Extension cord

[rjwolfe3]

Not to hijack this thread (although it appears to be several discussions in the same thread, so I'm not sure who I'm hijacking it from) but tell me if this is weird? In my garage and basement there has been times that that I have gotten "tingled[:0]" by different power equipment. Normally it happens when bare (or wet) skin touches the concrete such as my foot, hand or knee while operated anything electrical. My dishwasher got my wife one day too when she touched running water in the faucet and the dishwasher together. No circuit breakers have ever tripped but it's kinda annoying to feel that buzz[xx(][B)]. I'm assuming it's a grounding problem but I guess the real question is, can it burn my house down (and all my pen making stuff, lol)? Feel free to PM me with an answer if I am hijacking this thread. Thanks.

 

[mwechtal]

Originally posted by rjwolfe3

Not to hijack this thread (although it appears to be several discussions in the same thread, so I'm not sure who I'm hijacking it from) but tell me if this is weird? In my garage and basement there has been times that that I have gotten "tingled[:0]" by different power equipment. Normally it happens when bare (or wet) skin touches the concrete such as my foot, hand or knee while operated anything electrical. My dishwasher got my wife one day too when she touched running water in the faucet and the dishwasher together. No circuit breakers have ever tripped but it's kinda annoying to feel that buzz[xx(][B)]. I'm assuming it's a grounding problem but I guess the real question is, can it burn my house down (and all my pen making stuff, lol)? Feel free to PM me with an answer if I am hijacking this thread. Thanks.

Uh, danger danger Will Robinson. (Dating myself there) It sounds like a bad ground. The ground is there to conduct stray voltage away in case of a malfunction. On the other hand, with no ground, no malfunction is necessary to get some rather dangerous voltage on metal parts. My MIL had that problem with an ungrounded electric stove. I measured as much as 60 volts between the bare metal parts and the sink drain. Which was rightnext to the stove.

It doesn't matter if it burns your house down or electrocutes you does it? It's more likely to kill you IMHO than burn the house down, but either is possible. Please get it fixed and be careful in the meantime.

Mike

 

[loglugger]

You are right your system isen't grounged, not a good thing.
Bob

 

[rjwolfe3]

Um, without running into the expense of hiring an electrician, is there a simple way to find a bad ground? I'm assuming it's the whole house since it happens in the garage, basement, and kitchen so far. House was built in the 50's, most of the wiring is original 2 wire and it's been going on for the last 3-4 years that I've been living here. And I'm serious about not affording an electrician and yes, I know my safety and my families does not have a price tag, it's just that I'm broke, lol. Feel free to PM me if you work (or play) with electricity.[:0][B)] Thanks.

 

[rherrell]

There should be a bare copper wire coming out of your electrical panel going to either a copper rod pounded into the ground or to a metal water pipe. I would start there and make sure the connections haven't come loose. If it's not as easy as that then by all means call an electrician.

 

[Hello]

Rob in Mansfield,
Is there a simple way to find this grounding problem that y'ure having?
Yes. Start looking - and perhaps stop working with the power tools in the meantime
Will it actually turn out to be simple? Hopefully....but if it were my house and luck, it would end up being in the most obscure and awkward place.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Originally posted by edman2

John, Thanks for the tip. I will check the receptacles for a loose wire. I had assumed it was a heat/cooling situation but didn't know what would cause it.
Frank, Thanks for the advise. If I don't find a loose wire in the receptacle, I have made the decision to not use my power tools again until I can have an electrician trace down the problem for me. Sure would hate to burn up all my pen blanks!

I am not very electrical savvy. In fact, I'm afraid to work on most electrical things. As a safety precaution, I have a small item that looks like a plug but it has three lights. Plug into an outlet, if all three come on everything is A-OK. Combinations of two of them reveal other problems. Where I live, we are somewhat fortunate to have a lot of retired folks around. I'll call a semi-retired electrician who works very reasonably to fix smaller problems. For big jobs that might be physically tasking on him, I'll call a professional company. Paying for this can be tough. But, I'm not real anxious for my wife and I to wake up dead in a pile of ashes one morning.

 

[jttheclockman]

Boy, these questions get more and more involved. A couple things that come into play and the biggest one is do you know what you are doing and from asking the question I would say no so I suggest hire an electrician. It will be money well spent. Please read my bottom statement.But if you are willing to look then I can make some suggestions. When an electrician go to look at a job the first question or series of questions they should ask is have you had any kind of work done or new appliance installed or plumbing done and things of that nature. Have you had any grounds keeping work done and so forth. Next listen to the complaints and you are saying you get tingles throughout the house and it is not only you. The thing here you will or try to eliminate is static electricity. Very prevalent in dry cold weather conditions. After satisfied I start at the panel and service because you say this is happening in all parts of the house. Being an older home and if no work has been done then there are two sources of grounds. The one that connects to the feed side of the water main with a jumper across the water meter. If the meter hasn't been changed recently then I doubt that would be the problem. If there is a ground rod driven outside which would be around the meter pan make sure that wire was not knocked off by a lawn mower or gardener. If that looks ok then you need to look in the panel and this is where I have a feeling the problem lies. The wires that I just mentioned coming from their respected places go to a ground bar and these connections must be tight. Along with those wires you will have individual wires which are usually bare or green insulated and they too must be tight. There must be a screw somewhere along that ground bar that makes a mechanical and an electrical connection between it and the panel itself. If all these things are in play and check out then the problem is somewhere else but I am betting not. While in there it is a great idea to check to make sure all neutrals and feed wires are tight. This is where an experienced person is really needed.Then we have to go into another set of questions like do you have any subpanels tied to your main panel??? Do you have any electrical appliances that require 220 volts like a dryer and tools.

Let me go on record right here and now because this is a dangerous situation and a qualified electrician should be looking into this. They come equiped with meters and knowledge that can not be printed out here. Giving advice about electrical situations of this nature is never a good thing to do. Trying to save a few dollars can inevitably cost you much more so please do not attempt this unless you take on the resposibilities. Remember this is only suggestions and without being there no one can tell you what to look for if you find another situation that is not right. Just to give you an example of something no one will tell you is do not put yourself between a ground wire and a grounding electrode. You do not want to be the path for that current to travel to get to its ground source. Good luck and hope you do the right thing.