because usually any escaping current travels by the water, thus sparing the body. I’ve never heard of any serious accident involving so-called suicide showers.

There’s only so many things you can insulate a heating element with. You can’t use plastic, because it would melt. You can use ceramic, enamel. But that’s not flexible, and will likely crack into little bits that’ll get into the water flow.

Also of course, because uninsulated heating wire is cheap. That’s most of the reason.

Water itself is more-or-less an insulator, particularly when it’s broken into drops. Like the Mythbusters pissing on a live rail experiment. So in general these tend not to kill lots of people. They’re still really fuckin’ dangerous in my eyes, living in a country where we have electrical safety regulations. But I suppose the risk : price ratio is just right for people in poor countries.

Why would anyone in their right mind use uninsulated heating element!?

What wire? There isn’t an earth wire!

These have a live, uninsulated coil of resistance wire, right in the shower head. The water flows directly through it. Live, uninsulated. It’s connected directly to the mains. Thus they are known as “Suicide Showers”.

It’s insane, but people use them.

even if correctly wired up they are a deathtrap. The earthing is bullshit with a blank copper wire being suspended in the water. Which WILL corrode, and there will ALWAYS be some current leaking.

Ah, good point. So you’re saying I should’ve paid attention in science class in sixth grade?

There are many ways to die in a shower. If, for instance, you are very old, you could die from old age in a shower. You could also die from AIDS or cancer if you have either and spend your last minute in the shower. I suspect the Swedish couple that died we doing some heavy petting in the shower, and you know how heavy petting leads to the raising of the arms (to raise the roof) which probably cause one of them to touch a wire they shouldn’t have and the rest is, well, unfortunate history.