Electric current in my water pipes

14 years ago

I just purchased a house and felt a live current sensation holding the metal joint knife as I started to mud the wall beside the kitchen sink. I thought it could have been a nerve being pinched in my hand and took a time out and then continued. Same thing happened so I used a single probe voltage sensor and tested the wall and it started to beep. The kitchen faucet, bathroom faucet and toilets also beep.

A previous owner replaced the copper in the exposed garage area where the water main enters the house with cpvc. Most of the rest of the house still has copper pipe in the areas inside the drywall. IÂm concerned. Is the beep from the sensor IÂm getting being caused by an electrical system that isnÂt properly grounded anymore because previous owner thought that little wire from the service panel to the copper that he replaced was just an annoyance and reconnected it to who knows what? Or can something else cause this?

Thanks so much,

Lullwater

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (4)

jemdandy
14 years ago
DISCLAIMER: I am not an electrican.

There should not have been anything more than low leakage current in the water pipes. Some common leak sources are electric water heater, washing machine, garbage grinder, and dish washer.

If this is an older house, it may have been wired expecting the plumbing to provide grounding when the intended path was less than perfect. Older wiring did not have the 3rd ground wire and depended on a metal cable shield to provide this path. This shield was supposed have been well bonded to each box that the circuit passed through. Sometimes, these bonds were less than prefect.

The plumbing ground was broken when a piece of plastic pipe was inserted at the entrance. Maintaining the plumbing ground is important. The codes in my community require a grounding strap around the water meter to shunt the current around the meter and to insure a ground when the water meter is removed for service. Water meters do not like electrical current. Our town changes all water meters every 10 years for maintence and calibration. The grounding shunt in my house is a piece of conduit securely bonded to the water pipes (which are copper).

You should measure the voltage of your leak. It may be at a dangerous level. In fact, there should have been no sensation. Find the culprit and fix. Luckly, you have found a potentially dangerous condition before any harm was done.

DISCLAIMER: I am not an electrican.
Ron Natalie
14 years ago
If the water piping is metal, it needs to be bonded to the house ground. If your DIY predecessor removed the bonding or put some insulated pipe in there to insulate the bonded section from the rest, you need to have this fixed.

It's quite possible that the "floating" plumbing system is just inducing enough current to give you a tingle. Contrary to the previous suggestion, you probably don't have access to the equipment to do any meaningful measurement of the voltage. Further, even having made that measurement, what are you gong to do about it.

Bond the water pipe. If some piece of electrical equipment is energizing the pipe, the bond may in fact give the faulting path necessary for the breaker to trip. If your house doesn't have them, consider GFCI protection in areas that modern code would require them (bathrooms, kitchens, outside, garages, unfinished basements,...).
Related Discussions
Electric current system v salt water softener?
Q
Comments (2)
Here is a site that has links to many other sites with scientific proof that these systems do not work. Here is a link that might be useful: Water Value
...See More
Generating electricity through your water pipes
Q
Comments (13)
I can't believe that nobody's picked up on the fact it's NOT FREE ENERGY! Electricity is used to pump water to consumers. Demand is created by a customer opening a tap, and by the resistance of the water flowing. In other words these mine turbines would cause resistance to the water flow (and at consumer's end, lower pressure and/or less flow) so the pumping stations would have to work harder. It's not FREE energy. You might be regarded as stealing it, if you were, say, running your tap to generate your 'free electricity' If the water was gravity fed, then that's another thing. Something that would work, and ought to be considered, is storm water or sewage in hilly communities, if there's gravity-forced flow, you could generate a little power from it, in the case of sewage, you would also accelerate its treatment, as you'd be pre-aerating it.
...See More
My Contractor Put a Nail in a Water Pipe
Q
Comments (14)
The original builder is at fault. The original building inspector failed to catch this. The supply line should be running through the center of the bottom plate. The metal protectors are required at all penetrations through studs, top plates and bottom plates, as well as joists, when there is less than 1.25" of wood surrounding the pipe. The fact that this occurred one time before, when the deck contractor screwed into the waste pipe, leads one to believe that the original builder ddidn't simply miss one or two protector plates. He neglected to protect ANY of the pipes with metal plates. The inspector was also lame or absent, because he did not catch this during the original build. Pipe protectors were still required way back in 1991. Now that you know the original builder did very careless plumbing work, make sure that every contractor in the future knows of this problem. Only then can you blame them for penetrating the pipes, and still it won't be their fault unless you have them remove the drywall as part of the job. The deck contractor was not at fault, he just did the repair out of good faith in order to keep you as a happy client. Unfortunately that experience led you to believe that this sort of thing is the new contractor's responsibility, when it's really the original builder's.
...See More
Tankless Electric Water Heater Below an Electrical Panel
Q
Comments (9)
Have to disagree with GreenDesigns who states, "they offer almost zero improvement in efficiency of a new high quality tanked electric heater. ...electrical tankless is only truly practical if designed for a new build from the beginning. Retrofitting is extremely expensive and won't give you a payback for the cost differences inside of your lifetime." I put a whole-house electric tankless in my 1906 house and will never store water in a tank again. Absolutely love it! It's mounted on the wall, directly to the side and just above the dryer. I did not bother to hide the water lines inside the wall, but since they're [mostly] hidden by the dryer, who cares? Sometimes, putting plumbing pipes in the wall is highly overrated. Mine is in the bath/laundry room and I've never found it to be unsightly. Yes, the tankless requires quite a bit of power: Mine requires two, double-pole 60amp breakers with 6g wire. So, here's where distance from the electric panel is a cost consideration.
...See More
brickeyee
14 years ago
"Contrary to the previous suggestion, you probably don't have access to the equipment to do any meaningful measurement of the voltage."

A decent digital volt meter will show the voltage since its load impedance is very high.

If you measure the voltage you can then go to a high AC amps scale and see the leakage current.

The problem occurs if the leakage current is actually large, and you will get an arc that may trip the breaker.

It is NOT a recommended test for the inexperienced (and is best done with something in the circuit to limit the current).

Bond the water lines across the plastic section and see if the problem is solved.

If it is an induced current it is likely to be so small and have such a high source impedance the bonding till eliminate it.

If it is larger you may very well trip a breaker and need to figure out were the fault is on the tripped circuit.
HU-188763303
2 years ago
There are a few things that need to be understood regregarding this situation. First, there should be (basically) no hazardous current traveling along your plumbing pipes. By the requirements of the National Electrical Code, all metal piping must be bonded to the electrical service. this is usually done by attaching a bonding jumper to both the hot and cold water (metal) pipes.

secondly, astray voltage test should be done to find out how much voltage is traveling or present on the pipes. this can be checked by simply sticking a screwdriver in the earth and taking a voltage reading betwee the screwscrewdriver and the pipe. Tjis would be a great time to try and locate the cause of the problem.

to locate the source(s), leave the meter attached to the screwdriver and the water pipe.

Tgo to the electrical panel and shut off the main breaker. If the volt meter now reads zero, you know that the source of the problem is inside your home.

if that is the case, turn the main breaker back on and start turning the branch circuits off, one at a time and check the meter each time. when you see the voltage reduced to a lower level, that is either the circuit or one of the circuits that is causing your problem.

these can be hard to find if you are not familiar with locating such things.

Bottom line is, bond both water lines with a copper conductor sized per the NEC.

Gas lines are also required to be bonded as well.

Electric current in my water pipes

Comments (4)

jemdandy

Ron Natalie

Related Discussions

brickeyee

HU-188763303

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US