Ouch! This is shocking!

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Have you had this happen to you?


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As far as I know, no receptacles involved....all static. And, if the OP has copper pipe coming into the house, that's required to be grounded. I'm puzzled by this one....never heard of anything like this.... so I'm tagging and hope someone smarter knows.


Where are you @Brew12 .....you're the electrical wizard.
Ya, looked at the video again and didn't see a pump or heater in the tub. Scratch what I said....
 
Here is a video i just took. It starts registering a little voltage before my probe touches the water...once it touches it bounces up to 31 volts, then immediately discharges. To answer some of the above questions...
1. Entire house is plumbed pvc/cpvc.
2. No other water sources shock or register anything on the meter.
3. The tub itself will not shock me.
4. I even poured the water into another container...THE WATER HELD THE FREAKING CHARGE! i touched the water once it was in the new container and ZAP!

New Video -
 
And that water you're sticking the probe into is zero TDS RO/DI water?


Hold on one moment, I've got to find a wall to bang my head against. :confused: Galvanic RO/DI water!
 
Yes the water coming out is 0 TDS. I will not make water even at 1 TDS due to me using this on my reef tank.
 
If you were to open a faucet and fill a bucket of water, is there a charge on that water?
 
I tested all my other water sources including the faucet that is about 2 feet away from here and absolutely no shock.
 
here is a updated video showing no pumps or anything in the container...the other videos didn't really show the entire container.
 
So curiosity was getting the better of me so I done a little searching. Surprisingly this is not to uncommon! Here is an old thread from another forum, I don't remember which one but it gives a pretty good explanation of why it is happening and how to resolve it.

Fair warning I do not have a degree in Science mine is in Business, but my little pea brain tells me this makes some sense.


I, too, am going to revive this thread as I just spent the better part of my day trying to figure out what was causing this and how to stop it.

I just set up my first RO unit today and after about 2-3 gallons in my brand new bucket, I noticed a loose piece of plastic floating around and reached in to grab it when I got a BIG shock. I scoured Google for hours before learning a thing or two.

Long story short, RO tubing (polyethylene) creates a charge in the water flowing through.

The plastic trash can (reservoir) is also a plastic and was holding the charge.

The reservoir was sitting on my laminate floor, preventing it from being grounded.

SOLUTION: I grounded the water in my reservoir by running a length of electrical wire from a wire housing in my unfinished ceiling down INTO the water in the reservoir - NO MORE SHOCKS!!

Now, WHY was this happening in the first place? Tap water has dissolved minerals like calcium, magnesium, iron, sodium, etc. The RO unit is supposed to remove these, but most 3-4 stage systems only remove UP TO 98%. The other 2+% still contains electrons, protons and neutrons. As it passes through the tubing, it has a chance to build a charge. Obviously ymmv depending on your tap water and your RO or RO/DI, but this is the basic idea. Given the right circumstances (plastic tubing, high enough flow rate, bubbles in the line, plastic *ungrounded* reservoir), you're going to end up with a bit of a shock.

For those of you with an RO/DI unit wondering how deionized water can create a charge, I ask if you felt a shock WITH or WITHOUT the salt already mixed in. Many (if not all) salt mixes contain enough added minerals that contain ions, thus re-ionizing your water -- is that even a word??



End of story: ground your water. It's a cheap and simple solution to being shocked (or worse, not noticing the static charge and filling your tank with it). Hope this saves someone from hours of Google'ing!
 
This is very similar to my current setup the only difference in the Vinyl flooring. The thing is with mine is the Volts are climbing. I tested it this morning and got 52 volts. Now i just need to know how to hook this up for some free energy! lol
 
SOLVED: It was the way the water was running down the side of the container. Once i changed that position it did not produce a charge any longer. SCIENCE!
 

IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

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