taking a bath....and the phone rings!

[Bill Cahill]

Not sure what you mean by "pulsating DC"--talk battery is 48VDC, ringing is 90-105VAC superimposed on 48VDC. There was a pulsating DC (PC) that was used for some ringing, but this is interrupted 20 times a second; you couldn't talk over that kind of voltage.

Back in those days it was called pulsating dc. It is easily caused by using rectifierds without filtering the voltage.
I once plugged a telephone bell briefly into 110 v AC. The bell worked fine.
Wouldn't last long, I'm sure, due to the higher voltage. But, it did prove a point.
Bill Cahill

[twocvbloke]

One question, if you're using a phone in the bath (electrical issues aside), and the caller doesn't know this, how do you explain that odd gurgling-bubbling noise, that often occurs in some peoples baths, to the caller?

[Bill Cahill]

One question, if you're using a phone in the bath (electrical issues aside), and the caller doesn't know this, how do you explain that odd gurgling-bubbling noise, that often occurs in some peoples baths, to the caller?

You tell them???

[old_stuff_hound]

It's gotten so bad around here I never answer the phone without first looking at the caller id (which is in the kitchen). If I can't get to the caller id, then the caller will just need to leave a message. Seems like about 9 out of 10 calls lately have been junk calls.....

[Dan/Panther]

It's gotten so bad around here I never answer the phone without first looking at the caller id (which is in the kitchen). If I can't get to the caller id, then the caller will just need to leave a message. Seems like about 9 out of 10 calls lately have been junk calls.....

I have my kids answer and say; "HE'S BUSY"

Oh! Hi, Bill I didn't see you there.

D/P

[Bill Cahill]

It's gotten so bad around here I never answer the phone without first looking at the caller id (which is in the kitchen). If I can't get to the caller id, then the caller will just need to leave a message. Seems like about 9 out of 10 calls lately have been junk calls.....

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.................................................................................................
Well, so am I....................................................................

I have my kids answer and say; "HE'S BUSY"

Oh! Hi, Bill I didn't see you there.

D/P

[TelePlay]

Just because Im a narrow minded paranoid hypechondriac optimist, I thought I'd add that a lightning strike on the lines would run in and ruin your day if you were in the tub on the phone at the time.
Just a thought.  

Back in the day, the 50s, my parents wouldn't let us answer or use the phone during an electrical storm at all, standing in the kitchen. Stories went around of bolts coming out of the phone as it hung on the wall toward grounded metal appliances, such as a stove. I do remember hearing crackling on the line if there was a storm between my location and the other party's location on a long distance call. Might be an old wives tale but that's what I remember being told.

[FABphones]

Back in the day, the 50s, my parents wouldn't let us answer or use the phone during an electrical storm at all, standing in the kitchen. Stories went around of bolts coming out of the phone as it hung on the wall toward grounded metal appliances, such as a stove....
...Might be an old wives tale but that's what I remember being told.

It's true. One of my houses took a direct hit. The house shook. Every electrical appliance was zapped. The landline telephone and separate answering machine were also zapped - I found them in pieces, some parts thrown across the room.

Electrical appliances (eg tv) which were unplugged at the time were also fried. The zap arcing from the nearby plug socket.

Thank goodness for smoke alarms.

[RDPipes]

Well, not taking a bath but sitting on the throne..........never seems to fail, once you sit down,
so I did install and old WE hotel phone in the throne room so one could answer the call.
Some would ask me why it echoed where I was at and I'd just explain it was the phone. Of course
when I flushed they'd sometimes get a bit disturbed or think I am, LOL!

I too remember the, don't pick up during a storm but, for some reason it never sank in, LOL!

[countryman]

One of my houses took a direct hit.

Whoops 
Did this happen recently?

[FABphones]

Did this happen recently?

Not too recently.

When the house got the lightening strike there was a metal cowling on top of the kitchen chimney which was metal lined all the way down to the flue on the rear of the cast iron range cooker underneath, this was electric and therefore connected to the mains supply. The strike hit the metal cowling. Brick chimney destroyed, collapsed into the kitchen.

A day when mobile phones came in useful. The landline was out, the phone itself literally blown apart, having been connected to the answer machine, which was of course, plugged into the mains.

Edited to add thankfully no fire.

[MMikeJBenN27]

Hi. Yes, a shock hazzard. Without ring current it's 45 volts pulsating dc.
With the phone ringing it goes up over 90 volts pulsating dc.
Bill Cahill

The ringer is not in the receiver, and, it can't ring while you are using the phone.  The current for speech is nowhere near 48 volts.  There is no real shock hazard if it is a wall phone, as a wall phone can't fall into the tub.

Mike

[5415551212]

Wow I would have thought all phone collectors had phones in their bathrooms.
 
One thing you could set up is a some sort of speaker phone, like a 108A speaker phone. Then you get out of the tub just long enough to answer and put the line on speaker.

I have a friend who has a phone in his shower. Its a fancy steam shower from the 80's and it was manufactured that way.

[oldguy]

Back in the early 70s, I had 2 roommates and when only one person was home, it never failed, as soon as you would sit down in the bathroom, the phone would ring. So I put a black 554 right across from the toilet. That worked great.

[markosjal]

I once bought a house that had brown plumbing fixtures and every time I got in the bathroom the darn phone would ring. I was so frustrated I went into my phone collection and found a brown NE Contempora TouchTone  wall phone that was the perfect color. I mounted it  where I could easily reach it from either the throne or the Tub.

That phone such a perfect match, it was left on the wall when I sold the house. 

In any case it seems a bad idea to use most any phone in the bathtub. Even worse during a storm!