washing machine shocking

[Greg1707]

My son is living in Barcelona. Users of the washing machine were shocked when touching the metal agitator. The landlord sent over an electrician that solved the problem my making an adjustment to the receptacle outlet. I am assuming there was an issue with proper grounding. Would not the real problem be with the equipment? There must have been a live wire touching the metal frame?
How could grounding solve the problem?

 

[petersonra]

As a qualified electrician you know full well that there is no way to tell what happened from the description you are giving about what happened.

 

[kwired]

We need to know more about what is typical for that kind of equipment and the wiring methods used to be able to answer the question.

The supply system is likely 220-240 volts 50hz with one conductor being a grounded conductor and a third conductor that is used similarly as the equipment grounding conductor in NEC installations.

 

[GoldDigger]

If the grounding pin in the receptacle connector was mistakenly connected to a hot wire, that would lead to tremendous shock hazard with nothing wrong with the washer.
If the grounding pin was not connected at all, there might have been a very small, allowable leakage current to the washer frame which would cause no voltage with the ground connected but deliver a perceptible shock without it.
Or there may have been excessive leakage in the machine which was just covered with a band aid rather than being fixed.

As stated earlier, you do not have enough information to tell what the problem was. Possibly only the electrician who did the work knows.

 

[mbrooke]

My best guess is either an open ground or a miswired receptacle placing 230 volts on the machine's metal parts. If the prior, the machine probably has a standing ground fault, or something leaking current to the frame.