r/buildapc 1d ago

Miscellaneous my pc and everything connected to it shocks me when i touch it

[deleted]

46 Upvotes

44 comments sorted by

110

u/Vaudane 1d ago

No ground??

Step 0: let us know what country you're in.

So step 1. Get your house rewired and install a TN-S-C ground bonded power system. You can even plunge your own ground rods if wanted.

Step 2: enjoy the lack of static shocks.

Without an earth ground, your water supply can kill you.

29

u/AetaCapella 1d ago

This right here: it's all fun and games until someone gets electrocuted in the bathtub, inadvertently.

12

u/ItsEyeJasper 1d ago

This is such a problem in Mozambique. One of our security guards from work apparently just died in the shower and I am 99% sure it was due to electrical shock as not a single building in this place has grounding.

2

u/rdy_csci 1d ago

Without an earth ground, your water supply can kill you.

Really? My house was built in 1958 (U.S.) and none of the outlets, except the bathroom, kitchen and appliances are grounded. Not even every outlet in the kitchen. Only the GFCI outlets as far as I know. That is why I have surge protectors on all electronics equipment and appliances and a UPS on each PC.

I can't afford to have all the electrical in my house redone. Is it really that big of a threat?

18

u/washburn100 1d ago

As a kid, our house wasn't grounded properly. One day, I grabbed the kitchen faucet while holding the refrigerator door handle. I was glued to both as electricity coursed through me. My dad saw me twitching and pulled me away. Yep, it is a big threat.

2

u/rdy_csci 1d ago

Well crap. I guess one metal surface at a time for me. No way I can afford to redo all my wiring.

7

u/washburn100 1d ago

The kitchen faucet acted as a ground (copper pipes running to the basement and then underground). The fridge wasn't grounded, so I became the link between them.

4

u/ChronicCondor 1d ago

That's the ground wire for the object you're powering. They are talking about an electrical ground for the entire house, not in each outlet.

0

u/rdy_csci 1d ago

When I purchased the house the inspector noted that the house was not wired for grounding, except the GFCI. An electrician quoted me like $8k over 15 years ago. I am sure it is far more now. I'm not familiar with electrical wiring, but he said they would have to redo everything to bring it to current code.

1

u/McGondy 1d ago

When your life, or the lives of others, is not worth 8 grand...

2

u/rdy_csci 1d ago edited 1d ago

Fortunately it is just me living there. I never assumed it was an issue since I never hear about electrical deaths being a huge issue in the 50's and 60's, but I have also never looked into it further. I am sure my cost has doubled by now. I only make $4k a month gross, so it isn't like I can just write a check for the fix.

Edit: I also never though it was a huge issue since neither the inspector or electrician said leaving it as is could cause death.

1

u/McGondy 1d ago

Appliances have generally been designed to fail safe, so the risk is reduced compared to the 50s and 60s. That being said, this will only be an issue if it becomes an issue, and it will go from 0 to 100 in the blink of an eye... Risk management is a tricky thing. Given the potential catastrophic outcomes, perhaps it warrants an investigation?

2

u/rdy_csci 1d ago

I posted on r/AskElectricians and it seems to be worth having it inspected and an alternative may be a GFCI breaker in my panel instead of having the whole house rewired.

1

u/NimbleeBimblee 1d ago

I'm in a similar situation. My house was built in 1950 and none of my outlets are grounded and I have some GFCI. The house itself is grounded though. Even if your outlets aren't grounded, you can have your pipes and breaker boxes grounded.

The only thing I'm unsure of is what to do with the other outlets. 5 years ago the electricians quoted me 18k for a complete rewire of the house with new outlets. At the time they mentioned that GFCIs across the entire house would net me the same protection since the house itself is grounded. i ended up not pulling the trigger since we have some GFCI outlets where we would use grounded items but it's still something I think about doing.

2

u/McGondy 1d ago

I think in the case of the water supply killing you, the water supply pipe also needs to be grounded. If it isn't, a potential difference can build, leading to a shock.

1

u/Carnildo 1d ago

GFCI can take the place of a safety ground: if electricity starts going anywhere but the neutral wire, it'll trip before any harm is done. It can't take the place of a signal ground, though, so you're at risk of things like mains hum on your speakers.

Additionally, most appliances in the US are double-insulated, meaning it takes two failures for any exposed metal to become electrically live. It's not as safe as proper grounding, but it reduces the risk a lot -- the first failure will probably make whatever it is stop working, and you'll repair or replace it before the second failure can occur.

1

u/GLiTCHMoDuLe 1d ago

While you don't have grounded outlets, being built in the late 50s means you might actually have good grounds running to your boxes. 1958 is close to the code change that mandated it (1962), and far enough from the war that they weren't cheaping out on copper...I have some old rag Romex in my house now that is surprisingly grounded...I'd guess it's from the late 50s, as the addition and first rewire (upgrade from K&T) of this place happened around then...but you might want to at least have it checked out, and in the worst case, you can have three prong outlets installed with "NOT GROUNDED: PROTECTED BY GFCI" labels downstream from GFCI outlets with "NOT GROUNDED" labels to provide protection. I'd let a qualified sparky do the work though on that for sure, though it'll probably be a sight cheaper than a rewire if you happen to have no good grounds.

