Stray Voltage *UPDATE*

So a while back I posted about stray voltage and getting zapped by the kitchen sink. Well long story short I was looking around the basement with a spot light. Found the outer insulation was wore off the wires going to an outlet up right next to kitchen sink. Clipped the wire capped the live side with wire nuts. Turned on breaker and wa la no more zap. Its funny because the problem was intermittent. While it did not appear as though the inner insulation on the wires was compromised it must have been. I'm wondering if a hot wire was wore through and touching just enough were it would sometimes short and sometimes not. Sod Buster.
 
After cutting off the wire---- where have you lost power??? The wire must have fed something down line.
On a side note, I have never heard of a sink pipe wearing the insulation off, but I suppose if it was a SS flex line "water hammer" could cause that. I have seen where the wires feeding down to a submersible well pump have warn thru from the twisting action of the pump during start up and stopping.
Loren
 
We had that well wire issue decades ago- well man taped the wire to the pipe every few feet and it"s never been a problem again.
 
Yes, I had the same thing happen to the first submersible I ever installed, it lasted about 6 years and quite. My wife and I pulled it by hand, it was down 130 feet on flexible plastic. The wire was broke right above the pump, we cut everything off 3 feet, taped it up better and all was well.
 
Just had the same issue with my well pump last summer. Wire rubbed through on the casing. The pump was about 25 years old so it got replaced even though it wasn't the problem.
 
The only thing that lost power was the outlet next to the sink. When I say wore I mean the insulation is gone. As to why I could speculate til the cows came home. Although does not appear to be chewed. Also the wire did not touch the sink. (I don't think) Wire had to be shorting against something which the sink also made contact with.
 
Service call a few years back, people were getting zapped in the shower if they touched the controls. tests showed no voltage at the faucet. Long story short, old knob and tube running behind the tub. Plaster inside the wall was higher than the tube and when it got saturated, it passed voltage to the tub. The tub was cast and had a bare spot worn in the center. If they were touching that spot and reached for the handle, they completed the circuit. The city had inspected not long before it started and made the owner install a ground wire from the panel to the water line.
Wood is a terrible conductor, but if it is soaked, it carries current rather well. Areas around sinks showers etc are subject to those risks. That is why ground fault circuit interrupters are important. An adult in good health can stand a 120 volt jolt, and even a 240 in most cases. A child or some one with a weak heart might not have a chance.
 
Do I remember you saying your sink was hooked up with plastic pipe
lines? If they were metal things would have popped a long time ago.
You lucked out there cheif. Glad you found it.
 
Any outlet within 6' of a sink should be ground fault, might be prudent to swap out some breakers if not.
 
(quoted from post at 09:03:58 01/16/18) Any outlet within 6' of a sink should be ground fault, might be prudent to swap out some breakers if not.
When I put a new outlet in its going to be GFI. Along with brand new wire through the wall and all the way back to "good" wiring. I have a handyman coming out to work on something else. I'm going to have him look at the situation. I'm not sure if wire in a basement should be UF or not but he will know. Probably going to re-wire with 12-2. Right now I am dragging my feet because I don't enjoy fish taping wires. Sod Buster
 
(quoted from post at 12:03:58 01/16/18) Any outlet within 6' of a sink should be ground fault, might be prudent to swap out some breakers if not.
How does a GFCI receptacle protect the user from faults on the breaker side of the GFCI ?
 
I am moving away from using the GFCI outlets and going with breakers, can get the combo ones now to satisfy both arc fault and GFCI
 

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