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.

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

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

most of the new instant water heather is equip with ELCB

my 2 weeks old Alpha water heater just kaput... damn.. better kaput than kena electrocuted i suppose

holy sh*t! what should i do now? get it repaired or change it?? 

You can also use gas heater which is too safe if your bathroom so wide because I am also using gas heater which is not too costly & only one time installation..Mine suggestion to you to go for Gas heater...

Because people here in this forum mostly marketing electrical, and solar only. And they don't sell.

Gas is still best bang for buck. And go for RINNAI.

dont feel safe... will always have that 'what if' feeling...

did you all read the newspaper today? they advised consumer to constantly check the ELCB every time or even monthly... crazy shit... we werent' told of this thing in the manual at all. And the hassle of checking and trauma everytime using water heater is like after watching Jaws the movie now. going to shower, check first..

safest is to use solar powered water heater. My house is using it. It's been raining a lot lately and the sun is hardly out. But we still get enough warm water for shower and haven't had the need to switch on the electric heater. Water is not hot as during hot days but still warm enough to take a shower.

isn't electrocution from an instant water heater rather difficult cos all external parts are plastic, unless messing with it while in the showering

i on it and heat up the water for a while. then i switch off and take a shower. How dangerous can it be?
maybe I need to worry about falling off the bed as well.

how bout water heater tank, does it has ELCB ?

Me just replaced my Panasonic WH (10years old)... recently... to Joven WH with rain shower... I didnt buy those with pump coz I have redo the piping so that the WH is using direct water instead. Good news is good pressure... bad news is no water supply no hot water la...

The main thing is brand... most of the time I see those case happened is when they use dunno what type of china made brands... better to use a branded WH...

even if heater element leaks electricity, the water can't conduct electricity as it breaks up into drops as it comes out of the showerhead and won't create a circuit

and if all external parts are plastic/non-conductive then should be ok

'dying' to know what is the brand of the water heater!!

Haha... like that also can.    I got no comment already.

All storage heater piping will be earth. Make sure house earth cable are working. I earth all my ss piping.

Even solar can be dangerous if electric leak. Imagine a live wires touches the steel / copper pipe. These can happen when rats bit the cables and it touches the pipes.