Device will tell you if there’s dangerous stray voltage in your pool

Everyone knows that water and electricity don’t mix. But what people sometimes forget is that swimming pools are often surrounded by lots of outlets and other power sources.

In the wake of two tragic fatalities, experts are doing their best to help prevent electric shock around pools and other bodies of water.

On Saturday, 11-year-old Kayla Matos was swimming in a lagoon in Toms River, New Jersey, when she touched an electrified boat lift. She was electrocuted and died later that evening, NBC News reported. Just one day earlier, 19-year-old Evan Currie met the same fate in Lake Erie, Ohio, while trying to save his father and family dog at a marina.

For families who spend a lot of time near pools or lakes, there’s a new new device called the Shock Alert that alerts you to stray voltage in the water before you take a swim. In the following video, TODAY national investigative correspondent Jeff Rossen demonstrated how you can use this device to test your pool to make sure it’s safe for swimming (according to experts, most of these types of accidents happen in swimming pools). He also discussed how to remove stray voltage in the event that the pool isn’t safe.

 The device, which is shaped like a yellow triangle, can be easily dragged around the perimeter of the pool. If the light turns red and the device starts beeping, the pool is filled with electric current (and you shouldn’t go swimming).

“There’s all sorts of power around the pool,” Frank Vlasaty, who created Shock Alert, told TODAY. Because of this, electric shock drowning is sometimes called “the silent killer.”

The Electric Shock Drowning Association, which formed to help educate people about the risk of electric shock drowning, says it has recorded 84 cases of this type of drowning since 1986. So, in spite of the recent instances, it is rare. Nevertheless, a device that gives you peace of mind when your family is swimming is priceless.

Health, Life, News
, , ,

Related posts

Colorful Peeps and edible Peeps play dough
How to turn Peeps into edible play dough
us map
At what age can you leave kids home alone?
Little Golden Book celebrtiy bios
All these celebrity Little Golden Books are under $6
cicadas on a leaf
Two cicada broods will emerge at the same time this year, a first since 1803

About the Author
Marisa Torrieri

From our partners