Why Am I Getting Electrical Shocks from Water and Water Pipes?

[Srijith]

Hello everyone...
Help me out..

I installed a geyser 3 weeks back which has a rating of 15A and I connected it to a 32A MCB. This is connected to a 16A separate MCB in the main board. Whenever I turn on the geyser, it works for some 10mins and then turns off without water getting heated. I started getting shocks in water and water taps in all my rooms.(kitchen, toilet, geyser installed in bathroom)

Then I turned off both 32 A and 16A MCB and stopped using geyser. Even now I get shocks in water and water taps. These shocks occur randomly and these cannot be found in a tester. I live in India having 230V and this frequent shocks have led to rupture of my skin. I got the geyser checked out by the technician and the electrician is not able to find out the fault. And we are having winter season here in India.

 

[Bystander]

Sounds like your circuit breakers got hooked up to "neutral" or low voltage, or return side of the supply line rather than the 230 V. This leaves the circuits turned off, but "hot." You need to get a competent electrician to measure voltage between circuit connections and ground on the circuits you've turned "off."

 

[Nugatory]

No matter what is causing your energized ground, this is an extremely hazardous situation. You should not assume that it's not going to kill you just because it hasn't killed you yet - on the contrary, it's quite likely to seriously injure or kill you if you give it enough chances.

As bystander says, you need a competent electrician. The technician who checked out your geyser isn't the right person to be diagnosing a likely problem in the supply wiring.

AN ANONYMOUS INTERNET FORUM IS THE WRONG PLACE TO LOOK FOR HELP WITH THIS SORT OF PROBLEM. THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR A COMPETENT PERSON ON THE SPOT.

 

[Nugatory]

Sounds like your circuit breakers got hooked up to "neutral" or low voltage, or return side of the supply line rather than the 230 V. This leaves the circuits turned off, but "hot." You need to get a competent electrician to measure voltage between circuit connections and ground on the circuits you've turned "off."

Hmmm... my first "It sounds like..." thought was that the neutral was bonded to the ground at the subpanel (correct and required for a main panel, incorrect at a subpanel).

But this is just an entertaining side speculation/discussion; the important part, about which there is zero disagreement, is bolded above.

 

[berkeman]

Please use a local licensed electrician to help you fix this. This thread is closed.