On Monday, October 28, 2013 7:19:20 PM UTC-4, wrote:
On Mon, 28 Oct 2013 19:08:46 -0400, Wes Groleau

wrote:



On 10-28-2013, 08:45, Nate Nagel wrote:

I second the recommendation to just not touch the piping until the

problem is isolated. If OP has to take a shower I would check for

voltage on pipe with voltmeter and then turn off main breaker and verify

that issue has gone away. Yeah, you'll be taking a shower in the dark,



That's not quite good enough. Depends on HOW you check it. If you

check from right behind shower head to what you think ground and isn't,

then there might still be potential between sower and drain.



But you could detect no potential between shower and drain because drain

pipes are likely partly plastic. Yet if enough non-distilled water is

flowing, that can make the metal part at the end become a ground.



Second best way to check for something hot if you're not sure of the

return path is one of those things that work by proximity.

Unfortunately, many of those are tricky to adjust and can give false Hot

or false Not judgments if you don't know how to work them.



Best is to follow the advice already posted often: Call a pro.

The EASIEST way to test for a live chassis, or a live wire, is a neon

tester. It will light with only a "capacitive ground" and draws so

little current it is impossible to get a shock from.

I wouldn't recommend any of those procedures for the OP
and his problem. For one thing,
who knows if this is a stable condition, ie that the voltage is
always present, always the same, etc. If he has a faulty
piece of equipment, a partial short, etc, it could be energized
sometimes and not at others. It could show no voltage when tested
and then 120V could be there when he takes his shower.