Electric shock - shower taps!

Hi,

My tenants have called me tonight saying they feel a electric shock from the shower taps when using them. I have a sparky coming out tommorow to me it sounds like a grounding problem? Any else had something similar? What was the problem?

 

As you say, nearly sure it will be an earthing problem.

 

Have had this before here Unusual tenant complaints

 

The earth at the meter box is onto the plumbing. Get an electrician to earth to a peg in the ground seperate to pipes.

 

Had sparky come out today he checked that the earth was grounded and said it was all ok and their was no problems. He said he had no idea and had never heard of such a thing before.

My usual sparky cant come out till friday. I will see what he says then.

 

Never heard of it? That's a worry:

"Endeavour Energy today urged anyone receiving a tingle from touching a tap in their home or a zap from an electrical appliance to call them immediately.

“A buzz or a tingle could indicate there’s a problem that requires urgent attention,” warned
Endeavour Energy’s General Manager Health, Safety and Environment David Neville.

“Getting a shock, even a minor tingle, from anything around the home can be a sign of a much bigger problem and potential danger.

“If you receive a tingle from touching the taps or metal fittings in your home, report it
immediately to Endeavour Energy on 131 003.”

Mr Neville said tingles from shower and garden taps could be an indicator of a fault in a home’s electricity supply with the potential to turn water pipes live."​

Tapping into safety

 

Please don't give electrical advise, that's Completly wrong. Water pipes are earthed in Australia as part Of The earthing system.

Don't call him back again, it's a very common and potentially dangerous situation, quite often a bad neutral connection in your switchboard or on the cables coming from the street.

 

Thank you. I just called them and their sending someone out straight away!

 

Could also be a problem remote to your house such as in a local sub station.

Tools

 

@Nikolina already called a sparkie

Now @Nikolina has called Endeavour Energy who are sending someone out straight away.

 

All sorted was a bad connection at the earth. They diagnoised and fixed it within 30 mins. Free of charge. Very happy!

 

That's great! Tell your first sparky to go back to school.

 

Since this guy didn't actually do anything, do you have to pay the bill? I understand paying people for their time, which is definitely fair, but if they can't actually do the job, do you pay them? I am unsure about this.

 

I will be calling him up today asking for the call out fee to be refunded!!

 

Completely wrong but yet Perthguy quoted integral energy with the same issue. Please don't make me have to Google links for you

Please show me your quals

 

I'm not sure what your saying here.....
Your solution was wrong, you could install and earth stake and not fix it whatsoever. The Integral energy link does nothing to help you with your case.
But it doesn't matter the issue is fixed.
My advise, if anyone else gets a similar issue is to call the network provider (energex, ergon etc) first as they have a duty of care to look, and from all reports usually free (check first). Saves you a call out fee from an electrician who may have to send you to them anyway.

 

Those i.d's could be anyone's. I have an FBI card .

You can call the elec provider but they can't actually do work in most cases, they'll just tell you that you have a problem.a good sparky will fix asap

 

As I outlined in the above post i linked last time this same question was asked, provider should be looking at it not a sparky. May as well rule out external stuff first, which they're responsible for and fix for free. Otherwise a sparky will run around trying to diagnose racking up labour hours.