Why am I getting a shock?

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Sparky220

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So I get to a new house to add a new circuit, which is irrelevant, but every light switch that I touch I get a shock from the cover plate screw(s). Every time and very unpleasant . What is this from?
 
Shock with respect to what?
Another words you touch the cover plate and where is the other hand touching?
 
edward said:
Shock with respect to what?
Another words you touch the cover plate and where is the other hand touching?
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This is the,thing I'm not touching anything else really, my shoes are on and it's hardwood flooring, but all I am doing is turning the switch on or off.. Is this static? Every switch in the house did this, felt just like a static shock. And in the dark you can see it coming from the cover plate screws. I have never encountered this anywhere
 
If it were phantom voltage from 60Hz capacitive coupling it would be continuous while touching the screws.
An instant of spark pretty conclusively identifies static.
It is more likely that you are building up the voltage via shoe to floor or clothing to upholstery friction.
Is this more noticeable when the air in the house is dry?

Are the switches very old design?
Is the switch yoke not grounded?

mobile
 
Sparky220 said:
This is the,thing I'm not touching anything else really, my shoes are on and it's hardwood flooring, but all I am doing is turning the switch on or off.. Is this static? Every switch in the house did this, felt just like a static shock. And in the dark you can see it coming from the cover plate screws. I have never encountered this anywhere
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Does the cover plate shock you before or only after the actuation of the switch? I don't believe static to be a good enough answer because eventually static will dissipate if you do this repeatedly. It's possible the switch is not properly bonded
 
Objectionable Current can cause this. You could have a neutral touching something grounded. Shut off the main and see if it's still happening.
 
Electricalartist said:
Objectionable Current can cause this. You could have a neutral touching something grounded. Shut off the main and see if it's still happening.
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No, that cannot be the cause.

From the OP.

This is the,thing I'm not touching anything else really, my shoes are on and it's hardwood flooring, but all I am doing is turning the switch on or off.
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If the person is only touching an energized plate they will not get shock from line voltage sources.
 
Besoeker said:
Would you get a static shock off something that is grounded?
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It's very common in the dry winters in Michigan. When the air gets so dry you hear static crackles when you take off a sweatshirt, you can really get a good static zap. A couple days ago I got one off the water faucet. The ones off the faucets and other grounded objects hurt more than the ones you get by shuffling your feet on the carpet and then lightly touching your sister's ear lobe.

:angel:
 
K8MHZ said:
It's very common in the dry winters in Michigan. When the air gets so dry you hear static crackles when you take off a sweatshirt, you can really get a good static zap. A couple days ago I got one off the water faucet. The ones off the faucets and other grounded objects hurt more than the ones you get by shuffling your feet on the carpet and then lightly touching your sister's ear lobe.

:angel:
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I'd certainly get a nasty belt if I tried that..............:D
 
K8MHZ said:
In my case, it was always 'turn about is fair play'.

She has done the same thing to me more than once. What love we had for each other when we were kids!
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I was going to ask if you still do this?

So far it sounds like this is what the OP is experiencing, static discharge, especially if he is seeing a spark, under 600 volts from the AC supply will not jump the gap like that, but the static charge is at thousands of volts but has very low current and will only last a moment and you are then "discharged". Walking across the room may charge you enough though to have it happen again when you touch another object at a different potential.
 
Sounds like static to me. We get it up here when the winter air dries the house out. I like the idea of shutting the main off to test if it still does it to prove it's static.
 
Ugh! Two pages trying to figure out something you should have learned as a kid. STATIC ELECTRICITY. I've had the exact same thing happen to me when I touch a wall plate all the time. :happyyes:

-Hal
 
Try new/different shoes. You are building up static electricity as you move, and any time you touch something conductive at a lower potential (which is everything when you have 10kV+ built up on you), you are discharging it. Thru the fingertips is the most painful, try discharging the static by touching a surface with the back of your hand.

Grounding makes zero difference for static electricity discharge in the manner you describe. If you bonded yourself (dont) to the service, you would never accumulate a charge in the first place.

If the HOs are complaining about this too, you can use plastic screws on the wallplates, tho when they touch anything metal, like a sink faucet, they would still get shocked.

If there were a fault in the house's electrical, you would get a continued shock rather than a one-time zap from touching wallplates and the like. and the odds of numerous branch circuits failing like that is so close to zero as to be improbable.
 
JFletcher said:
Try new/different shoes. You are building up static electricity as you move, and any time you touch something conductive at a lower potential (which is everything when you have 10kV+ built up on you), you are discharging it. Thru the fingertips is the most painful, try discharging the static by touching a surface with the back of your hand.

Grounding makes zero difference for static electricity discharge in the manner you describe. If you bonded yourself (dont) to the service, you would never accumulate a charge in the first place.

If the HOs are complaining about this too, you can use plastic screws on the wallplates, tho when they touch anything metal, like a sink faucet, they would still get shocked.

If there were a fault in the house's electrical, you would get a continued shock rather than a one-time zap from touching wallplates and the like. and the odds of numerous branch circuits failing like that is so close to zero as to be improbable.
Click to expand...

Or, the HO could buy a humidifier and use it. That works every time.
 
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