Wierd wiring problem

[mo2]

I've now discovered that I only get a shock from the light switch when we stand on the bare concrete floor.... And it's not as bad as I initially thought, it just seemed a lot worse than it was

However, my wife is finding it annoying, so I've been given permission to get an electrician in(Ye I know, I'm under the thumb). Can anyone recommend an electrician around the Lancaster area? It's probably quite a lot of work for someone, as there's some other pre-existing problems *ahem* that I haven't mentioned here.

dont forget, I read through the topic, you can get the spark to use surface mounting and disconnect all the old cables and leave them in place

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Index/Trunking_Pvc_Index/index.html

and I think I have to agree with everybody else, dont risk the life you have or of the people around you

 

[philrosenberg]

Hi Tony
I'm writing this post because I am/have been in similar situations. I am a diyer, I'm not a spark, but i have done all the electrical work in our house myself and I have got I think a fairly good understanding of electrics.
I know very well that it is an absolute a*** to have to do work, then do it again. Me and my girlfriend have been living in a building site for a year now, at 25 I've had to spent practicaly every evening, weekend and penny on our house at the expense of my life and to an extent our relationship and definitely my bank balance which is well into the red.
However I am going to tell you something abut that scket that you clearly haven't realised yet. That lightswitch faceplate is LIVE. Again it's LIVE. If you were to connect a long wire from neutral to near the switch and touch it to that switch it would spark, probably a lot. It is LIVE!!! That is the one and only reason you are geting shocks of it. You might be now thinking if it's at 240V it shuld blast us accross the room when we touch it, this guy is an idiot, what's he talking about. Well I assure you I am not an idiot, I have a degree in physics and astronomy and I am currently studying for a PhD in space science and am working currently also working for the European Space Agency on their exploration strategy.

The way you get electrocuted is that when you touch a live wire a and a source of Earth (or neutral) at the same time a current passes from live through you to Earth (or neutral) such as your concrete floor. The amount of current depends on the resistance (high resistance = low current and vica versa) and the higher the current the more likely you are to die.
If you are wearing shoes or on the carpet that increases the resistance and lowers the current, so far you haven't died. Luckily for you dry skin is a pretty poor conductor so when you touch the switch in your bare feet on the concrete floor you got a good jolt but so far have not died. However as soon a skin gets wet its resistance decreases so the shock you get wil increase. If you got out of the shower stood on your concrete floor and touched the switch I would say you have a fairly high risk of dieing or being seriously hurt. If you come in from the rain, take your wet boots off stand on a slightly damp carpet (maybe because your feet are a bit wet too) and touch that switch I would guess you have a good chance of injuring or killing yourself. If your wife goes to the kitchen rinses you off a bowl of strawberries for desert after your anniversary dinner and touches this switch with wet hands then SHE MIGHT DIE!!!

As a fellow skint DIYer with a partner who hates our home being building site I will tell you what I would recommend you do and what I would do if I were you. After I'd read this I would turn off my PC I would go to my conumer unit and turn off the power. I would go to my girlfriend and appologise but explain the situation and that I had found out that that lightswitch is actually more dangerous than we though and could actually give us a real electric shock to the extent of killing or injuring us. I guess you probaby don't want to start trying to disconnect stuff yourself, but if you do know enough about how a house is wired then disconnect all the rubber insulated wires safely and once you are sure that there are no more live exposed parts or rubber wires on the circuit book an electrician for as soon as possible and turn the power back on. Otherwise you will either have to live without electricity until a spark can come round or call an emergency spark to come round asap to make the site safe for you.

If you do not do this you could kill your wife!

If the love of your wife is not enough to make you do this then you are an a***hole. But here are some other reasons you might want to do this. Now you know this information, if your wife dies there is probably a possibility you could be held on manslaughter charges. You are also by law now required to inform any potential buyers of your house that the electrics are faulty and dangerous. This will obviously knock thousands off the value of your house and of course if you do not tell them there may be legal repercussions, especially if the new buyer is electrocuted.

As was stated earlier you could have surface trnking put up until you are ready to bite the bullet and chase the new wiring into the plaster. The rubber wiring does not have to be physically removed, just disconnected.

I hope this has sunk in and I hope that you don't think I was being patronising because that wasn't my aim, I'm just trying to emphasise the seriousness of your situation.

Phil