On Thu, 16 Nov 2006 06:59:25 -0800, dpb wrote:


wrote:
...
the tub was almost ready to overflow. and the trouble light was under
water except the bulb which was floating and still lit. ...
... How can this be? Why did a breaker not trip?
...

Because it takes the overload current to trip a breaker but only a few
milliamps to electrocute. How much current flow there is/would be is
dependent on many things including the hardness of the water (the
conductivity of _pure_ water is pretty low, it's the ionic salts
dissovled in it that are the conductive path), the amount actually in a
path between hot/neutral, etc., etc. A toaster is open, uninsulated
elements, the trouble light was apparently one w/ a pretty tight seal
around the switch so the amount of actual water in contact w/ the live
terminals was quite small.

Very true. even in the automotive field the worst typs of shorts are what
we call "resistive". this means you dont get the huge current spike that
blows the fuse. You get a slower leak that does not blow the fuse.

The fuse is there ONLY to protect the wiring. The fuse is sized so that
the largest amount of current that can flow through it without blowing it,
will not damage the household or automotive wiring. It does not protect a
person.