1) All connections to water pipes must be to remove
electricity from those pipes; never to dump electricity into
those pipes. Pipes are no longer acceptable as ground - earth
or safety. Connection to earth ground must be via dedicated
earth ground connector - and not via water pipes.

2) Volts500 provided a good summary of grounding for human
safety. Use this as a checklist to begin or identify
necessary household corrections: in the newsgroup
alt.home.repair entitled "Grounding Rod Info" on 12 July
2003 or http://tinyurl.com/hkjq

3) Post 1990 code requires earthing at the breaker box.
Something like two in 10 older homes I have observed don't
even have minimally acceptable earthing - per 1950
requirements. Suggest you inspect for or hire an electrician
to upgrade your household earthing to meet post 1990
requirements. This is not a casual recommendation.

4) Bottom line - your building has a problem directly
traceable to human failure. Fix the building now so that
humans are not harmed later either due to electric shock or
even worse (and it is a possibility) building explosion. Yes,
the problem could even be that serious. Don't screw around
waiting for the best newsgroup response. They are found in
the Yellow Pages.

Laurent Doiron wrote:
Anything likethis happen to anyone?? As I worked on my water heater,
I happened to touch the copper pipes and to my surprise I jumped!!!
Not enough to kill me but it let me know something is wrong here.
Then I changed my washer and dryer in the new room and the same
thing there. I touched the back of my washer and ZAP got me again..
Any insight on this shocking situation anyone please?????

larry