Live bath taps

[gazza30]

I have 24v live voltage to my bath taps
I have checked and tested all of the earth bonding and this is fine i have run a new 10mm earth cable from the consumer unit to the copper pipe connecting the bath taps and the voltage is still present.
I have had an electrician in to look at this and after charging me £50.00 said that he could find nothing wrong but agreed with me about the live voltage to the taps.
looking at the electric meter the earth wire to that is only 4mm could this be the problem and do i need the electric company to change this.
does anybody have any ideas that may help me?.

 

[andy]

I have 24v live voltage to my bath taps
I have checked and tested all of the earth bonding and this is fine i have run a new 10mm earth cable from the consumer unit to the copper pipe connecting the bath taps and the voltage is still present.
I have had an electrician in to look at this and after charging me £50.00 said that he could find nothing wrong but agreed with me about the live voltage to the taps.
looking at the electric meter the earth wire to that is only 4mm could this be the problem and do i need the electric company to change this.
does anybody have any ideas that may help me?.

whats it live to?

 

[breezer]

perhaps you have it the wrong way round, your taps may be earthed (as they should) and something else is live? so as post above says "what is it live to?

 

[gazza30]

If you put a small amount of water in the bath and place a voltage tester one end in the bath and the other on the tap you get a live reading off of them.
Also if you are in the bath and touch the taps you get a shock.

 

[kendor]

If you put a small amount of water in the bath and place a voltage tester one end in the bath and the other on the tap you get a live reading off of them.
Also if you are in the bath and touch the taps you get a shock.

So much for the theory about water being non conductive then Re Bonding posts.

 

[coshhassessor]

Water is (essentially) non-conductive WHEN IT IS ULTRA PURE!

Lab-grade water uses resistance as a measure of purity, with 18megaohms per cm set as the "standard".

The less pure the water, especially in terms of dissolved mineral salts, the better it conducts. Remember, they used salt water on the cap on the electric chair to get a good contact!

 

[kendor]

Water is (essentially) non-conductive WHEN IT IS ULTRA PURE!

Lab-grade water uses resistance as a measure of purity, with 18megaohms per cm set as the "standard".

The less pure the water, especially in terms of dissolved mineral salts, the better it conducts. Remember, they used salt water on the cap on the electric chair to get a good contact!

The comment was in relation to the posts in the past about necessity of bonding and some said that water can not introduce a hazard as it is not conductive enough but here is a prime example that it can conduct.

 

[mapj1]

You need to be asking 'why is my bath live relative to the taps' Is the waste pipe metal, is the bath itself metal are all these things connected together. ???

Also what makes it go off - does the voltage persist with the lighting circuit isolated/ the imersion heater isolated/ the central heating if you have etc, try them one by one - this will be a big clue - it may not even be your electricity - it could be a neighbours house with a shared water or drain plumbing who has a serious earth fault current flowing

Also do not rule out the chance that the 'earth' at the company board is not really at 'terra firma' earth potential. Can you drive tempory earrth stake into the garden (a garden fork in deep with a bucket of salty water poured over it will be a good enough test electrode for quick voltage only check) and a long lead indoors to measure between terrrafirma and variosu bits of your installation. expect less than 6V.

What exactly did this electrician do for his £50 - we need to know what has already been elimineated from the enquiries.

What is your supply type (TT, TNS, PME (yuk!) -look in the reference archive to see what to look for )) this may also have bearing.

let us know- this needs fixing quickly.

 

[gazza30]

My bath and waste are both plastic the last section of pipe to the taps and the tap connecters are also plastic.
The electrician for his £50 tested the earth bonding the consumer unit's earth and all of the earth wires one by one in the consumer unit.
I have checked the rest of the taps in the house i.e kitchen and toilet etc band these are all fine (no voltage at all)
My main stop cock for the mains water in also in the bathroom and the first the connected off of it is the bath.
My electric supply is tn-cs.
Thanks for your help so far Mike

 

[jtaunton]

It will be no consolation to hear that this sounds impossible, but anyway....

The voltage cannot be betwen the water and the taps. It must exist between something that is touching the water and the taps. Can you measure between, say, the plughole and the tap ? Even so, there must be something holding each at a certain potential for a potential difference to exist.

Is there any chance it can be a static shock ?

 

[gazza30]

no it cannot be static as the shock is constant and not a one off shock
Is it possible it may be comming from my boiler?.
Between the plug hole and the taps there is 24v.

 

[andy]

no it cannot be static as the shock is constant and not a one off shock
Is it possible it may be comming from my boiler?.
Between the plug hole and the taps there is 24v.

is there any cross bonding on the boiler?

have you earthed the taps to the waste outlet?

 

[gazza30]

I do not know if there is cross bonding on the boiler and all of the bath waste is plastic and cannot be bonded.

 

[andy]

I do not know if there is cross bonding on the boiler and all of the bath waste is plastic and cannot be bonded.

so the waste pipe is plastic, and the fitting on the end is metal. yet you get a shock form the touching that and the taps?

next question then: are the taps live or the plughole live
try testing between bath plughole and sink taps, sink plughole and bath taps

 

[gazza30]

it is the taps because if i sut the water off and disconnect the taps and drain the water from the pipes and then test there is no voltage present.
my sink taps and the water inlet for the toilet are doing the same thing but the problem is only in the bathroom.
p.s the plug hole on the bath is also plastic.