I am talking about mild “tingles” and not proper electric shocks. However, if anyone receives any kind of electric shock, the appliance should be disconnected immediately, and an appliance engineer called out. Mild electric shocks or tingles might not be taken seriously, but they can turn into lethal full mains voltage shocks at any time.
So never use any appliance even if you only get a mild shock from. Disconnect it immediately. The reason you get shocks from a washing machine, or any other appliance, is because it is not earthed properly.
Why Does an unearthed appliance cause shocks?
All large appliances need to be connected to earth for safety. The earth wire runs down the mains cable and then through the socket it is plugged into. If this connection becomes broken at any point in the machine, cable, plug or wall socket, then you can get the symptom of mild electric shocks.
The shocks are often mild, or just tingles because they are caused by small amounts of electricity leaking or inducing across to the disconnected earth wire and running through the casing. It’s a phenomenon related to eddy current, but it’s not necessary to understand the scientific reason.
Such an appliance poses a serious danger. Because the mild shocks indicate that the washing machine is not earthed it means that if a component inside the machine’s insulation breaks down, or a live wire comes adrift and touches the metal parts inside, then the low voltage current will be replaced by the full mains voltage – which can kill. Without a path to earth, the washing machine cannot blow the fuse, and instead could just work as normal but be lethal.
Plug not earthed?
The first thing an engineer is likely to check is the appliances plug. They would check inside the plug to make sure the green and yellow earth wire is connected securely.
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If it’s OK, then either the earth wire inside the mains cable could have a break somewhere inside and needs replacing, or it may not be connected inside the washing machine. (The latter is very unlikely, I’ve never known it, but it’s theoretically possible). Both can (and should) be checked with a continuity test meter by checking the continuity between the earth pin on the plug and the metal door hinge or another suitable bare metal point on the washing machine.
Moulded plugs
Most appliances have long since come with pre-fitted moulded plugs which can’t be checked. So if unable to check inside the plug the first thing an engineer would check is the continuity down from the earth pin as described above. If he had a good reading he shouldn’t need to look inside the plug anyway. If the reading was open circuit or high resistance, but the earth was connected properly inside the machine he’d cut off the plug about an inch down and replace it because earth wires can break at that point. If that failed to make a difference he’d replace the mains cable.
Extension cables
If the appliance is plugged into an extension cable then clearly there could be a problem anywhere on the extension. So an engineer would check the earth connections and continuity on the extension cable. Ideally ditch the extensions, they aren’t ideal on large white goods appliances. If one is necessary try another extension (but make sure it’s appropriate – appliances and extension cables). I have seen appliances plugged into totally inappropriate extension cables that are using 2 core cable with no earth!
Wall socket not earthed
Another possibility is a fault in the wall socket. The earth wire could be disconnected inside or the brass earth prongs inside could be worn or too far apart to grip the earth pin on the plug properly. Obviously you don’t mess with wall sockets. If you suspect a faulty wall socket get an electrician – not an appliance engineer.
Don’t confuse with static electricity discharges
If you get just a single short shock when you touch an appliance (possibly accompanied by a cracking sound) which doesn’t reoccur when you touch the appliance again this could be static electricity discharging from your body and is very different to this issue.
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hi, I have a “ghost multiplug” that starts recently to explain, connecting appliance like (double spiral hot
plate) gives nasty shocks, when open visually checked, then run continuity test everything is ok. close up to use again works for a while (1 day) and starts shocking again .did swap to check other multiplug, works no shocking, what could be the problem ?
Hello Fred. If it only gives a shock when using that particular multi plug throw it away. There’s probably a broken earth connection in there somewhere. If it’s sometimes OK and sometimes gives shocks the earth connection is intermittently connecting OK. It’s dangerous.
Hi i am talha when we start water pump we get shock in three tap which is nearer to motor,what is problem? & how can i solve it?
Hello Talha. The explanation for what causes electric shocks and how to fix them is in the article. I can’t think of anything to say that isn’t already in the article.
What about shocks from cordless vac’s? What can I do to prevent this?
Hello Gayle. I wouldn’t have thought you should get an electric shock from a cordless vacuum cleaner. Vacuum cleaners tend to be made entirely of plastic and double insulated. The only way to normally get a shock from a vacuum cleaner is from the mains cable, which of course isn’t there on cordless vacuum cleaner.
I can’t say for certain, but my guess would be that this is some sort of static electricity issue. I would look at what type of shoes you are wearing when vacuuming. If it is static then you would expect to get a single shot as static electricity jumps from your body to the vacuum cleaner but then if you touch it straight after there should be no shock. If you are convinced that it is nothing to do with static electricity then please get in touch with an engineer as soon as possible. Read this article to see if it helps How to avoid static electric shocks
Hello Andy. We have a Bosch extractor hood (non-vented) over the hob, which was fitted two years ago. Our household electrics are reasonably modern, having had a full re-wire in 2012. A couple of months ago the main RCD board tripped, and through trial and error we discovered it was the hood that was responsible. We switched off the hood at the kitchen appliance switch panel and I didn’t get around to looking into it until a couple of weeks ago. I started by switching it back on and, hey presto, it was working fine again. Then it started coming on and off at random (so I suspected a failure in the hood’s button panel). Yesterday I went to turn it off after another sudden self-activation and I felt a tingle from the button area. I have just dismantled the whole thing and I note that the button panel assembly is entirely sealed in plastic, so not likely to be the cause of the tingle. I unscrewed the concealed socket at the top of the ‘chimney’ area that the whole thing is plugged into and took a look at the wiring – the earth seemed properly secured (although there were two possible terminals for the earth on the back of the socket – could there be a ‘wrong’ one?). The body of the hood is all steel but there are no visible un-insulated loose wires. I am assuming that grease residue is not conductive or this kind of thing might happen more often.
Any thoughts on this? Thanks.
Hello Simon. Any terminals for Earth should all be connected so it shouldn’t matter which one is used if you can see that they are connected. However, even if all earth connections seem okay it doesn’t guarantee that they lead to a good earth. That would have to be tested with a test meter.
To test if there is an earth fault causing electric shocks place a neon screwdriver on the metal and see if it lights up.
Please can i ground two or three different apartment that are close to each other with the same earth rod to the ground
Usually there are about two earth connections to the same earthing point in the kitchen, which is usually the copper pipework under the sink. I’m not an electrician so I couldn’t say if there are any limits to how many can be connected. I can only say that I can’t think of any reason that there would be a limit to one or two. In normal operation nothing runs through these wires. The earth wire is only used if an appliance, or fault somewhere causes live to short to earth. In that case it should blow the fuse instantly.