Keep yourself and your pets safe from “Bath Blasts”!

What is a Bath Blast and how does it happen?

Here’s my personal experience which happened a few hours ago during the heavy thunderstorm in Subang Jaya this evening:

I was taking a shower (wet from head to toe) and holding the showerhead with my wet right hand when suddenly I saw a bright flash of white light and a huge spark at my hand and felt a jolt so great the showerhead flew off from my hand onto the wet tiles. I wasn’t wearing rubber slippers at all. Was barefoot on the wet bathroom tiles. I felt a pain in my wrist and arm and was stunned for a few minutes. Felt my heart throbbing and pounding so badly, not out of fear but because of the powerful jolt. I examined my arm thinking it would be charred or something but it looked just fine. Just painful, that’s all.

It was a shocking and baffling experience. I thought lightning had come through the bathroom window and struck the showerhead. If so, I would have been electrocuted as I was completely wet and holding the showerhead.

Curious and determined to find an answer, I asked a few engineer friends and they were equally stumped. Lightning carries a billion volts of electricity (up to 20,000 amperes of current), they said, you’re lucky to be alive. I’ve heard of people who survived lightning strikes but I don’t think I’m one of those…

But what actually happened?

Here’s what probably happened: http://www.snopes.com/science/lightningbath.asp 

It’s called a Bath Blast and it happens when lightning strikes your home’s plumbing and travels through the pipes, eventually sparking at the taps or showerheads and giving us a jolt of our lives!

As I recall exactly what happened now, thank goodness I was just holding the showerhead at the precise moment when lightning struck my home’s plumbing. So the lightning went through the copper pipes (our hot water system) and came out through the showerhead. Had I been showering…oh my goodness, I could have been thrown off and even severely injured.

Here are other people’s experiences:

Such injuries are relatively uncommon because one has to be doing dishes or bathing or showering at the precise moment when a bolt hits. However, people have been injured in this fashion.

• • In May 2008, 15-year-old Falicity Wishkeno of Topeka, Kansas, was hit by lightning while taking a shower. Said Wishkeno, “Right when I got in the shower, I heard the thunder hit. I saw this big, white light. I jumped out of the bathtub and collapsed. I had trouble breathing, and I couldn’t feel my legs at all. I felt all this pain in my legs and my whole body.” 

• • In November 2007, a bolt struck a teenager who was washing her hair at her home in Blandford, England. Said Abbie Jackson of the event, “It hit my wrist and basically lit up my arm. The showerhead flew out of my hand.” 

• • In October 2006, a woman in Croatia was struck by lightning while brushing her teeth just as lightning struck a pipe outside the her home. Said Natasha Timarovic of her experience, “I had just put my mouth under the tap to rinse away the toothpaste when the lightning must have struck the building. I don’t remember much after that, but I was later told that the lightning had traveled down the water pipe and struck me on the mouth, passing through my body. It was incredibly painful, I felt it pass through my torso and then I don’t remember much at all.” 

• • In June 2001, Josephine Martine of Deal, England, was blown out of her bath tub by a lightning bolt. The mother of three, who had been soaking in her bath tub during a thunderstorm, was catapulted naked through the air by the force of the bolt, landing on the other side of her bathroom. Said Martine, “I felt a huge kick in my hand and knew straight away it was electricity. In a split second I saw the water rippling. The kick of the electric shock was so powerful I was sort of thrown out of the bath. It was scary, but it happened very quickly.” 

• In August 1988, as Eleanor Loux of Exeter, Rhode Island, brushed her teeth at her bathroom sink, she saw a bolt of lightning leap from her toilet. The resulting ball of fire then bounced off walls and the ceiling in her bathroom until it dissipated. Surprisingly, Loux was not injured. Her bathroom, however, was another story — the ceiling was cracked and the bathtub had charred rings in it. A utility pole outside her home had been hit by lightning, which sent the resulting charge through neighborhood power lines and metal water pipes.

Read more at http://www.snopes.com/science/lightningbath.asp#o0HSvmCiuhAZf0b8.99

Lesson learnt and here are the tips:

As to how to remain safe indoors during a thunderstorm:

• • Stay away from windows, because lightning bolts can enter the home through cracks around the sides of windows. 

• • If you have a shower drain backing up, don’t take baths or showers, brush your teeth, do dishes, or in any other way put yourself in contact with your plumbing. If you suspect a leak, prompt seattle water leak detection is essential to prevent further damage and ensure the safety of your property.

• • Stay off landlines. Use a cell phone instead. Landline phones are the number one cause for injuries from lightning inside the home. 

• • Do not lie on concrete floors and do not lean against concrete walls. 

• • Don’t touch electrical equipment or cords. That includes not touching the refrigerator or stove. 

• Keep windows and doors closed during electrical storms.

Read more at http://www.snopes.com/science/lightningbath.asp#o0HSvmCiuhAZf0b8.99

Hmm…no wonder all the cats sit on cushions during a thunderstorm. They don’t lie on the floor…smart cats!

Bath blasts are probably not as bad as being struck by lightning per se, but it still pays to be careful.

And I thank the universe I survived this bath blast without any injury! Just a bad jolt, a slight pain in my wrist and headache on the right side of my head but only for awhile. Phew! Life is unpredictable…

It can cause shock and even death: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/15/health/15real.html?_r=1&

Some updates on 7th May:

Following the above post two days ago on my (hopefully) once-in-a-lifetime experience of a bath blast, I wish to thank all friends and readers for their concern and assure them that I have not turned into a lightning conductor and yes, it is still safe to shake my hands…!

And no, I cannot light a light up bulb nor have I experienced any extraordinary superpowers such as being able to outrun a speeding train or hear high frequency sounds or catch a speeding bullet.

It’s been a blast, folks!

Apart from blurred vision that night, I was back to ordinary-old-me the next morning.

But on a more serious note, I thought I should share the following explanations offered by my friends. These seem the most plausible.

I wish to again, thank all friends and readers for their concern for my wellbeing. Your kindness is most appreciated. The fun-poking is equally appreciated. What is life without laughter! ‘Tis always good to see the lighter side of all things.

Here are the two most plausible explanations and useful advice:

Explanation 1:

You are very lucky to be alive. The lightning has struck your house. However, I think there are two poor conductors that have saved your life. One is the piping in your house. I think, they are made of plastic not steel. PVC are poor conductor of electric. Secondly, the water are treated  water that contain less impurity. Again water are bad conductor and that too have reduced the electric field. If the water are not treated, it would have contained impurities and that will transmit electric field to your body.

Count your blessing. You are have a second chance to live on.

Next time avoid taking a shower during thunder storm.

Also, you may want to engage a contractor to install lightning conductor on your roof. This will bring the lightning charge directly into the earth without harming anyone or any equipment inside the house.