....FOR HIGH VOLTAGE WIRES IN THE SHOWER WALL!!!!!!
I live in Laurel Hills Development. About nine years ago I was a victim of The Developer and the power company.
Here's How it happened.......
In Our house the master Bedroom has a 1/2 bath with sink, shower and toilet.
The shower is on the other side of the Garage wall / Hot Water Heater
We had the power company's Bill Saver Option of their shutting off our Hot Water Heater and AC to reduce our Bill.
I don't know WHO but One of them, (Either the power company or the Developer put the feeder line to the Power company's Shutoff/ Hot Water Heater (220 VOLTS) down from the ceiling through the shower wall to a junction box next to the Hot Water Heater. Then a Line went from there to the AC Unit on the Garage Wall to the AC Unit.
I can NOT see how it would EVER be Legal to put a 220 VOLT line in a shower wall.
Get the picture so far?
Here's what happened and how I discovered it.....
My son had been taking too long in the shower and I went in to hurry him up.
When I went in, he was on his hands and knees in the shower - I told him to get out and he whimpered and said "I can't, I cant move!"
I thought he was giving me a hard time so I shut off the water and lifted him out. Oddly he said "Thank You Daddy"
Puzzled by all this, I had been rushing him for I had to take a shower to go somewheres.
About twenty minutes later I took my shower, and all of a sudden, my right arm SLAMMED UP HITTING ME IN THE FACE!!!
At the same time my right leg was having the same sort of Seizure muscles clamped in excruciating pain.
Seizure? what the hell? A mental image of the surroundings went through my head of the water flowing over my arm and leg and the symptoms fit ....... ELECTRICAL SHOCK!!!!
as my mind pictured the hot water heater on the other side of the wall while I stared at the peeling caulking between the tiles< and i WAS STANDING ON THE METAL DRAIN GROUNDING MYSELF!... (I had been meaning to get around and fix that...)
I SLAMMED MY LEFT FIST to turn the water off, and used my left leg to LUNGE out of the shower.
After about 30 seconds, the my right leg and arm let me have control again. But in intense pain from the 45 seconds of seizure.
I got dressed and went into the garage and looked at the Hot Water Heater and junction box. There on the corner of a screw hole was a wisp of smoke..........
I took the cover off and the junction box was full of condensation which had caused one of the connectors to burn and as it did, It had melted the insulation and had shorted the 220VOLT wire to the metal conduit protecting the wires from the fuse box feeding down thru the shower wall.
The Metal conduit MUST HAVE BEEN TOUCHING THE WATER PIPES!!!!! for the water pipes from the heater and the wire cross in the wall.
Needless to say I called the power company and said "Get the Damn shutoff service out of my house!!!!"
The technician came from the power company came and I told him my story, and I told him the power company was negligent for NOT inspecting their hardware.
He said they normally drive by and trigger the shutoff to verify it's working.
I explained to him he needed to tell his bosses they needed to check ALL SIMILAR HOUSES IN our DEVELOPMENT
He said he would.
Since then I have had endless nerve problems in my Leg and Arm and other multiplesclerosis symptoms. Along with other mental issues like short term memory problems etc.....
What did the power company do less than a month after?
They CHANGED THEIR NAME FOR THIS AREA AND "SUPPOSED" MANAGEMENT.
I could only see this as an attempt to insulate themselves from lawsuits from the liability of our Community........
New Management, same employees, not responsible for the incident..... Yea Right!
Remember when they changed there name? Yea thats when this incident happened.......
So Check your garage, hot water heater and see if the feed wire goes down into the shower wall if you live in Laurel Hills Development
If it does.....HAVE IT MOVED BEFORE THE GROUT GOES BAD!!!!!
IT NEVER EVER SHOULD BE LEGAL IN CODE TO PUT A 220 WIRE IN A SHOWER WALL - GROUT DOESN'T LAST FOREVER!!!
This post could SAVE your life, think about it........
A class action suit should be filed with the developer to move the (NOT GROUND FAULT PROTECTED 220 LINES)
wires to external on the garage wall.
Its been years since this incident happened the power company should have inspected and had the homes fixed to protect their liability by now.
If your home is like mine - DON'T BE CAUGHT DEAD IN THE SHOWER - CHECK AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!!
