Static electricity?????

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Fishn sparky

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Washington State
Good afternoon gents,

New home owner moving into a 2006 built home. Home owner stated that when he touches either switches or receptacles face plate screws, he receives a shock. I went out to see what the issue was. Upon arrival I went upstairs to where the issue is and noticed myself that upon touching the trim screws a small shock occurred. After receiving the shock, I touched the switch again and no shock. Same situation with receptacles upstairs. Steps taken to identify the problem:

  1. Went to main panel and pulled off equipment grounds and tested for voltage between EGC's and GEC. No voltage present between.
  2. Verified GEC is complete and intact.
  3. Measured voltage at receptacles upstairs. 120V to ground and neutral and no voltage between ground and neutral.

I noticed that the upstairs is wall to wall carpet. I was wearing rubber soled slippers when I received the shock. Home owner wearing socks. I went to the main floor to check for the same situation and nothing. Main floor has hardwood flooring in most areas and carpet in family room.

Diagnosis, static discharge? I have been in numerous homes and have not noticed this. Home owner also said it is more prevalent when all fire places are running. These are gas fire places with electronic ignitors. I was unable to turn these on because he was having them serviced and did not want to turn them on.

In your opinion what would be the best way to identify the problem? If static electricity, home owner will receive small shock when touching switches and receptacles upstairs? Really, that can't be.

Thoughts?????
 
Yes it can be

Yes it can be

It is quite common.

Since you said it happened more with fireplaces on that is a big clue, static builds up in dry air.

The fix

Wood or plastic plates with plastc screws.

Add a humidifier to the rooms or main house AC/Heat.
 
I grew up in a house like that. All electric heat except for the fireplace. We would shuffle our feet up good and then sneak up behind someone (mostly my sister) and touch their earlobe. Big snap! It hurt, too! (I know, she did it to me when she could).

Then she got her ears pierced.

I still laugh when I think about zapping her metal ear rings!
 
its not really possible to have static build up on the metal parts of the electrical system (this home system). is such static being built up on the body ??

its WA state, i cant imagine the rel humidity being that low for a fireplace to cause house air to build up static charge. is there a HVAC blower running when this happens?

i suspect carpet is the issue.
 
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K8MHZ said:
At the house where I zapped my sister, one of my chores was filling up the humidifier. It went through about 4 gallons a day in the winter.
Click to expand...

We had one upstairs and one down stairs, chugging away all winter long.

I would say do the carpet shuffle test to confirm static. I see the OP is in Washington state. I believe the coastal region is technically classified as a rain forest and so may only rarely see low humidity conditions. The fireplaces running will certainly help to drop the relative humidity.
 
FionaZuppa said:
its not really possible to have static build up on the metal parts of the electrical system (this home system). is such static being built up on the body ??

its WA state, i cant imagine the rel humidity being that low for a fireplace to cause house air to build up static charge. is there a HVAC blower running when this happens?

i suspect carpet is the issue.
Click to expand...

Well, I am in Michigan, about 7 miles from Lake Michigan and we got zapped from touching the cover plates all the time. And the carpet, I think, was the issue. This was new carpet in a new house.
 
hmmm, doest really get below 50% in Lake Michigan.
Spokane gets near 28% as a low in August

the carpet (plastic) is giving them grief. maybe try wearing those socks that have the copper fibers in them ;)
 
I've not needed to use this sort of stuff, so can give no real world feedback. However:
http://ultrastatinc.com/static_carpet_spray.html
https://www.amazon.com/ACL-Staticide-AntiStatic-Liquid-32/dp/B002WWNLVO

To measure 'static electricity' you need a very very very high impedance meter, called an 'electroscope'.

You know how you have problems with 'phantom voltage' with an ordinary electronic meter because of high impedance? Well to measure 'static' electricity the impedance of an ordinary electronic meter is way to low. Electroscopes are either very fancy (and expensive) electronic instruments, or simple cheap mechanical things that work by having some light weight foil repelled by the static electricity.

For example: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008AK7YGA/ref=asc_df_B008AK7YGA5252349/

So if you want to measure and demonstrate the static prior to the shock you would need to get an electroscope...or you can just try the spray.

-Jon
 
FionaZuppa said:
hmmm, doest really get below 50% in Lake Michigan.
Spokane gets near 28% as a low in August

the carpet (plastic) is giving them grief. maybe try wearing those socks that have the copper fibers in them ;)
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that the 50% is at that temperature. So if it's 50% outside at 32 degrees, when it warms up to indoor temperature, say 68 degrees, it will decrease to around 15%.
 
Stebs said:
Keep in mind that the 50% is at that temperature. So if it's 50% outside at 32 degrees, when it warms up to indoor temperature, say 68 degrees, it will decrease to around 15%.
Click to expand...
i dont believe so, at least not according to the historical humidity charts i was looking at.
 
Stebs said:
Keep in mind that the 50% is at that temperature. So if it's 50% outside at 32 degrees, when it warms up to indoor temperature, say 68 degrees, it will decrease to around 15%.
Click to expand...
That is correct.
http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/sites/default/files/psychrometric-chart-quantities-carrier.jpg

But relative humidity is one of the most difficult concepts to explain/understand. Suffice it to say that raising the INDOOR humidity will usually eliminate the static-electricity nuisance and is usually necessary when it's cold outside, even in apparently-humid places.
 
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