The present fear of using water heater gave a new thought about the safety feature after the japanese couple were electrocuted. Is the water heater tank above the roof top or the wall mounted type is safe to use? Do they need periodical maintenance or checking by professionals? Lets dicuss.

both safe provided it is properly grounded with circuit breaker...

how often do u see accident like that?

tell u what it is more dangerous to drive than using a water heater

Im not very sure how this work .. My heater was the roof type tank wwter heater. I couldnt see the installation when they installed last time. Is there anyway that i could test it or i should inspect it by going up there?

I agree with you, the constant fear of being electrocuted while having shower is a fear that has been with me for sometime now. I too have been trying to figure out a way on how to avoid this. Sadly there's none, unless you go shower with a Bomba class boots.

Personally I have already heard of about 2 around this year, 1 case was a Malaysian & the other recent was 2 japanese nationality. Total up 4 people has died within this year with relations to water heater short circuit.

I believe regular maintenance such as removing dirt and sand from the internal pipes by reversing the water flow and testing of the circuit breaker button is very important & can help minimize issue. Other than that, it's really luck.

Maybe the manufacturers should put an estimated shelf life for each unit of water heater, so that we know when to change it and avoid being fried alive.

Agree with you that driving is even more dangerous than using a water heater.

Heard it over the radio this morning this can be prevented by checking the unit thru thing "ELCB". What is that may I ask because mine don't have these button.

I understand ELCB is obsolete, now all using RCCB/RCCD. Normally, RCCBs are located inside the DB. Older days, normally a separate ELCB was provided for each electrical heater, but now seldom see people practising.

according to the radio station this morning american consist of about 30 cases of electrocution per year.
actually this is very often also just that the news were not spread out like this japanese couple . i heard of this case many times already.

There is option beside electric heater.

You can use gas heater. It more save and safer.

Or solar heater which don't have heater type. Just sun and hot water.

Wow, that's a lot of cases bro.

True, media always select cases. I too believe there are more but not told as you said.

I wish I can, but cannot afford and also my condo dont allow... huhu... Unless I use my dapur to heat up and later mix with tap water.

Ha3 later you will hear people died due to explosion during bathing.. there is no way you can cheat death bro...

Final Destination meh.

During gas heater era, not much news I heard about gas explosion. Normally the leaking is very small. Rather a fire than explosion.

Gas heater have a safety valve. Which will shutdown when high pressure release. Even if a gas hose broken, the most is fire shut out. Because the gas valve limit the pressure. I saw this kind of situation before during makan steambot. Scary.

The most famous news using gas heater is suicide. Specially in HK. Even HK actress use gas heater for suicide.

Electrocution can be many things, not only instant water heating.

The was I remember was the Empire shopping mall.

types of water heater -
- tank type
must use external earth fault breaker at 10 or 30ma
suited for multi point use

- instant type
usually have built-in 10ma breaker
for 1 point only

- gas fired
risk of gas leak
widely used in other countries like taiwan, and yes explosions happens

- solar
have electric booster as well, when sun is low. same like tank type

That 1 using main piping gas. Where the regulator pressure is higher than the house tank type. If ventilation not enough like empire where mostly close up, the explosion will happen.

I don't trust much about the instant heater elcb. They use electronic type. Which are not reliable at all. I would rather install an additional elcb near to the heater. The main elcb is too far away. In case ....

Solar heater do have non electric type.

most of the new instant water heather is equip with ELCB

Yes but a lot owner still using until end. I suggest change it after using 8 years.

you can look at others but here we are focusing on this main issue that causes it. Water heater.