Why do I keep getting an electric shock from kitchen sink ? Well it happens, let us help you identify the cause and how to fix it.
You may have an electrical wire gone partially to ground. Since your copper pipes in your house are grounded they can become energized with electricity. It can cause voltage on any metal plumbing fixture including your kitchen sink.
7 Causes To Get An Electric Shock From Kitchen Sink
- Electrical Wire Touching Water Pipe
- No Electrical Water Bond
- Grounded Neutral Wire
- Another Appliance Malfunction
- Static Electricity
- Bad Water Pump
- Faulty Hot Water Tank
1. Electrical Wire Touching Water Pipe To Get Electric Shock From Kitchen Sink
You could have an electrical wire touching a copper water line somewhere within your house.
It may not be touching enough to tripped a breaker or blow the fuse but it may be enough to conduct electricity.
This will travel through every metal connected water fixture within your house.
It can be very dangerous is if you touch your sink or anything made of metal.
You can get a shock if you were properly grounded.
It is very important to have a certified electrician check through your electrical system to find out where the copper wire is touching the pipes.
2. No Electrical Water Bond In House Causing Electric Shock
Every homes electrical system should have a water bond.
A water bond is a clamp that bolts on to some portion of copper waterline that comes into the house from the street or your water pump.
They are wired large green wire that connects back to your main panel source grounding system.
This is important because if you get any malfunctions like spoken above that it would instantly pick it up and cause the breaker to trip which means you wouldn’t get a shock.
Even a newer homes with plastic water lines there would still be some portion of the water system that would be copper.
It’s wildly we highly recommend you have your electrician install a water bond for you. It is actually still in our code book that we are required to install them on your homes.
3. Grounded Neutral Wire
You could be getting an electrical shock or you wouldn’t be here reading this article right now.
The ground and neutral wire is a portion of your internal electrical system that is shorted out ground or partially shorted out.
This causes the availability for you to get a shock when touching appliances sinks or anything metal in your house.
It is actually a code requirement on new homes that we check for ground and neutrals before the home will pass the final inspection.
4. Another Appliance Malfunction
The funny thing is if you’re standing at your sink and you get a shock when you touch your stove or dishwasher it may not be your sink.
Faulty appliances can cause this issue as well.
If your stove has a bad element or has partially gone to ground and you touch the stove the same time you touch the stink then you became become the ground.
Electricity within flow through your body.
If you do notice a problem with one of your appliances and then you will want to contact your local appliance repair man.
Most electricians to not tackle appliance repairs we just provide the power to them.
If any part of that appliance becomes ground it out and it can cause major issues even though it is not hooked to your sink.
If you ground yourself out between the sink and one of the appliances you will know it.
5. Static Electricity Shock
Static electricity can be another reason why you could be getting a shock.
In the winter months when the humidity is low is a prime time for static.
If you’re wearing sock feet and you have carpet in your kitchen with some older home still do and you could get a shock from your sink.
This can be alarming or startling as you may think there’s something wrong with your electrical system but there’s not.
We recommend using a humidifier to create humidity in the home to cut back on static shocks from dry conditions. Remove any carpet in areas where you may be touching metal like your kitchen.
Who has carpet in their kitchen anyway.
6. Bad Water Pump
You could have a faulty or old water pump which could have partially gone to ground.
If your water pump partially goes to ground and there’s not enough the trip your breaker and guess what water conducts electricity.
This then intern goes to the sink that you were touching and if you were going to good enough you can get a shock.
In addition the windings inside the water pump can become bad.
Especially if you have a deep well pump and it’s it is installed in the water.
This can be a common issue electricity can flow through this waterline if the conditions are right.
We have seen lightning strike outside the home and enter through the homes water system.
Surge protectors can help with these situations. You can find out more on what we recommend for these here.
7. Faulty Hot Water Tank
You can also have issues with your hot water tank or an element in the hot water tank on the ground.
Since the inside of the elements are submerged in water if the element has a break or is becoming old.
Electricity can run through the water especially if you do not have a proper ground system in your home.
This can give you a shock at your sink.
Some easy solutions to these problems is to not have a metal sink.
You can get attractive porcelain sinks or even fibreglass sinks nowadays.
We also recommended and can’t stress enough the important of having your system ground in your home properly done.
Along with a water bond you should not have issues with shocks from your kitchen sink.