Don't try this at home

[G6Tanuki]

The "suicide showers" are universal in Central/Southern-American countries and a good slice of the Far East too.

Interestingly, the underlying principle - a bare-wire element in direct contact with the water - is used in a number of the little 'instant' electric hand-wash heaters available here in the UK.

[Refugee]

Originally Posted by hannahs radios

Has anyone seen those so called suicide showers, they are electrically heated shower heads where the water passes directly over the bare heater elements, apparently safe as long as you connect the earth wire which is in the heated water. Look up gadget addict channel on YouTube and also bigclive.com channel to see a demo of them.

It appears to be against the regs to fit those showers without a "tape bomb".
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=su...LcikG5c6yEmWM:

[electronicskip]

Originally Posted by russell_w_b

It's not so much the thinking-up of something new. it's our attitude towards it that swings things. Nothing is ever as good as what went before it. And, after years of grudging acceptance and then subsequent renewal / improvement / replacement, nothing is as good as what went before it!

In the 1990s, camera manufacturers went about developing a whole new camera (this was pre-digital photography) that was not the 'traditional' SLR shape. The magazines were full of it, but they flopped, badly, The nearest revolutionary thing was the Canon EOS which was a traditionally-shaped SLR with roundy edges.

And what do we have now? Cameras that are all technologically perfect and sophisticated beneath, but which exude the familiarity of a '70s Leica (which, back then, exuded the familiarity of a 1950s Leica).

And what happened to Saab's notion of replacing the steering wheel with a joystick? It was different! But we don't do different, because different is a change. And we don't like change.

My Austin old Allegro DID have a squarish steering wheel !!

I have seen a meat pie heated in seconds from the output of a 110kW UHF TV transmitter. It was a very bad load, transmitter OK as the directional coupler and reflected power dummy load were there.

[Heatercathodeshort]

My trusty old bowl fire can sure cook a nice omelette. John.

[duncanlowe]

Originally Posted by G6Tanuki

The "suicide showers" are universal in Central/Southern-American countries and a good slice of the Far East too.

Interestingly, the underlying principle - a bare-wire element in direct contact with the water - is used in a number of the little 'instant' electric hand-wash heaters available here in the UK.

Interestingly, a friend of mine is in Cuba this very week, and has posted a picture of just such a beast Her comment was ;'it only sparks when you turn it on'. It looks really nasty. If I can save a snap of it I'll add it.

Some years ago I did inherit a shower in the UK that I thought about fitting. But I looked inside and could see exactly what is described, a bare wire heating element in direct contact with the water, inside a clear tube which may have been glass or plastic. It just scared the out of me so got skipped I'm afraid.

[duncanlowe]

And here it is.

[dseymo1]

I guess that under normal operating conditions those showers are pretty safe - both ends of the element are immersed, and the element impedence is considerably lower than that of a human body. Where it fails, like so many of the items discussed here, is that potential fault conditions seem to be disregarded.

[McMurdo]

not sure how the RCD holds in if it's used in the UK!

[Boater Sam]

That's one of the better ones!
I have seen a model that looks similar but has no back cover, just 2 wires sticking through a grommet, connected with a choc bloc taped to the pipe.

[IanBland]

I recently managed to melt my toaster while using it as a handy heat source to bend perspex. Apparently the plastic case was designed to rely on copious convection for cooling which a large sheet of perspex above interrupts rather effectively.

Feel free to try this at home.

[Refugee]

With those showers you are lucky to find a chock block in the tape bomb.
I am pretty sure most are just twisted.
I have never seen one without a tape bomb of some kind.

[G6Tanuki]

Many years ago when marshalling the Lombard RAC Rally through a Welsh forest-stage I heated-up canned Ravioli in an electric kettle. It was an old-style kettle with a handle, which restricted access abd stopped me doing the obvious thing of filling the kettle with water then standing the can in it while the water boiled.

The ravioli was a bit 'crunchy' with limescale, but at least it was hot.

I also know someone from my student days who used an electric kettle to boil his eggs and to heat-up 'boil in the bag' Kippers for breakfast. He then used the water to make tea. Ugh!

[peter_scott]

Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler

In the early 70's in the lab at HP (Owen L?),
David

Was that not a certain D. Dack or am I thinking of a similar but different incident?

Peter

[Radio Wrangler]

Ah, yes, it was indeed David!

It was definitely Owen at the centre of the hilarity over Peter G's home made isle of Lewis chessman replicas

Thanks, Peter

David

[OscarFoxtrot]

Originally Posted by G6Tanuki

I also know someone from my student days who used an electric kettle to boil his eggs and to heat-up 'boil in the bag' Kippers for breakfast.

I remember having a Kambrook jug kettle which came with a basket for that purpose.

[Herald1360]

Originally Posted by G6Tanuki

I also know someone from my student days who used an electric kettle to boil his eggs and to heat-up 'boil in the bag' Kippers for breakfast. He then used the water to make tea. Ugh!

As long as the eggs don't crack and the bag doesn't leak, why not? Saves boiling another kettleful.

[G6Tanuki]

Originally Posted by Herald1360

As long as the eggs don't crack and the bag doesn't leak, why not? Saves boiling another kettleful.

Eggs - even uncracked - leach a nasty sulphurous substance into their boiling-water: you can smell it if you sniff a pan of boiling eggs!

I just found the idea of boiling kippers in a kettle to be utterly revolting. Thankfully I always had my own kettle so no risk of cross-contamination.

[bluepilot]

In East Germany they had the famous WM66 washing machine. Not only did it wash clothes, you could fill it with water and use it to boil sausages or other things. It was useful for boiling fruit if you wanted to make jam for example.

[laceholes]

Originally Posted by dseymo1

I've used the paint sprayer attachments a number of times in the past, with quite acceptable results, but always worried a bit about solvent-laden air being drawn in and past the commutator...

The one I used blew air across the end of a small tube that dipped into the paint and thereby sucked it out. But it didn't come into contact with the commutator, it just blew out the end of the above tube.