# Will I die if I touch this thing on the heater? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 25, 2012, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-i-die-if-i-touch-this-thing-on-the-heater/616774 "2012-03-25T16:48:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pynipple](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/67e7ee/32.png) [@pynipple](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pynipple)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2012, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-i-die-if-i-touch-this-thing-on-the-heater/616774/21 "2012-03-25T23:51:26Z")
wrap your hand in a towel soaked in cold water before you touch any of that stuff - in case it’s hot or anything, you know? I don’t think it would be inappropriate for you to call the police about this one - I’d say there is a suspicious looking pipe in your house that you’ve never seen before, and that there are wires coming out of it and that it is getting hot … that should get someone over there with some experience to look at it for free ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-i-die-if-i-touch-this-thing-on-the-heater/616774/22 "2012-03-26T00:07:06Z")
> [@pynipple](#): > > wrap your hand in a towel soaked in cold water before you touch any of that stuff - in case it’s hot or anything, you know? > > I don’t think it would be inappropriate for you to call the police about this one - I’d say there is a suspicious looking pipe in your house that you’ve never seen before, and that there are wires coming out of it and that it is getting hot … that should get someone over there with some experience to look at it for free No it’s been there for the few months that I’ve lived here. I just didn’t really pay much attention to it before. ---
**Author:** ![pynipple](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/67e7ee/32.png) [@pynipple](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pynipple)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-i-die-if-i-touch-this-thing-on-the-heater/616774/23 "2012-03-26T00:26:34Z")
do you live in new york or a big city in a large apartment building or a small one? ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-i-die-if-i-touch-this-thing-on-the-heater/616774/24 "2012-03-26T00:46:29Z")
It’s a pretty small building with 21 units. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-i-die-if-i-touch-this-thing-on-the-heater/616774/25 "2012-03-26T01:27:47Z")
It has been a long time since I had heat like that, but usually the metal cover can be removed (for cleaning of the fins). Quite easily in some installations, it just snaps off when you lift it out and up from the bottom edge. That might give a clear look at what is wrong and what the wires are. Or, just call the super. Clearly the return pipe is loose and that could make it leak - supers don’t like that (and the calls from the downstairs tenants). ---
**Author:** ![J-P\_L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/j-p_l/32/3156_2.png) [@J-P\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J-P_L)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-i-die-if-i-touch-this-thing-on-the-heater/616774/26 "2012-03-26T17:37:32Z")
That looks like the kind of hot-water baseboard heater we had when I was living in a high-rise condo building. ``` The wire is probably part of the heat control, a thermostat controls a valve that opens and closes as needed to regulate the temperature of the living space. ``` ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-i-die-if-i-touch-this-thing-on-the-heater/616774/27 "2012-03-26T17:52:25Z")
> [@Svejk\_1](#): > > \*\*Gimpy \*\*died, like so many young men of this generation, before his time - like the bright, flowering young men who died, face down in the muck, in Khe San and Hill 364. **Gimpy** , who loved to bowl. In Your wisdom, Lord, You took him from us. > > And so, **Floaty Gimpy** Karabatsos, in accordance with what may very well have been his dying wishes, we commit his ashes to the bosom of the Pacific Ocean, which you loved so well. > > Good night, sweet **Gimp** What does any of this have to do with Viet Nam? ---
**Author:** ![Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-i-die-if-i-touch-this-thing-on-the-heater/616774/28 "2012-03-26T18:01:07Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > What does any of this have to do with Viet Nam? I know, right? It’s clearly Obama’s fault. ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-i-die-if-i-touch-this-thing-on-the-heater/616774/29 "2012-03-26T18:10:05Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > What does any of this have to do with Viet Nam? Not a damn thing. It’s a reference to the movie “The Big Lebowski”. 😉 “You’re out of your element, Donny!” ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-i-die-if-i-touch-this-thing-on-the-heater/616774/30 "2012-03-26T18:15:17Z")
> [@Dag\_Otto](#): > > Can you post a photo? You just want to see him in his PJs, admit it. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-i-die-if-i-touch-this-thing-on-the-heater/616774/31 "2012-03-26T18:28:53Z")
> [@JBDivmstr](#): > > Not a damn thing. It’s a reference to the movie “The Big Lebowski”. 😉 > > “You’re out of your element, Donny!” So was my response. It’s the first non cussing thing JL says after Walter’s Eulogy. That sound over your head? ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-i-die-if-i-touch-this-thing-on-the-heater/616774/32 "2012-03-26T18:34:45Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > So was my response. > It’s the first non cussing thing JL says after Walter’s Eulogy. > > That sound over your head? Touche’, sir! 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-i-die-if-i-touch-this-thing-on-the-heater/616774.md?page=1)