Correct wiring, grounding crucial for baptistry microphones

Posted: 11/04/05

Correct wiring, grounding
crucial for baptistry microphones

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

Electricity and water create a potentially deadly combination, but metal–not microphones themselves–present the greatest danger to people in baptistries, acoustic and church building consultants agree.

The issue came to the forefront when Pastor Kyle Lake of University Baptist Church in Waco was killed Oct. 30 after he grabbed a microphone while standing in a full baptistry.

“If everything is working right, there is no way a microphone carries nearly enough electricity to cause a person's death,” said Brian Elwell, senior consultant with Acoustic Dimensions in Addison.

His firm's clients have included the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, Calif.; Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill.; and Saddleback Church in Mission Viejo, Calif.; as well as Fellowship Church in Grapevine; The Heights Baptist Church in Richardson; and Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas.

A correctly wired, properly grounded microphone carries a maximum 48 volts–nowhere near enough to stop a person's heart, even if the individual stood in chest-deep water, Elwell explained.

But “correctly wired” and “properly grounded” conditions make all the difference, he said. If either the baptistry pool or the metal chassis of the microphone were improperly grounded, it could create a hazard.

Any pool of water carries electrical potential, and if a person standing in electrically charged water reaches out to touch a metal object, it will complete the circuit and cause a shock, Elwell noted.

Also, if a microphone line were cut and came into contact with high voltage, the metal casing of the mike could become highly charged, he added.

“The bottom line is, if you're in the water, don't touch anything metal,” he said.

LifeWay Christian Resources recommends that only wireless mikes be used in or near the baptistry–either a wireless lavaliere mike, a handheld wireless or a wireless mike on a stand.

There is not enough voltage in any wireless mike to do any damage, said Davis Byrd, director of LifeWay's church architecture department. “The water would probably ruin the equipment if it were submerged, but the battery operation doesn't have enough voltage to do any harm,” he said.

If a wired microphone must be used, it should be suspended overhead, out of reach, Byrd added–advice echoed by Keith Crouch, leader of the Baptist General Convention of Texas church architecture team.

When it comes to installing baptistries and the electrical fixtures around them–including pumps and heaters, as well as sound systems–Crouch strongly urges churches to use only licensed, certified electricians and plumbers.

He also recommends electrical plugs near the baptistry be installed with ground fault interrupters.

With additional reporting by Greg Warner of Associated Baptist Press