static shock on the gate

[davidst01]

We have a gap at the bottom of our gate and had dogs attacking my fury friend. I asked a guy to build a metal thing on each side of the gate. Its attached to the post at the bottom and we can swing it up (hinge attached) and attach it to the stone post using a metal hook. When we go out we put it back down on each side so that the gap is closed. 

 

Anyways today is the first time I received a really strong static shock when I touched the metal hook. It scared me a bit as it was strong. What can I do to avoid this. If I wear gardening gloves does that stop the shock or is that a stupid idea....

 

cheers

[carlyai]

We have a gap at the bottom of our gate and had dogs attacking my fury friend. I asked a guy to build a metal thing on each side of the gate. Its attached to the post at the bottom and we can swing it up (hinge attached) and attach it to the stone post using a metal hook. When we go out we put it back down on each side so that the gap is closed. 
 
Anyways today is the first time I received a really strong static shock when I touched the metal hook. It scared me a bit as it was strong. What can I do to avoid this. If I wear gardening gloves does that stop the shock or is that a stupid idea....
 
cheers

I'd be careful. Have you had a lot of rain and are you sure it's a static electric discharge?
If it is static electricity, if you earth the gate, that should fix the problem.

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[Crossy]

39 minutes ago, carlyai said:

I'd be careful. Have you had a lot of rain and are you sure it's a static electric discharge?
If it is static electricity, if you earth the gate, that should fix the problem.

Indeed, are you absolutely sure it was static? There was a recent case of a guy being killed apparently by a shock from his fence, of course there was never any follow-up in the English press so the real cause will remain a mystery.

 

Are your gates electrically powered, lighting?

 

Do you have any test gear, a multimeter, even a neon screwdriver?

 

Yes, gardening gloves will provide some protection, but isolating the source would be far better.

 

[davidst01]

1 hour ago, Crossy said:

Indeed, are you absolutely sure it was static? There was a recent case of a guy being killed apparently by a shock from his fence, of course there was never any follow-up in the English press so the real cause will remain a mystery.

 

Are your gates electrically powered, lighting?

 

Do you have any test gear, a multimeter, even a neon screwdriver?

 

Yes, gardening gloves will provide some protection, but isolating the source would be far better.

 

 

Actually theres a unused door bell button on that same post very close to the hook. I wonder if it is an electrical shock issue. It really gave me a shock when I touched it. 

 

I will have to get an electrician to check it

[r136dg]

30 minutes ago, davidst01 said:

Actually theres a unused door bell button on that same post very close to the hook. I wonder if it is an electrical shock issue. It really gave me a shock when I touched it. 

If you can cut the power to that doorbell do it, and get someone qualified to square things away out there. It may not be pretty if someone's standing in a puddle of water poking at that switch.

I recently heard a horror story similar to your situation.

[carlyai]

If you can cut the power to that doorbell do it, and get someone qualified to square things away out there. It may not be pretty if someone's standing in a puddle of water poking at that switch.
I recently heard a horror story similar to your situation.

Yes, the old doorbell on our Pattaya house was 220V. You will probably find the old push button door bells are.

AND, big AND, if it's an old installation, turning off the breakers may not isolate it. It could somehow be directly coming from the mains through no breakers.
I found this out in the Pattaya house when ripping out the old wiring for extensions. The main incoming line to the CU had a connection going to some fluros before the CU.

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[VocalNeal]

At least the shock will keep the dogs away?

[dotpoom]

I just put a role of "dakai" along my lower part of my gate to stop the cats from coming in to "do their business". That's how "she who must be obeyed" prounances the word for it .....Me, I just call it that "plastic fencing stuff".

Edited October 18, 2017 by dotpoom

[Confuscious]

On 17/10/2017 at 9:06 AM, davidst01 said:

 

Actually theres a unused door bell button on that same post very close to the hook. I wonder if it is an electrical shock issue. It really gave me a shock when I touched it. 

