Not that I’m considering it, obviously . . . I’m just asking to settle an argument between my husband and I.
He was ironing yesterday and needed to add more water, so he took the iron over to the sink and refilled it while it was still plugged in. I asked him what on earth he was doing, and he replied that since the iron contained water while in use, it must be grounded so it was perfectly safe to refill while plugged into the socket. I think he’s nuts and suggested then it would be perfectly safe to toss in the tub with someone bathing by his logic. So, who’s correct?
He’s a moron.
If the iron has a ground fault, then he’s going to get electrocuted. Even if the iron is perfect, if he splashes water over the switch it might shock him.
If your home’s wiring is up to current code, there’s no worry - any receptacle close enough to a sink or wet area that you could bring the plugged-in iron over to the sink must be protected by a ground fault interrupter.
Of course, the code only applies to new construction, so if your kitchen (or wherever he’s ironing) doesn’t have GFI protection, he’s putting himself at some amount of risk. It’s probably no more a risk than using a measuring cup to refill the iron while it’s plugged in, but it’s a risk, nonetheless.
Oh, I defy him to find a three-prong grounding plug on a normal home clothes iron - his claim that the iron is grounded is nutty.
He’s right.
sort of.
Even if you house does not have GFIs in the kitchen, as long as the water stays where it is supposed to, he won’t get electrocuted.
The problem is I have yet to see an iron that did not overflow while filling.
The iron is probably double-insulated http://www.tva.gov/power/homesafety.htm but with anything electrical it’s better to be safe than sorry, ground wires becomes loose, circuit breakers fail, big dep’t stores often sell devices from other countries that don’t meet North American safety codes - don’t tempt fate, although refilling an iron is definitely on the low end of the danger scale.
Thanks for all the replies. Just for the record, our kitchen outlets do not have GFCIs and our home wiring is going on 50 years old. The iron, however, is only a few months old. . .
Do you have polarized outlets? That is, appliances now have plugs with one blade wider than the other so you have to plug it in so it’s grounded. With older outlets, you can’t fit them in.
This is bizarre logic. The fact that it can contain water has absolutely nothing to do with whether it is properly grounded or could cause a ground fault.
The point is, it’s never smart to trust safety devices. While you are unlikely to have any problem doing this, there is always a risk, and it’s a pretty simple thing to eliminate the risk entirely.
From reading CPSC recalls and advisories published by Underwriters Labs, the biggest problem in North America with respect to electrical goods involves knock offs of branded/safe products, and products with counterfeit UL labels. Extension cords with undersize conductors and counterfeit SquareD type QO circuit breakers are two which come to mind. To call the problem widespread is a tad much, but unsafe goods are out there-usually in discount outlets, but they have made their way into some main stream retail stock.
Apples and oranges. Water contained within the device is not analogous to plumbing fixtures (which can provide a splendid ground for his body by his touching them) that spew water (in places that facilitate connecting to said ground). He’s right in thinking that the water in the iron is not likely to provide a dangerous short circuit; he’s wrong in thinking that therefore the water and fixture in the sink cannot provide that short.
I have no doubt that counterfeit electrical products exist. Your cites agree with that. What I want to see a cite for is
I want to see a cite that Sears, or Macys, Kmart, or even WalMart has regularly sold electrical devices such as irons that do not meet US standards.
I don’t doubt that I can go to a swap meet and buy an extension cord that does not meet US standards because it was made in China by the lowest bidder. What I don’t agree with is the same thing will happen if I go to Sears.
There aren’t any hard and fast rules here. Did he turn the faucet on full blast and then place the iron underneath. Or did he turn on the faucet a trickle and then place the iron’s water inlet underneath? If the former, quickly, have children now. If the latter, no big deal.
Truth be told it would of been better to bring the water to the iron than the iron to the water.
I think he is correct in filling it this way, and at less risk of electrical shock than your way (unplugging it).
But his comment that it contains water and is therefore grounded, and your comment that it’s the same as throwing a connected iron into a tub with a person – both of these comments are silly.
He is likely filling it by running a small stream of water from the faucet, holding the iron by the insulated handle, and sticking the fill spout of the iron under that water stream. To get a shock, he would have to become part of a circuit between the outlet and a ground. There are several reasons that this is very unlikely:
he is holding the iron by an insulated handle.
irons are generally double insulated, and built knowing they will be used on wet clothes, and actually containing water. So even if it overflows, the water isn’t likely to touch a live wire.
if the iron overflows, the overflow stream will run right down into the sink, a very good ground. Probably won’t even touch his hand, which is back on the handle of the iron. Even if it does touch his hand, the circuit through the stream of water to the grounded sink is a much better circuit than through him to the floor.
Your method involves unplugging & re-plugging the cord every time you need to refill it while ironing. Thus putting additional wear & tear on the plug. The cord plug is probably the most common point of failure, and your method is putting additional stress on that plug. And if it were to fail, someone’s fingers will be just an inch or so from a definitely live electrical connection. Still pretty unlikely to get someone shocked, but maybe more likely. I suspect that there are more people shocked annually by failures of electrical appliance cords than are shocked when refilling irons.
Either method is probably very unlikely to result in someone getting a shock. But I think his is marginally better than yours.
Per my memory, the CPSC will identify the retailer(s) if the defective product was only handled by them or one or two others, or if the product was limited to a regional area of distribution, otherwise they state that it was sold nationwide by xxx types of stores from (date) through (date). The big stores don’t often get caught with their knickers down, but it does happen.
Here are a few, often is a relative term. I was just trying to point out that all parts should be approached with some skepticism; I should have chosen a better term, but when I buy an electrical component from a large chain I don’t assume they’re looking after my interests any more than the smaller chains.
I just realized I should link to some info on how to protect yourself from this type of thing. It’s not as though it benefits the retailer or the manufacturer to have these things on the market so there is a big push to wipe it out. Some inspectors seem to believe organized crime groups are behind much of the problem; I have no idea if that’s true, I just want to know that when I put a lamp in my kid’s room that I can trust it not catch fire.
Newer houses will at least have arc-fault breakers in the bedrooms which trip when a device sparks (even if it doesn’t draw excess current), well worth the money to me.
. . . I’m just asking to settle an argument between my husband and I.