small electrical shock in the shower

[davidst01]

We have a breaker for the shower outside the door. I turned it on, as usual, and proceeded to take a shower. when touching the metal tap to turn up the water pressure I received a small / minor electrical shock. I tried it a few times and then put on some flip flops with rubber soles. I didnt touch the actual water system above the taps at all. 

 

What is the problem here and solution?

thanks

[Crossy]

Any shock in the shower is a worry although I have in the past received "apparent" shocks from the metal taps despite all the pipework being plastic and the heater being 3m away and correctly grounded. I never found out what was going on there and the issue went away by itself.

 

First, try it with the water heater breaker OFF to isolate whether it's the heater or something else.

 

Then pop the lid on your heater and check if it is grounded (green wire going somewhere). If it's not then fix that first.

 

If you have an RCD (Safe-T-Cut) in your distribution box or your shower has a simlar device (RCD/RCBO/ELCB) then the chances of something lethal happening are much reduced. You could also replace the breaker with an RCBO I've seen them for <300 Baht in Global, so that's cheap safety.

 

[tjo o tjim]

Well water?  Could be galvanic current if the pH is off. 

[davidst01]

when the breaker is off there is no shock from touching the metal tap. 

[xylophone]

1 minute ago, davidst01 said:

when the breaker is off there is no shock from touching the metal tap. 

Did you run the water at the same time?

[Crossy]

5 minutes ago, davidst01 said:

when the breaker is off there is no shock from touching the metal tap. 

 

Have you verified the presence of a ground connection in the heater?

 

[wayned]

I would vote on the ground connection.  I installed a new drinking water pump outside which also has a local tap connected to the pump with plastic pipe.  When I turned the water on a got a small shock, wet feet but flip flops on.  The problem was that I forgot to hook up the external earth connection.  When connected the problem went away.

[legend49]

Sounds like lack of earthing wire the normal practice here in Thailand, hopeless.

[MadMuhammad]

On 7/1/2019 at 6:22 PM, Crossy said:

 

Have you verified the presence of a ground connection in the heater?

 

A little off topic but relevant. Crossy, in your experience is there much trouble with high resistance/broken neutrals in electrical systems over here? 

[rwill]

static electricity???

 

[Anagami]

You would not be the first one to be killed by faulty electric wiring in Thailand. 

Provided you do nothing about it.

Stay away and let a Thai 'pro' handle it. (If he fries, call the next one.)

[Old Croc]

We have 3 of those heaters and in the past have just replaced them if those small shocks happen. We did upgrade the earths from the house and installed a good breaker system.

However, recently one was giving small shocks as described above. We had the aircon service guy look at it and he just tightened a loose screw inside the unit (earth connection?), problem fixed. 

[Hervey Bay]

COMING SOON :

 

A LARGE electrical shock in the shower...

[BarnicaleBob]

Be careful and make sure you get a professional to fix the problem.  There have been incidents of people being electrocuted to death in their showers in Thailand.

[ianezy0]

I have to say that I receive a shock every time I am in the shower as it’s not easy to see my todger over my stomach!

Edited July 3, 2019 by ianezy0

[brianthainess]

On 7/1/2019 at 6:22 PM, Crossy said:

 

Have you verified the presence of a ground connection in the heater?

 

I have been told by an Oz electrician that if its not grounded/earthed then the heater in the shower does not work.

[brianthainess]

4 hours ago, legend49 said:

Sounds like lack of earthing wire the normal practice here in Thailand, hopeless.

Do you have a separate water heater or is it integral to your shower ??? i also got a shock from my kettle eventually found out my power board has a button to

by-pass  R C D which the electric guy who wired the house had left by-passed.

[Tropposurfer]

call a licensed electrician.

Don't !, Don't play/ interfere with, open touch, connect or disconnect anything with electrical connections (other than turning on or off a mains-board power switch) or equipment unless you yourself are a licensed electrician. 

Gettings shocks in a shower is a serious matter! Whatever it is get it properly checked out.

If you don't have a safety breaker mains-board in your home then get one fitted immediately.

To live without one is to court death, especially in LOS. Just because lots of Thais don't have these safety boards in homes and apartments is no reason that as aware westerners we should not have them fitted. 

Breaker boards as we call them in Oz act as a foolproof, yes foolproof bulwark against electrical shorts as well as other earthing problems and to save lives in case of the myriad earthing and shorting things that can happen in home wiring. 

Don't assume that it is something benign like e.g. a Ph problem or static. Electricity doesn't take your assumptions into consideration ... It will l=kill you and anyone else that it comes into contact with.

