Shocking Hose Bib

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readydave8

readydave8

re member
Location
Clarkesville, Georgia
Occupation
electrician
Customer felt a shock when unhooking garden hose. Mobile home, plastic pipe.

I clipped one lead of volt meter to brass hose bib, stuck the other in the ground, never could get over 3 volts. Never could feel with hands. If anything its less than 3 volts since I was using digital multimeter, didn't bother with any impedance because would have made voltage to go down, and I thought it was already low.

I turned off all breakers in outside disconnect, did not affect reading. I told customer it was either an intermittent or one-time event, no reasonable way to fix problem that did not exist at the time I was there.

I know there have been many threads on this subject but am not having much luck finding.

How should I procede? I would'nt mind spending a few hours troubleshooting if I can learn from it, but do not want to start a huge project to solve what is probably a minor issue.
 
Not trying to be an ass, but what was the other end of the hose doing at the time? Was it connected to some electric appliance maybe?
 
Well there was an electric sprayer involved but I'm not sure if it was connected at the time.

I also left out some details that only remembered after posting question, also went and checked again after rain shower:

2nd time I checked (after rain) got same result.

I said it was mobile home, got to thinking about steel frame, however hose bib is mounted to masonary underpinning.

Ran enough hot water to see that elements coming on had no effect on reading, also AC and stove.


So do I tell my customer that I can't find voltage, call me if it happens again?
 
readydave8 said:
Well there was an electric sprayer involved but I'm not sure if it was connected at the time.
Click to expand...
I would sure try to duplicate the conditions in order to diagnose the conditional problem. Time of day and day of week could be important depending on location and nearby large loads or power facilities. Do they have a well and was it running?

Another possibility is transferred voltage. Try reading to the service ground as well as some remote earth points (metal fence, UG metal pipe, etc.). Also try some local possibilities (neighbor's metal and bonds including house and well).

You can help, even if you have to spend every penny those poor folks have.:p
 
Personally have come across energized (aluminum screen door) ( metal casement windows) (Kitchen Faucet) and (Concrete floor)
You need to run a ground wire (use to use a piece of #12 thhn) back to the meter pedestal and bond it to the neutral.
Then check for voltage between the hose bib and the wire. Checking to ground (earth is useless)

THe concrete floor was in a muffler shop ( had 50 to 70 volts fluctuating)
the complaint was the employees were getting shocked when working on cars only in the winter when it was snowing.
Ran a piece of #12 back to the service and walked around the shop probing
I found the voltage when I probed the puddles of water or slush on the floor.
Could not find anything on the car lifts,conduits etc

shut down the main (voltage gone)
Found and abandoned conduit ( used to be a gas station) with a seal off.
Current flow was 8 to 12 amps.
Best guess was probably mesh in concrete was energized from damaged, abandoned,conductor. (and not bonded LOL)
have to admit it scared the hell out of me when I found voltage on the concrete floor.
 
I'd suggest asking the customer to replicate the event. They could still be leaving out details.
 
Key words here were "RAIN SHOWER"

Stray voltage in the ground is worse during dry weather. So if there was a rain shower between the time the customer got shocked, and when you came to investigate, you won't find anything.

Rain showers tend to dampen any stray voltages present.

You have to check it again after a long dry spell.

Look around, and see if there are any high-voltage transmission lines nearby. Or power substations, etc. While those can be culprits, a bad primary concentric can also cause such problems to manifest, especially if the stray voltage remains even with the main breaker switched off.

IF that is the case, you will need to expand your search involving the power company...
 
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