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Thread: Tingling feeling in the shower

  1. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by GCE View Post
    Hi Ians

    We have been caught out twice looking for similar faults in a shower and to make it worse it was intermittent , so we thought.

    When the shower doors/panels were installed they managed to get a screw to just touch the live in a piece of twin and earth coming from a light switch . The shower doors would go live at 220v when the bathroom light was switched on .We were there during the day and my guys never thought to switch the lights on.
    Because the shower taps and drain etc were connected with pvc piping you only got a tingle and not the full 220v
    When I took a earth from the socket in the room next door and tested to the frame work we found the 220v with the light on.
    Has happened to me on two separate occasions , years apart.

    When the water ran down the frame into the drain and connected with the sewer line it appeared that the voltage was coming from the floor drain which was also pvc

    Worth a try using a earth from the sockets close by and switch on all lights , heated towel rails etc
    I have also had this experience.

    A double storey house... with a pvc drain... the water was leaking and running down the drain onto a conduit pipe and down into the ground floor DB

    I did run an earth from various plug points to check continuity and an earth from the main and sub DB's to check the earth.

    The earth point on the meter was finger tight ...the geyser bonding was done by twisting a wire around the pipe which got painted... and bonding straps between the steel drains on the old part of the house had been broken off... no lugs used on the earthing... the list just goes on.
    Last edited by ians; 07-Sep-19 at 12:08 PM.

  2. #12
    Platinum Member Derlyn's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ians View Post
    I use a fluke 1653 ...i do the loop impedance and line line impedance test and both are within spec.
    Hi Ians.

    My apologies.

    The loop tester that I use ( Toptronic T1825 ) does a loop test on the live and earth only.

    The PSCC test is done between live & neutral.

    Have checked out that Fluke 1653 that you use but EISH, a bit pricey for me.

    Hope you find the fault.

    I am still convinced that there is / was a bad neutral connection between the installation and supplier sub somewhere.

    Regards Derlyn

  3. #13
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    I think i found the root cause of the problem ... the tingling had stopped once i secured all the earthing points ... secured the bonding and fitted additional bonding outside ... but I believe all I had done is created an easier path for the leakage current.

    This week a circuit breaker feeding an outbuilding ... tripped and would not reset ... I opened the DB and disconnected the wiring on both sides ... found all the exposed junction boxes ... but couldnt find the joint between the conduit and the cable at the house ... I couldnt get to the conduit above the DB where it came out into the roof space ... tried opening the roof tiles ... but there was a gutter/channel above it ... eventually I got a long ladder ... managed to get it into the roof space and crawl to the lowest part of the roof space ... the 2 way box wasnt the connection point ... next step was to pull the ceiling down ... after pulling down the second sheet ... we found the conduit to cable joint in the eaves ... removed the cover and there it was ... a dead short between live and neutral.

    The plastic connectors which were not crimped using the correct tool had created a loose connection ... causing the wire insulation to melt to a point that the gap was close enough to generate a small current on the earth ... which over time had broken off or come loose in parts of the building ... that tingling problem was stopped ... but the root caue of the problem was present until now.

    I cut all the joints in the circuit and crimped them using the correct tool ... slipped some heat shrink over the ferulles and insulation tape to make sure there was no chance of a low insulation resistance ( by the way all the joint were done in round conduit boxes ... even the cable to conduit joints) carried out an insulation resistance test ... all clear (54 meg) 500v and 1000 v ... a 500 volt test was only reuired as it is a 230 v installation ... but did the 1000 v test just in case.
    Comments are based on opinion...not always facts....that's why people use an alias.

  4. #14
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    What did we learn form this little challenge ... a few things :

    It is always good to offer a full inpsection report on a building when you get a new customer ... especially if they start refering to you as "our electrician".

    Customer dont understand how things can go wrong 6 months or 2 years after you started doing work for them ... they just assume that if you fix one plug in the house ... the entire installation is now safe and up to standard ... no matter how absurd it sounds ... CYA with an email.

    Whatever you do ... DONT ... start telling them their electrical installation is F%^&* ... they dont want to hear it ... rather just make a note and email ... that way you CYA.

    I have a few customers who understand ... but in general most cusotmer just think you want to rip them off.
    Comments are based on opinion...not always facts....that's why people use an alias.

  5. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by ians View Post
    An update.

    .. other than testing with a duspol tester to see if the light comes on and it shows 230 v there is no much more they can do.

    Thats funny because its 100% true.

    You ask them to come investigate an incoming supply voltage that is below the allowed 10% and the technician pitches up with only a Duspol that measures either 100 V , 200 V , 400 V , 600V or 1.1 kV .

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