 

I will have to get an electrician to check it

When I rented my house, I had a few electric shocks when I try to open/close the gate.
The shocks were to heavy to be static shocks.
The only culprit that could generate these shocks was the doorbell at the gate.
I started to dig the cable out, and found out that a big chunk of the cable protection had been serving as SomTam to an ant family and thus exposing the electric wires.
Cut the electric doorbell wiring and replaced it with a (cheap) wireless doorbell.
Never felt the electric shocks again.

[Belzybob]

I'd discount the static issue too. Even if you were wearing all the wrong type of materials, rubbing up against the dog etc etc. then the most you'd get would be a bit of a noise, possibly a spark and a slight feeling as your grounded yourself.

 

Mind you, as an aside,  its fun to creep up on the wife while she's watching TV and ground yourself through her earlobe :-)

[Crossy]

19 minutes ago, Belzybob said:

Mind you, as an aside,  its fun to creep up on the wife while she's watching TV and ground yourself through her earlobe :-)

If I did that to mine it would be more dangerous (to me) than the 220V shock

 

These 220V doorbells really scare me, the bell pushes are hardly IP rated and are often out in the rain. For flips sake, we have had low-voltage doorbells in the UK since the 1960s or earlier.

 

Our "doorbell" is a 6" 220V fire bell (even I can hear it), the bell push is on the front gate a good 60m away. Yes it's 12V and works the bell via a relay. A little bit extra work and cost but infinitely safer.

 

EDIT Something like this:-

 

[bazza73]

It's highly unlikely the shock is caused by static electricity. For that, a very low humidity climate is required. And doing something like walking on a nylon or polypropylene carpet.

In normal or high humidity climates, any static electricity buildup dissipates very quickly.

[masuk]

It seems to be fairly common in some Asian countries to be a bit off-handed when it comes to electrical wiring and/or fences.  e.g. using 220V for an electric fence which proved to be an elephant killer.

In Indonesia, I was checking out a new house prior to renting:  as the owner had told me there was no phone, I asked why there was flat-type phone wires along the walls. (0.5mm?)

He pointed up to the lights, and it seemed all the household lighting was wired the same way.  I supposed it saved a few rupiah.

[VocalNeal]

Most inexpensively built shop houses here have exposed wiring 

[wayned]

Thai doorbells where I live.  A car, truck or motor bike horn and if that doesn't work "scream".  My 7 dogs always alert me and would keep the pesky Jehovah's Witnesses away if there were any!

[Sumarianson]

On 17/10/2017 at 6:35 AM, carlyai said:

I'd be careful. Have you had a lot of rain and are you sure it's a static electric discharge?
If it is static electricity, if you earth the gate, that should fix the problem.

Sent from my SM-J700F using Tapatalk
 

If it is static electricity then earthing the gate will do nothing if not make it worse. 

Static shock is electricity build up in your own body which when you toch a metal part that is eathed or is large enough the electricityin your body discharges to the metal. 

If this is something you have experienced for the first time, then I would question the likelyhood that some source of electrical potential has come in contact with the gate during construction? 

You can get this checked by a properly equipped electrician with a multi meter. 

If you have a known source of earth nearby then a potential ( voltage) will be seen between the source of earth and the gate. 

If it is static which it is likely to be. Then try and earth yourself frequently  to earthed metal parts discharging your stored static charge in small quantities at a time. If tou then touch the gate and feel a charge then the gate is likely to have some form of potential (voltage) getting to it somehow.

Taking a cable connected to a known source of earth to the gate and touching it to the metal may show tiny sparks ( better seen at night) coming from the end of the cable if it is charged. However this is not the most accurate method or measurement. Good luck.

 

[maxpower]

Cheap 100 Baht shirts off the market. Walk ten meters you're at 2000 volts already.

[carlyai]

Yes, if static electricity then earthing the gate would not help. Carlyai was wrong.

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