Earthing problem as getting shock from appliance and steel sink Ask questions and find answers to many subjects relating to electrics and electrical work

[GrahamRounce]

Hi - after getting a SLIGHT shock touching an appliance and the steel kitchen sink simultaneously, I put a meter between them and found 100v ac.
I take it that's not correct? Should I look in the fuse box? Or where?
Thanks,

[Mr White]

In this case I would suggest you get an electrician to investigate, as he/she will have the proper test equipment.

(A multi-meter is only telling you that you have a potential differance between two points.)

[GrahamRounce]

Yes, thank-you.
So it's just the washing machine socket in the kitchen, which must be on a different ring main to the rest of the ground floor sockets which are ok.

The max current is 0.3mA. At 100V that translates to about 300k ohms, which could well be due to damp?

It's a bit mysterious because, as the earths all come together at the fuse box, you'd think that leakage anywhere from live to earth would show up all over? **
Thanks again,

** Yet at the fuse box, a heavy duty wire makes a good connection to a gas pipe. There is no sign of leakage between the earth pin of a a nearby socket and the pipe.

[Mr White]

Your assumptions are in good faith, but in error. You really need an electrician to test it properly.

[ericmark]

Earth bonding should connect all metal together, it is tested with a low ohm meter which uses at least 200 mA, but you don't know if the sink is faulty or dish washer or supply to dish washer.

The Martindale EZ165 plug in tester will do a reasonable test of the socket, but looking at £40 plus, there are others with a loop test, but again not cheap. And it will only show a fault on socket.

So you could end up spending more on test equipment than it would cost to get an electrician.