk through the house
Take a walk inside your home. Look at electrical outlets (especially ones in your kitchen, bathrooms and near the washer and dryer). Pay attention: do you have any outlet that is uncomfortably close to water faucets or water valves? More specifically, do you have water valves (such as for your washer) that are directly ABOVE an electric outlet?
The danger of having a water source above an outlet is that a simple leak or loose hose may expose the outlet to a stream of water. This could be very dangerous.
Check your attic and your basement for any worn, exposed, dry, or cracked electric wires or cables. Get an electrician to replace such wires as they are a hazard (think water, and think electrical fires.)
Be Smart:
In other words, do not be stupid! Do not use electrical items in the bathroom that weren’t made to be used in the bathroom. Do not plug a TV next to your bathtub. Do not make toast while soaking in a hot tub.
Use electric hair tools with caution, and away from kids who may knock them into a sink.
Do not wipe electrical outlets with a wet sponge, or any wipe that is soaked in cleaning liquid.
What can I do if I have an electrical outlet close to a water valve or water source?
There are four things you can do (any one of them should be enough).
- Hire an electrician to move the electrical outlet to a safe position either far from the water source, or above the water source.
- Hire a plumber to move the water source (valve, faucet) to a safe position either far from the electrical outlet, or below the outlet.
- If you have an electrical outlet close to water, or in a position that can accidentally get wet (such as those in a bathroom or kitchen), make sure it is a GFI receptacle (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter.) A GFI (or GFCI) receptacle monitors the difference in current from input and output. It shuts out electricity and cuts power if it detects a difference in the current (possibly signaling a short or someone is getting shocked).
- You could also use a weatherproof cover (as in an outdoor receptacle box cover) to shield the outlet from any leak.
Are there ways to test if an electric outlet is working properly?
Yes there are. You can buy simple devices (such as this Receptacle Tester one which I personally own) that would tell you if an outlet is live (has electricity and thus can electrocute you if you are not careful). It also can tell you if the outlet is miss-wired, or not grounded properly. Make sure to get one that can test a normal outlet and a GFI receptacle (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter.)