On Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:27:39 -0500, metspitzer
wrote:

On Mon, 1 Dec 2008 17:47:48 -0500, "John Grabowski"
wrote:


wrote in message
...
On Dec 1, 3:59 pm, Jeff Wisnia wrote:
wrote:
I just recently moved into a house that had all the electrical service
updated. At first things seemed to work, lately this has changed. I
am getting small shocks more than i ever did, its stronger than a
static shock. When this happens, it drops the voltage enough to
restart my computer. At first I thought this was a computer issue
until I had it reset without laying a finger on it by getting a shock
from the cell phone charger. Any shock I receive in the room its in
will cause the computer to reset. What is causing this? Bad ground?
The wiring is in wrong?

any ideas will help, thank you for your time

Bill in SD

Assuming this is not a troll.....

It might help if you told us what you were doing or touching and what
you were standing on and wearing on your feet when you get those shocks.

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
The speed of light is 1.8*10^12 furlongs per fortnig

It happens when I touch anything in the room when a shock goes off,
cell phone charger, anything plugged in, sitting or standing doesn't
matter.. i just added in a battery backup to try and get around the
drops, no luck there. I do have a good volt meter, how would i use
this to check the ground in the basement ground system? I also do
not know what wiring was in this house before, but it all was ripped
out and replaced with new wiring and new circut breaker box from the
old style screw in breaker box.



I think that you should call in an expert. You have an electrical hazard
and you are asking how to use a voltmeter. Get a pro before one of those
shocks goes through your heart muscle.

Seconded.

The first thing you can do that will be free is call the power
company. They will check their connections and you can be prepared to
tighten the connections in your panel while the power company has the
power off.

The guy from the power company may point out something that is
obviously wrong. He will most likely be standing there watching you
anyway.

He is getting paid pretty good to be leaning on the wall watching you
too..
try the voltmeter from watever you tough to a known good ground
(copper water pipe - cold, hard water if you have more than one, and
check for voltage.

if there is no reading above about 4 or 5, plug in a few teakettles in
the room and see if it gets better or worse. At this time of year,
with central heating running (at least here in Southern Ontario) the
RH drops like a stone.. I'm maintaining 30% and my house is pretty
tight.

If the shocking is less, it's most likely static. If it stays the same
or gets worse, it's likely a problem.

The thing with static is, YOU are the voltage source, relative to
ground, and the high voltage surge going back through whatever
electrical item you touch, CAN get back int some comouters and cause a
reset.

You didn't say if you ever get shocks from anything that is either
non-electric or not plugged in.


I DID have a real strange one years ago at our car club. It was a
converted chicken barn with steel siding and a partial concrete floor
re-enforced with fencewire mesh. We started getting shocks when we
touched the siding, and I got a REAL dandy when using my old 2 wire 8"
hand grinder and my knee hit an exposed chunk of re-enforcement wire.

Then I was hot on the trail. Found the CB radio sitting on top of the
fridge in the club room had fried it's power supply - and it was
pumping 115 volts out the ground grade of the antenna - which was also
fastened to a metal bracket screwed to the siding.

Pitched the CB and no mare shocks.