Electricity feeling while showering

[zrkmas]

Before year and a half or two I started noticing that while taking a shower I can feel some kind of an electricity when touching the faucet or when holding the shower head (I have a metal bathtub which has the shower feature).
For the first couple of months only I could feel this (sometimes I wouldn't feel it at all), but later my parents could feel the electricity too. Later it seemed that the electricity became stronger (from tingling to "buzzing" or something) so I was only taking baths.
Finally we hired an electrician who told us that the water heater (with a tank, and yes it was always off when I was showering) had some loose wires or wasn't connected to earth (can't remember exactly), so he fixed it.
And now, like a year later I once again felt weak electricity when I was taking a shower. We hired another electrician who said that there was a voltage between the faucet (shower) and the bathtub of 6 volts.
He than connected the tub with a 4mm diameter wire to the earth and claimed that the problem was fixed and he equalized electric potential between those two.
He was also checking the earthing and I assume it was ok since he wasn't mentioning a fault of that to us.
So I'm interested if this really solved the problem and is it safe now?

We don't have a GFCI (quite old house), so the electrician said that he would come these days to install one but only for the bathroom (he said that he couldn't for the whole house, I guess the problem is physical).
So if the potentials are equaled and the earthing is OK, what's going on with that small electricity which previously preferred me over the earthing?

 

[stef]

Ask an electrician to check the external loop impedance and the circuit impedance, also check the
earthing arrangements on your distribution boar and incoming supply cable. Can you locate
the main earth terminal (MET)? If so check for faulty connections. Also all pipe work in the bathroom has to be
earth bonded.

 

[Darkwood]

I got an uneasy feeling reading your thread, are you sure these electricains were qualified.
Firstly had the first electrician done his job right their should have been no way the situation could arise again and as for the second electrician his method to cure it may have worked but he hasnt eleminated the cause only giving it an alternative lower resistive route.
I recommend you dont use your shower and i would like to know if its electric or tank fed, i would get in someone to inspect your full installation as the problem may be further back e.g. the bonding to gas/water.
You may think 6v as you've been told isnt alot but when your drenched in water your resistance is at its lowest but im a little cautious about what this electrician knows anyway, if you can feel the voltage tingling you then it poses a risk.

Ask an electrician to check the external loop impedance and the circuit impedance, also check the
earthing arrangements on your distribution boar and incoming supply cable. Can you locate
the main earth terminal (MET)? If so check for faulty connections. Also all pipe work in the bathroom has to be
earth bonded.

You are half right in what you say but all pipework in the bathroom dosnt always require supplementary bonding if it meets criteria met in the 17th edition of the regs under special installation although in a sense it should be equipotentially bonded at its origin if thats what you meant.

 

[zrkmas]

Should this MET be somewhere near the fuses, electric counter or what? I'll check around tomorrow. I assume that he checked those things as an electrician (those are first a basic things to check when the people who hired you complain about these kind of things I'd say), though.

darkwood, that got me "surprised" too and that's one of the reasons I'm posting this on the internet.
Yeah he definitely did not find the fault, but by bonding did he make the life threat (or any threat for a human) go away actually?

The shower is tank fed. Also, after he earthbonded the bathtub those 6V were gone.

 

[Graeme Harrold]

Should this MET be somewhere near the fuses, electric counter or what? I'll check around tomorrow. I assume that he checked those things as an electrician (those are first a basic things to check when the people who hired you complain about these kind of things I'd say), though.

darkwood, that got me "surprised" too and that's one of the reasons I'm posting this on the internet.
Yeah he definitely did not find the fault, but by bonding did he make the life threat (or any threat for a human) go away actually?

The shower is tank fed. Also, after he earthbonded the bathtub those 6V were gone.

I have 1 question, are you talking about an installation in the UK? Your first post make me think your in Canada or the US ??? GFCI to you is RCD to us..........

 

[zrkmas]

Nope, I'm from Serbia. But when I was searching for these topics on the internet I guess I got some US names.

And yeah I see this site is UK based but I thought you could help me anyway