Live plumbing?

Switch off the mains and call in an electrician.

Was it set to measure AC voltage?

living in your tap.

Whether its live or not is not really the issue. You need to determine whether the earth bonding is up to scratch. Well I can tell you almost certainly its not. Research "main equipotential bonding" and "supplementary bonding". If necessary consult an electrician. Whatever you do, do it quickly.

Jim A

In order to get a mains voltage shock from a tap, there has to be at least 2 extremely serious faults. Get an electrician immediately.

I can't say which, if either, of your testers is reliable - and a fault of this seriousness is no place for you to learn how to test domestic electrics anyway.

Is it just possible you got a static electric shock.e.g. synthetic clothes/carpets etc?

Where did you connect the two leads of the meter? One to the tap, but what about the other one? What range did you have the meter set to?

There are two possibilities here - either you got a static shock (these can seem quite severe in the right circumstances), or you have a combination of serious electrical faults.

If the latter then this is a serious fault that needs *immediate* attention. If in any doubt at all, then call an electrician as a matter of urgency.

Your bathroom should have equipotential bonding - i.e. heavy gauge earthing wires that link all exposed metalwork together (taps, radiators etc). This should ensure that if a voltage ever does get coupled to earth it affects all the metalwork at once - thus making it much harder to get a shock because the voltage difference between any two things you can touch should be close to zero, even if relative to a true earth it is higher.

Secondly the only way for a earth connection to become live is if there is a fault in either an appliance or the wiring. This should result in the fuse or circuit breaker opening; however if this is not happening it suggests that your earth is not correctly connected - another serious fault.

We can advise how to locate these faults, but unless you have access to some specialised test gear you may not be able to DIY all the work. If you want details of how to test these things, then post back here.

that link all exposed metalwork together (taps, radiators

I did "call in an electrician" but unfortunately I eventually (5.30 this pm - too bloody late!) found out he was busy, so everything is as it was!

I tested the taps with a multimeter with one probe on the metal plug hole and one on the tap and got a result of 225V. I'm sure it is an earthing problem, but one thing I also did was switch off at my fuse box and test again with the same result. Does this imply there's also something up with my upstairs neighbours connections?

I also tested the bathroow basin taps in the same way. They came up with about 30V.

I'm actually away for the weekend from this evening so I don't have much time to try anything else, but any advice gratefully received.

Cheers Warren

snipped-for-privacy@googlemail.com has brought this to us :

The most likely possibility is that YOU were live and the bath tap was properly earthed - though that cannot be proven without the knowledge and the equipment to confirm it.

You suggested you used a multitester, did you mean a volt stick type instrument which illuminates when placed near a live cable?

gaugeearthingwires that link all exposed metalwork together (taps, radiators

As said this is a dangerous multiple fault. If youre about to leave then you can either

- remove fuses one at a time* until the problem goes away. This will only cure one of the dangerous problems, not both.

- or switch all power off at the fusebox

• Note many fuseboxes will try to fry you if you do this with the main switch on.

NT

In this case it implies there may be something seriously wrong with the mains supply, call your neigbour and also the local electricity company..

Firstly, what kind of multimeter - analogue or digital? Sometimes the digital ones are so sensitive they they can detect voltages that are not really there (well they are there, but they are inductively or capacitively coupled from something else and hence unable to provide anything other than a tiny current).

Secondly what is the metal plug hole connected to? In many sinks it will connect to a plastic pipe.

Where you touching either the tap or plug hole at the time of your test?

Again, what sort of piping can you see connected to the waste and the taps? Can you see any earth clamps and yellow/green wires anywhere under the sink in the bathroom?

Just a thought has the OP got an electric shower plumbed in off the water supply to the bath?

Do you mean the 'plug hole' on the bath? That would normally be connected to a plastic waste pipe so no direct reference to earth. Is the bath plastic or metal?

However, you have a serious problem. Your safety earth should work independently of anything a neighbour might to to theirs. I'd be inclined to call in the supply board as an emergency if you are still getting this problem with the main switch off.

Thanks again to all the responses.

Just had the electrician in and he did a ZE test on the main board and found there's reverse polarity from the mains. So now I have to wait up to 24 hours for the "emergency" response from EDF! He also advised that there might be a need for a rewire as the wiring was very old. Oh dear...

old enough to be rubber? If not, I would not be convinced about a rewire without some real evidence that rewire was the best option.

Mains supply polarity reverse is not whats causing your situation (and is not an emergency). Did he tell you what is causing the shocks?

NT

Just as a side note to this post, I've just had a nice shiny decorative towel rail / radiator fitted to a new shower room, and the sparky came around later and added a really ugly earth cable to the radiator. Now, I appreciate that this is necessary, but is there a discrete and neat way to do this that doesn't have a dangly yellow and green cable coming from my nice shiny radiator (mounted on the wall at waist height)?

Matt

You'd need to explain that. Incoming? Very unlikely. From meter to your CU

- surely he should have sorted this there and then. But it doesn't account for your problem.

It's usually obvious if the wiring is old - it will be rubber or lead covered.

On Tue, 21 Aug 2007 13:09:12 -0000 someone who may be snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote this:-

Does it have an electric element fitted inside?

Whether it is necessary or not depends on the circumstances. As well as the presence of an electric element it also depends on any pipework connected to the rail.

IIRC, the latest wiring regs (17th edition, not yet in force?) remove the need for equipotential bonding in this sort of circumstance - provided the house wiring complies in other ways.

According to EDF, something to do with the way upstairs flat is wired had caused my circuit to have reverse polarity. Upstairs has now been disconnected and my polarity is back to normal.

As reverse polarity was the culprit, should it still have caused such a problem if the bathroom was properly earthed? As you might have guessed, I know precious little about electricity!

Thanks Warren