[Closed] Electric shock advice any sparks on

Tell them to switch it off and get a spark in or replace it, water and electricity aren't a good mix

Only talking about this yesterday, shocks off washing machine, when a student in our halls of residence they put the washing machine in shower room, lad got out of shower and got attached to washing machine by hand, after a leaky short circuit kept his hand griping the thing.
Electricians went mad as they realised the danger we thought it was funny.

Switch it off and un plug.

Thats What I thought I told them not top use it but oap's can be damn stubborn, ill go kick some ass and send the sparks round.its also in the bathroom on a tiled floor thats always damp.

cut the plug off easy

Cut the cable off flush with the back of the machine so they can't just fit a new plug. Time for a new machine, not worth the risk!

What sort of inheritance are we talking about?

The outside skin of the machine ought to be earthed. If you can get 115V on a supposedly earthed surface then you may want the house wiring checked as well as the machine. There's two faults there. One probably (though not definitely) in the machine that is letting a voltage onto the metal skin and a second that is not flattening to voltage to earth. The second fault could be either in the machine or the house wiring - 50/50 I'd say.

It is actually posible the machine is fine and the voltage is coming, one way or another, from the house wiring - though that wouldn't be my first assumption.

Get an electrician, 'cos diagnosis over the internet by a electrical, but desk bound, engineer with little knowledge of the wiring regs (and after a couple of glasses of red) is not reliable.

PS Do they have an RCD? Ought to trip when you connect earth and neutral. Bet it doesn't.

It's possibly 'kind of' fine actually...bear with me....
I bet you a pint the machine is not at fault.

The earth in France is the house-owners responsibility (in the UK the earth is generally for non -remote properties supplied by the electricity co. and routes back to the centre core of the sub-station transformers).

Induced currents (and I bet this is what you are experiencing) is a bit of a 'problem' here in France, I say problem because no one seems to bother about it. For instance plumbing is generally rarely or sufficiently bonded. we have lived in 2 properties and counting and have had issues. Our 1st house was a nightmare hovel rental and I had the washing machine issue. Sparkie came round and wanted to put a new earth rod in and add some extra circuit breakers or some such. It solved the washing machine problem. The house we live in now occasionally gives me a slight tingle on my amp and the coffee machine. The electrics are generally well done. All friends and family I have spoken to have never raised an eyebrow.

You could get an electrician involved, but don't expect it to be sorted 100%. Are you single phase or old school triple phase? If your parents live there full time, I would listen to them a bit... (which I understand your logic is not what your 1st reaction was..I had similar feelings but after 8 years here I have adapted...)

You'll all think I'm talking nonsense and that the french are oh so dangerous, but they have a healthy respect with things like this, they approach things from 1st principals and science rather than saying 'oh the building regs say we must do this' ...I'm not sure many of you will agree...I had a similar tale here with fitting my own gas hob to a gas bottle in a cupboard fully á la french. Everyone said I was going to kill me or my family etc etc..

I remember getting a call out to check a commercial freezer in a frozen food shop. The outer case of the machine was 100v to earth.
Turns out the earth of the supply flex had snapped inside the plug and when the windings had started to fail on the 25 year old compressor and leak to earth then the outer case became live but without an earth path wouldn't trip the circuit breaker.
A few customers had complained about it but the staff had told them it must be a static shock from synthetic clothes!

Missed the France bit. I know nothing about how they wire things up out there, but you measured 115V - from what to what?

I got the reading from a metal screw in the caseing and the SS drum inside to a copper pipe assuming the pipe would earth.

but i know SFA about electrics it is an old house with old and new wiring modern consumer unit and an older one, also has 3 phase as its an old farm.

I've seen this before when the earthing is bad. Actually,it was connected using an extension lead that had no earth cable.

Get it all checked.

Get it checked by local electrician

115V is oddly enough, exactly half the mains voltage. This would make me want to check if the earth on the washing machine plug is connected - perhaps start with checking the plug.

Is there an RCCB in the house?

Note: I am not an electrician.

3 phase. Old conversion. French. I'll revise my bet. 20 pints says it is not the washing machine at fault! Tried plugging it into a different circuit?

What's the weather been like? Do your parents note any seasonal pattern? There is actually an earth rod or plate right? Not always a given as many just rely on circuit breakers.....as

...Someone said above have you tried the circuit breakers by faking a fault?

I got the reading from a metal screw in the caseing and the SS drum inside to a copper pipe assuming the pipe would earth.

To me this implies the washing machine or the circuit its connected to isn't "earthing" a fault.
As you say the copper pipe is "earthed", you shouln't have a difference in voltage between the two. ie; if the "earthed" parts of the washing machine are at 110v, so should the copper pipe.

I'd plug the washine machine into a different circuit and test again, also test the copper pipe to nuetral as it could be the copper pipe is introducing a fault. Use a testing lamp if possible.

110v is a nasty shock if your in laws touch the machine and the copper pipe at the same time.

Get it checked out ASAP!!!!

There is a lot of confusion as to what "earthing" or the correct term "equipotential bonding" is for in a property, but its generaly to bring all exposed parts to the same volage in a fault situation. Thats why my thoughts are that the copper pipe should also be at 110v.

115V is oddly enough, exactly half the mains voltage

Not in France it's not.

Thank you all very much 🙂

tested on another socket all is good so it would appear its the wall socket,Its a rented property so have kicked it up to the landlord and run an extension to the machine as there is nothing to inherit here 😈

again thanks all for the input.

I'll have Abbeydale Moonshine please.

Good luck with the landlord......

Northwind: mains voltage in France is '230'v. 2 x 115=?

Good result so far. If anything I said helped, then good.