I have just found to my surprise that if i touch my stainless steel sink and the metal interior of my dishwasher at the same time i get a quite un-healthy shock! In fact when i put a meter across the 2 it shows approx 80v!!! This is obviously quite worrying and any advice what might be causing it would be welcome.....
Electric shock treatment
- Thread starter sweb74
- Start date
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1) Have you got one of those socket testers with the three neon lights on it? try plugging that into the socket you use for the dishwasher
2) then put the multimeter on continuitity and test for continuity between the earth pin on the plug and the metal of the dishwasher, do the same with the live
(there should be a good connection between earth and the case, and nothing between live and the case)
3) also a pic of the fusebox area wouldn't go amiss
editted for clarity
2) then put the multimeter on continuitity and test for continuity between the earth pin on the plug and the metal of the dishwasher, do the same with the live
(there should be a good connection between earth and the case, and nothing between live and the case)
3) also a pic of the fusebox area wouldn't go amiss
editted for clarity
Lacking in a socket tester.
On checking for continuity good connection between earth and case and nothing between live and the case?
Just found that I get the same reading of 80v between washing machine and sink, getting more concerned!
how much detail of ancient fuse box area would you need?
Thanks
On checking for continuity good connection between earth and case and nothing between live and the case?
Just found that I get the same reading of 80v between washing machine and sink, getting more concerned!
how much detail of ancient fuse box area would you need?
Thanks
I went to a similair fault that you are having and found out it was a fault with an in-line water heater causing all of the pipework to become live this mixed was the fact there was no bonding no rcd protection of any kind on a TT system led to an Extermly dangerous situation..
however at best in your situation it is a faulty washing machine (still very dangerous situation) and at worst there is a fault elswhere causing all of the pipework to become live (extremely dangerous situation)
It may sound extreme but you really should be considering turning off the power untill the fault is found and fixed..
however at best in your situation it is a faulty washing machine (still very dangerous situation) and at worst there is a fault elswhere causing all of the pipework to become live (extremely dangerous situation)
It may sound extreme but you really should be considering turning off the power untill the fault is found and fixed..
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Possibly a Potentially dangerous condition.
Seek urgent expert help.
As a Rule of Thumb (and only a rule of thumb remember not carved in stone and varies with prevailling conditions).
up to 50V might be considered safe in normal dry conditions (a telephone is 50V but even then would be dangerous in a bathroom)
70v ish is the voltage that might kill you.
0volts is the ideal you should really be striving for or close to it in real life.
Seek urgent expert help.
As a Rule of Thumb (and only a rule of thumb remember not carved in stone and varies with prevailling conditions).
up to 50V might be considered safe in normal dry conditions (a telephone is 50V but even then would be dangerous in a bathroom)
70v ish is the voltage that might kill you.
0volts is the ideal you should really be striving for or close to it in real life.
yes, get a pro in.
(looking at card on floor) is that a token meter?
Could you take another picture from the front? (i'm
intrigued because we sell hundreds of tokens at work, but
i have never actually used / seen a token meter in real life!)
And those wylex boards - are getting a bit dated now.
Probably still safe, but no RCD protection
(looking at card on floor) is that a token meter?
Could you take another picture from the front? (i'm
intrigued because we sell hundreds of tokens at work, but
i have never actually used / seen a token meter in real life!)
And those wylex boards - are getting a bit dated now.
Probably still safe, but no RCD protection
50v is considered the safe touch voltage.
Lets have a photo head on to the meter and service fuse. Also head on to the CU we cant see from the front.
NO rcd's present? And earthing doesn't seem to eminate from the service head area.....
Umm, not good.
Any L to E fault, even of fairly high impedance will give a rise of volts to earthed metalwork. Any metalwork that is at 'mother earth' potential will be at 0v. If your washer, dishwasher etc is rising in volts on it's earth..........you have a potential difference........of 80v as you have seen.
Lets have a photo head on to the meter and service fuse. Also head on to the CU we cant see from the front.
NO rcd's present? And earthing doesn't seem to eminate from the service head area.....
Umm, not good.
Any L to E fault, even of fairly high impedance will give a rise of volts to earthed metalwork. Any metalwork that is at 'mother earth' potential will be at 0v. If your washer, dishwasher etc is rising in volts on it's earth..........you have a potential difference........of 80v as you have seen.
Might be the couple of pints i've had, but if you follow the middle earth cable it looks like from met, it looks like the end has been stripped but is not connected to anything.
Does the cu to the left have any earth ?
Does the cu to the left have any earth ?
hi guys
thanks for all the info, i will endeavor to to get a front on pic of the whole meter etc uploaded asap, in the meantime dishwasher & washing machine off limits to the huge annoyance of the wife!!!
thanks for all the info, i will endeavor to to get a front on pic of the whole meter etc uploaded asap, in the meantime dishwasher & washing machine off limits to the huge annoyance of the wife!!!
Just to clarify the earth cable discussion the wire that is disconected used to connect to an economy 7 box that has been disconected.
sweb74, Did you get to the bottom of this problem? I am currently (pardon the pun) experiencing the exact same thing with my dishwasher and would like to know if, and how you resolved it.
i agree with getting the problem solved but volts dont kill people, you can take any number of volts and be okay there is a video on youtube of a guy getting 50k volts and being "treated for minor injury". AMPS are what kill they do the serious damage!!! anyway mate get it sorted and keep us posted!
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