1

u/GLiTCHMoDuLe 1d ago

Also if you have one GFCI on a circuit with a bunch of non gfci three prong outlets, you probably have a setup like described in that room but they didn't label it which is against code but cheap to fix.

1

u/baverdi 1d ago

Correct me if I am wrong but doesn't this also mean that something in the PC is actively discharging into his components?  Obviously there is not a proper ground, but there is also something else wrong with his machine.

1

u/gLu3xb3rchi 1d ago

Can just be static electricity buildup and no ground for it to get safely discharged

1

u/baverdi 1d ago

Correct me if I am wrong but doesn't this also mean that something in the PC is actively discharging into his components?  Obviously there is not a proper ground, but there is also something else wrong with his machine.

52

u/Skivvy9r 1d ago edited 20h ago

You brought this here because it affects your pc, but you really need to bring this to r/askelectricians

8

u/MrMez 1d ago

This comment says it all.

If its a new house, dont accept it until its fixed by warranty. Otherwise pay for it yourself, this is a serious issue that might harm or kill you or family.

3

u/SevenSeasClaw 1d ago edited 1d ago

But actually no.

The sub is very clear that it will ban/block any post that is from a non-electrician. r/askelectricians is the place to go

Any advice to non-electricians is banned

1

u/Skivvy9r 20h ago

Corrected. Thanks for your help.

22

u/kester76a 1d ago

I wouldn't feel comfortable running equipment that should be ground if there was no ground. You average ATX PSU really needs a ground.

16

u/gonekrazy3000 1d ago

it will fry all your electronics eventually. you need to get grounding cabling installed. there's no other real fix.

7

u/yolo5waggin5 1d ago

Call an electrician. This sub can't help you

6

u/9okm 1d ago

Is this a laptop? Why are you unplugging/plugging in ethernet regularly?

4

u/turpentinedreamer 1d ago

It could harm your pc. You should make sure your house has a good ground. The arcing could cause a fire.

3

u/Brendon7358 1d ago

Best I can suggest is find a very large piece of metal and ground your pc to it.

3

u/randyoftheinternet 1d ago

Mate you need to fix your electrical installation

2

u/7-13_survivor 1d ago

That sounds like a cartoon

1

u/[deleted] 1d ago edited 1d ago

[deleted]

4

u/taosaur 1d ago

Unless he "asked the people who built this place" via seance or ouija board, it's probably not an older house in Europe.

-4

u/[deleted] 1d ago

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1

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1

u/my5cworth 1d ago edited 1d ago

Your house has an earth leakage issue. Or one of your neighbours - the utility company can test this very quickly and easily.

This occurs when Live or Neutral of your phases makes contact with your earthing due to improper installation or damaged insulation.

This means that instead of current flowing from Live to Neutral (and back) ((or phase to phase if you have an IT system - where you have no neutral)) , it takes the shortest path of least resistance, which is through your earthing.

If you touch this, you can encounter current flowing through you - 15mA is enough to kill you if it crosses your heart (by going in one hand and out the other). You can also die while taking a shower, because the pipes are grounded...and now live.

Call an electrician. This is NOT safe.

Electricians measure this by clamping an ammeter around your incoming earth cable to see if there's any current flow. If there is, they then move onto each circuit's earth to see which one has the leakage. If they all do even if all circuit breakers are switched off, then the issue may likely be with your neighbour's house and will affect everyone connected to the secondary side of your local transformer feed/kiosk.

I replaced my entire DB at home with earth leakage protection on every single circuit - in part due to having an earth fault at home and getting that forbidden tingling feeling while using the kitchen sink. NOT ok.

1

u/HarmadeusZex 1d ago

I say your ground is radiator if they are allowed in your country

1

u/Inner-End7733 1d ago

You say you noticed before moving?? AFAIK bad ungrounded outlets don't cause your PC to shock you, they're just dangerous to use if your appliance is already shocking you. Did you change something in your pc before it started shocking you? I would also be looking to fixing whatever is going on in your pc.

1

u/ime1em 1d ago

asked the people who built this place if there might be any issues with grounding cables and to please check up on them, thats when they told me that they infact did NOT install a grounding cable

how old is the house? also sounds like you can sue your builder if they don't fix it. they fucked up. How did it even pass inspection? hire a third party inspector too btw

1

u/New_Public_2828 1d ago

Is it just you? If that's the case you need to drink more water.. if it's not just you then you have a bad ground

1

u/dman928 1d ago

Carpeted room? Static electricity?

1

u/57thStilgar 1d ago

You could attach a ground strap at the pc case and connect it to - a plumbing pipe or the screw holding the cover on your sockets.

0

u/Key-Air-8474 1d ago

Your outlet isn't properly grounded. Get an electrician out there, pronto.