Why do batteries get electrocuted?

Heating radiators are a common attribute of living space. Without these plumbing fixtures, it is impossible to create a warm, cozy environment during the cold season. Touching batteries is sometimes accompanied by a slight tingling sensation or more noticeable, even painful fluctuations in electrical current, which can leave irritation on the skin.

Why is the battery electrocuted?

The human body is susceptible to the influence of electricity. Therefore, upon contact with conductive elements, unpleasant sensations arise. Low current voltage up to 20 Volts is difficult to determine by touch. High voltage causes itching and burns the surface of the skin on contact. Currents greater than 120 Volts have a painful effect on the body. If, when touching the radiators, an electric discharge causes a painful reaction, then the cause of the occurrence is identified and eliminated.

Problems inside your apartment

When arranging a home, a person complements it with all kinds of modern household appliances that increase comfort. These include: electric water heaters, microwave ovens, office equipment. And electrical wiring is not always designed to connect such equipment. In addition, by improving the interior of the apartment, the owners complement the decor using various products with synthetic components: laminate, carpet and upholstered furniture.

Such innovations not only add comfort to housing, but can also cause current to appear on the surface of the batteries. These include:

• static discharge that occurs when there is an abundance of synthetic materials;
• incorrect connection of the house electrical wiring at the input;
• malfunction of household appliances;
• wiring damage;
• using communication pipes as grounding when connecting electrical equipment.

To identify the cause, the following activities are carried out:

First of all, find out whether the current is static. After the discharge is disturbed, you must touch the radiator again. If the battery no longer shocks, this means that the problem is due to the presence of static voltage associated with a large number of synthetic products in the room.

If the unpleasant sensation recurs, other possible causes are diagnosed. For this:

• check the presence of “ground” and the correct connection at the entrance to the apartment;
• inspect household appliances for possible exposed connections or heating elements;
• check the contacts, and if possible, measure the resistance of the apartment wiring (cables of different phases should not “short” or be burnt);
• identify possible connections of the ground wire to the water supply or heating pipes of the apartment.

IMPORTANT! If you have a tester, make sure that there is resistance in each of the phases and that there are no “stray” currents.

If any of the shortcomings are detected, it is eliminated, because A small voltage leak can increase and subsequently cause a short circuit.

REFERENCE! An incorrectly executed grounding circuit in a private household can cause the appearance of “stray” currents.

Neighbors' involvement

Heating and water pipe risers are conductors of electricity. If neighbors used communications to ground electrical household heating devices, then the entire entrance will suffer from this. It is very difficult to identify such a connection and, often, you have to put up with this problem without solving it.

ATTENTION! The centralized supply of electricity in apartment buildings built during the Soviet period did not provide for the presence of a grounding bus! This forces residents to connect a third wire of modern electrical equipment to the pipes.

In addition, unscrupulous residents may live next to you and use illegal connection methods to bypass the meter. Such a connection among neighbors can cause electric shock to the batteries

To eliminate “stray” effects, electricians recommend installing a residual current device (RCD) at the entrance to the apartment. But the experience of installing such devices suggests that their use in old five-story buildings does not give a positive result, but, on the contrary, adds problems to residents due to the constant power outage to the apartment.