Shocks off a bath

iwanttosave_2

black-saturn wrote:

Sounds like it's not been earthed. I get an electric shock when I touch metal sometimes (espcially in Woolworths) but it's usually once per item not every time I touch it.

I get them repleatedly, I must be highly charged. I can't touch anything round the TV area

Thats why I didn't think anything of it when I got it, but then OH tried it and got it himself.

BobProperty

iwanttosave wrote:

This bath is fully metal. I got the shock off the taps,.....

I think I'm more with moonrakerz after the last few posts. "Wanty" has probably discharged to earth through the taps. One question would be what were the old tap heads made of? They could have been plastic and the new ones are metal, so that would go a long way to explaining it, irrespective of whether the plumber who fitted the bath had cross-bonded the pipework.
Even if it is a metal bath, it is not likely to conduct electricity on the exposed areas. The surface is enamelled and the taps will most likely be sat on plastic washers therefore isolated from the bath (even without that they'd be resting on the enamelling)

BobProperty

iwanttosave wrote:

I get them repleatedly, I must be highly charged. I can't touch anything round the TV area

Thats why I didn't think anything of it when I got it, but then OH tried it and got it himself.

Were you holding onto him at the time? :rotfl:

moonrakerz

Perhaps I should expand on my previous post.

The overwhelming majority of "static shocks" are caused by an electrical charge ON the person involved discharging itself to earth. This might be a metal bath, a radiator or the door handle of your car. Cars are a popular misconception on this front; the so called 'earth straps' seen hanging from the back of cars are useless. In many cases they don't even touch the ground anyway, but the main reason is that the car is well earthed through its tyres which contain large quantities of carbon, which is one of the best electrical conductors known to man. You are discharging through the car, not the other way round.

Everyone carries a charge to some extent. That is why when working on sensitive electronic equipment you should wear an earthing bracelet.

If your bath was "live" and "not properly earthed" and you had been swilling water around in it - it is VERY unlikely that you would still be around to post your original query !!!!

The root cause of your problem is more likely to be your clothing or a man made fibre carpet.

robby-01

could be a problem with the main earth coming in.I have come across this type of fault ,usually kitchen sink that causes probs.
As the bath is metal it will need earthing,but it sound s like it allready is bonded to the earting system in the house.
Get a good sparks in .
The incoming earth at the suppliers facility or your earth rod needs checking.The equipotential bonding conductors to the incoming water and gas sevice pipes need checking.Also any supplementary bonding needs checking.
By checking I mean visually inspecting and also testing to prove they are working.
If you have had electrical work done in the bathroom these should have been done but are often skipped.
Do not listen to anyone going on about static .
This could be a very serious fault.
The pipework may appear earthed but the fault could lie beyond your house

BobProperty

robby-01 wrote:

......As the bath is metal it will need earthing.....

I'm still not convinced that is true, but I'll leave that argument at present.

I am concerned, as I said in post #9, that "the voltmeter is picking up nothing" as there are a lot more tests the electrician could or possibly should do to check out what is going on in line with what Robby-01 is saying.

robby-01

BobProperty wrote:

I'm still not convinced that is true, but I'll leave that argument at present.

I am concerned, as I said in post #9, that "the voltmeter is picking up nothing" as there are a lot more tests the electrician could or possibly should do to check out what is going on in line with what Robby-01 is saying.[/QUO

BS7671 onsite guide :section 4.5 page 26
there really is no argument to leave.
Could be a number of reasons for the voltmeter not picking up anything.What is the tester testing between?
what type of meter are they using,most diy'ers dont have a decent voltmeter and few would know how to use one effectively

baldelectrician

BobProperty wrote:

You also don't earth baths any more.

Wrong

If as bath is metal, the pipes are metal, and there are other electrics in the bathroom it all requires cross bonding.

see link to iee site.
http://www.iee.org/Publish/WireRegs/EarthingPlasticPipes.pdf

Dave_liverpool

iwanttosave wrote:

We have had the walls basically stripped back to the bare walls. New copper piping and a full refit (new 3-piece suite)

This bath is fully metal. I got the shock off the taps, so did OH but then he went back to check again and he got another shock, not sure where though. I thought it was just be at first, I seem to get chocked by anything with a bit of electricity, but with OH getting it too.

I did think that maybe he hadn't earthed it, but would have expected more of a shock than that.

Sounds to me like they have plumbed in a tin bath!

Is he a registered electrican, there are new rules concerning electics in Bathrooms.

Don't do this on the cheap or you may well live to regret shoddy workmanship or worse. Check on your estimate/invoice for his Corgi registration.

robby-01

why do you need corgi registration to install a bath?

The myth attached to these regs grows bigger by the minute.God help us