Replies

1. 
   Conrad_Enterprises | Nov 04, 2001 07:56pm | #1

   *
   >I've got a very strange problem in my inlaw's shower.
   Perhaps someone out there can give me a clue as to what the answer might be.
   > The shower is a 36" unit located on the lower level of a split level
   70's brick house with a well for water. The shower sits on a concrete
   slab and has a cast iron drain. The supply lines are copper and the valve handles are metal.
   >What happens is when you touch the metal drain cover and the control handles you get a nice little jolt. The same happens when you touch the
   controls and the aluminum floor strip that is nailed to the slab. However,
   this does not happen when touching the drain and anything else.
   >Now for the strange part. I do know that the electricity is not coming from the house. It's a DC pulse that seems to be coming from an electric fence about 100' behind the house. We've searched the fence line and cannot find anything bridging the electric fence and the chain link fence
   that goes around the back yard. There is also a pulsing noise in one of the branches of the phone line that sounds like it's caused by the same
   source. The ground for the telephone is attached to the water line that
   supplies the shower. I know that it doesn't originate in the house because; 1- It's DC voltage 2- It didn't stop when I cut the main power.
   Someone told us that voltage from the fence could be traveling through the ground and getting to the supply line in that way,it's been very dry here
   (Charlotte,N.C.) for a while and he said that dry ground actually transports voltage better than wet. However, what would make voltage go from the ground into the waterlines? Isn't the purpose of a ground wire to
   carry voltage into the ground? I always thought of it as a giant sponge
   for electricity! Also, a electric fence is not supposed ground itself unless something (a cow?) touches it, right? (By the way, I tried
   grounding the supply line near the shower,no luck. Anyway, The line grounds itself when it goes into the dirt, I would think.)
   This problem has been going on for a couple months.
   Could it be something with the phone?
   The shock is worse when I touched the copper pipe and the dirt under
   the house. Also, you sometimes get a small shock when touching various parts of the chainlink fence.
   >Please, any help would be greatly appreciated!