Getting a shock .....

[timbalcombe]

From a recently installed fused socket.
The socket has a switch which controls the lights under my kitchen cupboards.
It seemed ok untill a cat came in and peed on it about 3 months ago.
I let it dry out, before using it.
About a month ago I get not a shock like a belt, but I can feel current, probably equivalent to 12v when the socket is switched (on or off)

It is a chrome socket and it seems that the current comes from where it meets the plastic part containing the fuse.

The guy who did the install has returned and re-earthed the socket, but I have now just felt a current in my finger.

What could be causing this?

 

[THRIPSTER]

Perhaps the socket is well earthed but you are standing on a live floor?

 

[timbalcombe]

concrete floor with trainers on.
Is there a fault with the socket perhaps?

 

[Welshy]

It seemed ok untill a cat came in and peed on it about 3 months ago.

Get rid of that darned Cat.

 

[timbalcombe]

he's gone!
Any ideas - perhaps some corrosion due to the pee?
It didn't happen for a month or so after the socket had dried out remember.

 

[securespark]

Is there a fault with the socket perhaps?

What does the test certificate the installer left you say?

 

[timbalcombe]

no test cert

 

[Lectrician]

Use your marigolds

 

[Mud Hut]

I used to fix videos and i tell you cat pee is about the most corrosive substance you can add to electrical equipment. As it dries it leaves a nasty crusty mess in its place.

 

[comms]

shock off a socket.................the bloke that called me out a few weekends back certainly got one it sent him across the kitchen, he was plugging a radio in & turned the gas down at the same time.
Kitchen fitter had changed sockets for metal faced + extended circuit undertook no testing at all so didn't know he'd put a screw throught the cable severing the cpc & caused a dead short between socket side cpc & phase.

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j293/gazjothomas/DSC00060.jpg

 

[Taylortwocities]

Didn't the RCD trip?

Or is the kitchen not on the ground floor?

 

[timbalcombe]

Holy cow, what a muppet.
I have check the wiring (with the power off) visualy only. I have no testers.

There must be some form of leakage somewhere as I don't get a belt, just the strong sensation and tingling.

Is this modification, a new socket from a spur, notifiable then?
I really like the bloke, but never got a cert.
Damn
He'll come back and change I reckon.

 

[ebee]

"The guy who did the install has returned and re-earthed the socket, but I have now just felt a current in my finger"

Can you explain this bit please?

 

[timbalcombe]

sure!
The guy who installed the kitchen came back and had a look. Could see no problem with the wiring, but told my partner he had re earthed the socket.
A few days after he had done this, I am still getting the electric sensation.
Eg the switch is turned on, so the flat of your finger naturally follows down with the plastic switch.
If a part of my finger then touches the chrome body, a shock is occassionally felt.
Is it possible that the switch is so naff that the actual connector inside is not insulated enough?
If it was a bad wire job, then surely I'd be thrown accross the kitchen now?

 

[Adam_151]

If its been urinated on by a cat, then the switches, etc will probably be coated in a slightly conductive (not to mention unhygenic) residue, when you touch the switch, this is connecting your finger to the live side of the supply through an impedance, and then when you make contcat with the crome, you complete the circuit to earth.

I recommend replacing the socket outlet (and banishing the cat!)