Very aggressive "static" shock?

[lle]

Hello all....I'm hoping someone can shed some light on this dilema.

A few months ago we did a renovation on a steel building. This building was totally gutted and changed into office spaces. The old service was completely disconnected and a new 208 3 phase was put in. We did all the steel bonding and grounding.

Now before the electric company even heated the building, in the offices we had experienced very extreme "static" shocks from the light switches.

We made an assumption that the temp power brought over from next door building vie extension cords may have had bare wire somewhere touching the steel and possibly sending a little voltage through the mc somwhere, and we had expected this problem to go away once the new service was heated up and thought maybe we had a temp stray voltage problem.

We were wrong.

So now we're back to square one.

The flooring that they put in is the floating wood kind on a foam type membrane which we feel might be the problem since it totally isolates you from any ground until you get to the switch boxes (which do have bonding jumpers in them)making the "static" shock pretty intense.

I'm not one to quibble over a little shock, you expect them in this field, but this is way to aggressive, especially for the people in the new offices who have never really gotten rapped before.

What can be done to alleviate this problem? Has anyone ever run into this situation before where the flooring may be the culprit?

Thanks......Dave

 

[jbwhite]

Re: Very aggressive "static" shock?

I have had that happen on carpet.

are you using vinal screws and covers?

 

[lle]

Re: Very aggressive "static" shock?

plastic plates and metal screws.....

I can see taking away the grounding plane with the plates and screws. Is the vinyl better in a situation like this than the plastic?

Did getting rid of the metal make a difference?

 

[hurk27]

Re: Very aggressive "static" shock?

This could be bad for the computers or any electronic equipment. Try telling then to use a anti-static spray on any floor covering (runners, throw rugs, etc...) and on furniture, Also try to get them to use anti-static stuff in their dryers, static can be at much higher levels if the air your in your area is dry, Try using a humidifier.