Tingling and Water Faucets

[bwright]

What causes an electrical tingling when turning on the water faucet? :roll:

Bill Wright, Jr.

 

[ptonsparky]

Improper bonding. Bad neutral connection. What are you touching when this happens, other than the faucet?

Hottest kiss I ever had was when the young wife was stiring the gravy in an old electric skillet with a metal spoon. My hand was on the sink when we decided to lock lips.

Get if fixed.

 

[cschmid]

I am with tom improper bonding..Yet it would be nice to have more info..like are you in a trailer house or a condo you know maybe outside at a faucet in the park..

 

[M. D.]

could be happening with a proper neutral and bond connection

this is an interesting atricle

[SIZE=-2][DOC][/SIZE]
Paper Electrical Shock FINAL Shower 1-25-99 1-27-00Rev

 

[M. D.]

In your interested this one is good too, ,.. If you find it is not a bad connection ,

Stray Voltage in North Carolina Part 2 of 3

 

[cschmid]

let us know the problem...

 

[Psychojohn]

If you have an elactric water heater, it could be a faulted heater element.

 

[LawnGuyLandSparky]

Improper bonding. Bad neutral connection. What are you touching when this happens, other than the faucet?

Hottest kiss I ever had was when the young wife was stiring the gravy in an old electric skillet with a metal spoon. My hand was on the sink when we decided to lock lips.

And? AND?!

 

[ptonsparky]

And? AND?!

What do you think...sparks flew. I was young.:grin:

 

[electricmanscott]

Had "tingle" in water pipes once. Was an egc run from a microwave receptacle to a cast iron drain pipe. The receptacle was shorted against the box causing current to flow on the egc to the pipe. All the drains were live and standing in the shower turning on the faucet caused that tingling feeling.

 

[tryinghard]

What causes an electrical tingling when turning on the water faucet? :roll: Bill Wright, Jr.

It?s usually fault current from a shorting electrical item common to your water system that is not correctly bonded but sometimes it?s stray current

Notice Mike Holt?s comments in ?Stray Voltage in North Carolina Part 2 of 3? in M.D.?s #5 post above, This article notes two reasons voltage/current appears on water pipes: "fault current" and "neutral current or as some call it "stray current."
Bonding [EGC] only exists to carry fault current to source to overload the breaker (instantaneously open the breaker clearing the circuit) in the event of a short [ground fault]. This is why bonding is so important, verify all your EGC?s are in place.
Stray current will appear on conductive items because of the neutral current is in parallel to earth by grounding the neutral at the service disconnect and at the utility transformer, so earth will have different levels of neutral current at different times.

One way to test is put your voltage tester on the items that you feel the shock then turn off & on one circuit at a time until it clears, if it never clears turn your main off and if it still does not clear you have stray voltage [neutral/stray current] ahead of your service disconnect. You should contact your utility service company to investigate their side if you have stray voltage.