No excuse for hotels to take safety lightly

Pushpa Girimaji

This is with reference to the tragic death of 15-year-old Priyanshu Kumar, a national-level shooter from Dehradun, at an OYO hotel in South East Delhi last month. Ever since I read that his untimely death was caused due to electrocution from an electric geyser, I am most worried and would like to know how one can prevent such mishaps. Can you please write about this?

That was indeed a very tragic incident. Preliminary investigations into his sudden death while taking a shower in the hotel bathroom have indicated at the possibility of the teenager having been electrocuted. According to the police, the youngster, who had come to Delhi to take part in a competition, had checked into the hotel room, along with a friend. Soon after, they had complained about the lack of water supply in the bathroom. After the hotel informed them that it had been resumed, Priyanshu went to have a shower and got electrocuted when the water fell on him.

Most of us are aware that switching on a geyser when there is no water supply can damage the geyser’s heating elements. But what most of us do not know is the threat of electrocution if such damaged heating element through which electricity is passing, comes directly in contact with tap water, becoming a good conductor of electricity.

An electric geyser basically consists of a heating element, which is a resistance coil or wire (mostly nichrome — an alloy of nickel and chromium) that converts electrical energy passing through it into thermal energy or heat. This coil is encapsulated in a metallic tube which conducts the heat to the water, thereby heating it.

If the geyser is switched on without water, the outer metal casing gets heated up, but with no water to transfer the heat, it gets damaged, thereby exposing the inner resistance coil or wire. At this stage if water supply is resumed, it comes in contact with the live wire through which electric current is flowing and gets charged.

This is a dangerous situation and one can get a shock from anything connected to the water. When the shower is turned on at this stage, the water that comes out is carrying electric current and it flows through the person, electrocuting him or her.

From the initial investigations into the death of the teenager, this is what seems to have happened. Of course, such life-threatening situations can easily be avoided by installing an earth leakage circuit breaker, which cuts off power supply in case of any leakage of current. So an ELCB is a must, and there is no excuse for hotels and public places not having such safety measures. Proper earthing of the appliance is also a must. Similarly, it’s important to ensure that there is always regular supply of water to the geyser.

Are there any other safety issues vis-à-vis electric geysers that one must be aware of?

There are two important safety components of a geyser, and one must ensure that these are in proper working condition. While one is the adjustable thermostat that maintains the temperature of the water at the desired level, the other is the temperature and pressure relief valve that expels water and steam if the temperature of the water or the pressure inside the tank becomes too high.

Some months ago, I was witness to a fairly new geyser spewing scalding water and steam in a friend’s bathroom. The service personnel, who were called in, said the thermostat had failed and so the safety valve had released the boiling water and steam, to prevent the geyser from bursting on account of high build up of pressure. But if someone had been in the bathroom when the geyser’s safety valve opened, that person would have received severe burn injuries.

So it is important to have the geyser serviced and checked at regular intervals to ensure that there is no damage to the outer casing of the heating element.   Likewise, checking the thermostat is also a must. It is also essential to check the temperature and pressure release valve. Because of disuse over the years, there could be mineral build up, resulting in its failure.

Of course, as a matter of abundant caution, it would be good to always switch off the geyser before taking a shower or using the bathroom.