Electricified Shower

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Jeffreyhel

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I was thinking about all the weird stuff that I have seen over the years and here is one that I found at my grandparents house in WVa .

I was turning the tub/shower valve on and felt a little buzzzz while turning on the hot water. I finished the shower and got the little buzz again while turning off the water. Once I had changed I asked my grandparents if they too get that and when it started. They said they get it too and it started about a year ago. I asked if they had anyone to check it out and they said no but were planning to replace the water heater since it doesn't heat well anymore.

I had enough info for me! I went out to my truck and got my multi meter and went straight to the tub........115 volts from the tub to valve. Cool......Now I went straight to the water heater and pulled it apart after turning it off. There at the bottom element I found a wire not even bent around the screw to the element. it was touching the steel side of the water heater energizing the hot and cold side of every faucet in the house.

I reapplied the wire to the screw and closed things up the right way and tested. No more power at the tub.. and much warmer showers.

Just food for thought. I have seen alot but not even close to seeing it all.

Jeff
 

Cass

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So tell us... was it from the factory or had you replaced the element at some point. :)
 

Toolaholic

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doesn't make sense,unless house has old 2 wire knob and tube ,ungrounded elec . elec. water heater will have 2 hots and a ground. also there should be bonding wires in home. i think your grandparents should have an electrician take a look at the whole house electrical. good luck :confused:
 

Toolaholic

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got some help at the elec.forum

water pipes may not be bonded back to the elec panel was 1 thought

the one i find interisting is pipes may be a mix of plastic and metal

breaking the ground. good heads up for us all!
 

Cass

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toolaholic said:
water pipes may not be bonded back to the elec panel was 1 thought

the one i find interisting is pipes may be a mix of plastic and metal

breaking the ground. good heads up for us all!

The ground should be with the circut coming from the main pannel. It may not be connected at the heater or not connected well enough. Or I have seen them so loose in the pannel that there was no connection. The other thing is depending on the connection you could get 115 V with low amps. It must have been that as to why he didn't get fryed. In the shower wet touching 115 V. OR perhaps it WAS going to ground through the water pipe and jefferyhel just got some of the residual instead of the full blast. If it was a Federal Pacific breaker it wouldn't surprise me that the breaker didn't trip. Still it is an odd thing.
 

Jeffreyhel

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Cass-- I never touched the water heater before. I live in NJ so it had been years for me to get down to WVa.

tooloholic---Yes they were told to have an electrician to look at the circuit panel as I tried at a local supply store to get a replacement but no luck. It wasn't Federal or SquareD. Good points about the ground but this was several years ago and I don't remember what I found. I always do things in electric one way prove the ground first then the neutral and if all is well finally hook up the hot wire. So I would imagine I looked for the gound. If I remember right it was BX for the house wiring.

I don't know what happened after I had left but I had told them they needed to call a local electrician. I was kinda pre occupied with my dads funeral, hence that was why I was in WVa in 1998 I think.
 
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