electricity from water tap

[mosqjos]

I hope that somebody can give me some advice.

Basically, the bathroom in my house has been re-done completely. A firm of local builders carried out the work.

The problem I noticed tonight is that if I am barefoot and i try washing my hands I get a small amount of electricity !! If I put my shoes on then I do not get any electricity.

I am rather worried about this and I will be contacting that firm, however, I'd like to know what may be the cause of this before i contact them so that I know what I am talking about.

The floor has underfloor heating (currently turned off); However I noticed that the earth wire from the main electricity board is not connected to the RCD and also the earth wire from the RCD to the "underfloor heating" thermostatat is also not connected. Basically, the underfloor heating is not earthed. Is this OK?

The floor has marble tiles on top of a concrete floor.

The water tubes are copper (i think) and as far as i can see there is no earth connections coming out of them.

Any help is much appreciated.

Regards O.M.

[Lurch]

On 16 Apr 2007 14:28:10 -0700, [e-mail] mused:

Something is amiss, but basically you don't know what you're looking at and how it should be connected so your description of the earths and RCD's are misleading. A picture would be better.

[TMC]

If so sounds like a current leak from the underfloor heating was tripping the RCD and so some one disconnected it

Spoke with a plasterer years ago who got a tingle from his float when skimming a wall turned out that wiring down the wall was nicked by a fixing to the sheathing and earthing through him

Tony

[Lurch]

On Mon, 16 Apr 2007 22:53:21 +0100, "TMC" mused:

Don't think you read the OP properly, or you have never seen an RCD or understood how they work, or the OP's leccy builder thing hasn't or doesn't. Someone doesn't know anyway.

[Lurch]

On 16 Apr 2007 14:57:36 -0700, [e-mail] mused:

Yes, that would seem to be the case.

I would certainly get it looked at and check that all the neccesary earth bonding is in place.

[mosqjos]

The thing is that the Underfloor heating has not been on yet since it is newly connected. Therefore there is no current going to the underfloor heating as the RCD is switched off and has been swithched off. Therefore, I do not think that it is a current leak from the underfloor heating.

maybe me mentioning the underfloor heating is a red herring since the underfloor heating has been switched off all the time !!

any suggestions what the problem is? IS it safe to use the basin if I am wearing shoes?

thanks

[John Rumm]

Sorry, we are going to need some photos since your description does not make much sense yet.

From the tap, or from the running water?

Yup, Sounds like a very good plan.

Electric UFH? or run from the central heating (perhaps with additional pump)?

Can't follow that.. Most RCDs don't have any earth connection anyway. Are you sure you mean RCD?

How is the power supplied? Via a dedicated circuit from the consumer unit, or just plugged into a socket somewhere, or fed from a spur off an exiting circuit?

[Derek Geldard]

Something is wrong.

It could be very serious.

If it is not serious now it could become serious in the future if (say)someone cuts a pipe which is earthing part of your installation. This is not

Get it properly diagnosed and rectified.

DG

[Colin Wilson]

This is dangerous, and needs attention as a matter of urgency.

Has the builder supplied test / inspection certificates ?

Seriously, you need them out - the same day - hour even - as you call preferably. When our shift electricians go out to a "shocks" job they go in pairs for safety.

You should count yourself lucky you just got "tingles" - DON'T "try" it again for your own safety - it may easily be enough to kill you.

I would strongly consider moving into alternative accomodation until it's been sorted, unless isolating the circuits involved is:

a) practical b) is proven to render the installation safe.

Your local REC might have emergency electricians on call, but some may charge for this.

[pure.white.snow]

A little question here. If the floor heating is electricity-powered, have you any idea what construction is the power switch? I mean, basically, an electricity-powered floor heater consist of a long, high impedence cord, short-circuited, that is one end of it is connected to the "phase", and the other one - to the "zero" of the power outlet. So my idea is, that the polyethylen/rubber/plastic/whatever isolation layer of the heating cord could be damaged somewhere, and it has some contact with the concrete, and with the tiles, eventually. Since this "layer" has some humidity in it, it is obvious why you're getting "tingled", when standing bare footed. That is quite possible, even though the remaining "zero" end is plugged in, and the "phase" is cut out. Al

[rrh]

OT but why's that? I can see the logic for (eg) policemen in rough areas but how does having two sparkies on the job make it safer?

[Huge]

Have you ever tried to give yourself CPR? It's really difficult.

[Fash]

One carries the insulated "broom handle" to push the other off the contact!

Fash

[meow2222]

this is a dangerous situation, not in a nanny shouldnt do that sense, but a genuine danger.

You have multiple faults that are conspiring to cause this. Insulation failure somewhere plus lack of earthing as well. Curing the symptom isnt enough, if the minimum to do that is done the installation may still be significantly unsafe.

To call back the spark that put this in in the first place, well, I wouldnt be happy to rely on a dangerous bodge merchant's fix, if they caused it.

We dont know without a fair bit more detail. But you're missing earthing on taps & ufh, plus mains is getting onto this unearthed metalwork in one of those 2 places at least, and maybe elsewhere in the room too.

We dont have enough info. Most RCDs dont use an earth connection, but some types do, esp some of the old ELCBs.

these should be earthed, but they may be earthed via copper piping leading from them, it doesnt need to be an electrical wire.

A builder that left an installation in this dodgy a state needs frying personally.

if that the situation, it appears to be criminal on the face of it, and placing peoples lives in danger.

thats not really correct.

definitely not. The same may be true of other parts of the bathroom as well.

First thing to do is switch off power at the fusebox/ CU to whatever circuit causes this. That will leave you with an unearthed & faulty but at least not live installation, which you'll need fixing asap.

NT

[tony sayer]

Interesting to see if the taps are "live" or theres some current being "leaked" from the floor via the bare feet!.

Suppose you need a meter with --longish-- test leads to a reference "earth" to see if the taps are indeed connected to "earth" in the correct sense.

Course they could be connected via plastic piping which would leave them floating WRT to anything!...

Does the same happen when or if you touch the bath taps?.

The earth wire to the RCD is I rather suspect a red herring as most all RCD's work on leakage currents..

[tony sayer]

In article , rrh writes

Seems a bit over the top, why should they be at anymore danger than normal?

[Colin Wilson]

Just the way we do things...

[Tony Williams]

I wonder if he's mistaken an RCD for the old voltage operated earth leakage trip. That would require an Earth connection.

[dom]

That seems to me to be a reasonable safety step when dealing with dangerous installations. If there's a real chance that things that should never be live (wet surfaces, metalwork etc) are live, the chances of a serious shock are significantly raised. It's a similar situation to "live working" in that any isolators cannot be relied on. Having somebody on hand that knows what to do in case of a serious shock is very sensible.

[tony sayer]

In article , Colin Wilson writes

"We" must have a good maintenance budget;!...