If you share this home with others, maybe your loved ones then get it looked at immediately and forbid anyone to use the shower until it is!

Standing in water and adding mains power electrical current will leave you with no second chance. 

I'm flabbergasted you put thongs on .... then went back into that shower recess !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

 

Obviously you've never seen someone electrocuted.   

 

 

 

[DefaultName]

57 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

I have been told by an Oz electrician that if its not grounded/earthed then the heater in the shower does not work.

Wrong.  I had a new shower fitted recently, the workers (from HomePro) opened the old one and refused to go further as there was no earth connection, though the shower had been working fine for years.  For a small extra, they routed an earth from the fuse box (worth it IMO).

 

So, they DO work without earthing.

[johng]

33 minutes ago, Tropposurfer said:

call a licensed electrician.

Do you happen to have a list  of licensed Thai electricians,  maybe a  phone number of the licencing body  to call and check if Somchai really is qualified ?

[sometimewoodworker]

1 hour ago, Tropposurfer said:

call a licensed electrician.

555555555

 

can you find one? 

 

Personaly I know one, but they are very difficult to find.

[nkg]

1 hour ago, johng said:

Do you happen to have a list  of licensed Thai electricians,  maybe a  phone number of the licencing body  to call and check if Somchai really is qualified ?

 

Falang think too much!

[emptypockets]

4 hours ago, brianthainess said:

I have been told by an Oz electrician that if its not grounded/earthed then the heater in the shower does not work.

Do you know his licence number? 

He should have his licence revoked for a statement like that. Very bad, dangerous advice. 

[PerkinsCuthbert]

Nothing to worry about, it's just early-onset Thainess.

[JAS21]

2 hours ago, johng said:

Do you happen to have a list  of licensed Thai electricians,  maybe a  phone number of the licencing body  to call and check if Somchai really is qualified ?

Wow ... just too late ... our taxi driver told us he was an electrical engineer ... would have got his number for you if only I had read this topic earlier ....

[johng]

3 hours ago, Tropposurfer said:

If you share this home with others, maybe your loved ones then get it looked at immediately and forbid anyone to use the shower until it is!

Standing in water and adding mains power electrical current will leave you with no second chance. 

That's good advice  shower/bathroom is not a place to be getting  any sort of electrical shock , its not a nice/safe  experience  anywhere  but  bare feet and water is just "asking for trouble"

 

For a few hundred baht  one of these could save a life...  15mA leakage trip level would be better.

[Crossy]

5 hours ago, brianthainess said:

I have been told by an Oz electrician that if its not grounded/earthed then the heater in the shower does not work.

 

Generally this is not correct.

 

BUT

 

I have come across RCD/RCBO units that won't stay "on" if there's no ground (IIRC they were all on traily leads). But never seen one in Thailand.

 

[StevieAus]

On 6/30/2019 at 11:56 AM, tjo o tjim said:

Well water?  Could be galvanic current if the pH is off. 

Excuse my ignorance but what is galvanic current ?

[KhaoYai]

Get a proper electrician to check out your system. It is complete rubbish to state that the problem in being caused by lack of earthing. An earth is there to give protection only when there is a fault - if you are receiving shocks from the shower, live current is leaking somewhere and you are completing a circuit when you either touch the shower or the water touches you. There should not be any live current in either the shower externals or travelling through the water. This is a potentially fatal situation, if you are not competent yourself - get a professional.

[Crossy]

13 minutes ago, KhaoYai said:

Get a proper electrician to check out your system. It is complete rubbish to state that the problem in being caused by lack of earthing. An earth is there to give protection only when there is a fault - if you are receiving shocks from the shower, live current is leaking somewhere and you are completing a circuit when you either touch the shower or the water touches you. There should not be any live current in either the shower externals or travelling through the water. This is a potentially fatal situation, if you are not competent yourself - get a professional.

 

"if you are receiving shocks from the shower, live current is leaking somewhere and you are completing a circuit when you either touch the shower or the water touches you."

 

Isn't that the very definition of "a fault"?

 

There could well be a developing leakage failure, at present insufficient to be dangerous which, with a good earth wouldn't even be felt. One it achieved hazardous levels any RCD/RCBO would trip without any shock being felt.

 

Task A. Check that earth!!

 

Sadly, it's a case of good luck finding a professional here in Thailand. If the pros were readily available and actually professional this forum would not be needed and I wouldn't need to be doing this in my spare time ????