I have felt a light electric shock in the kitchen basin whenever we have tried to wash our dishes?

I have noticed that the garbage disposal has jammed and not working,also it does not matter if its hot or cold water,the shock is very much there,also our house is old,so could be old wires somewhere causing this,I have felt a light electric shock in the kitchen basin whenever we have tried to wash our dishes?
sounds like the garbage disposal, the plumbing could have leaked onto it creating problems and/or it could have shorted on it's own.I have felt a light electric shock in the kitchen basin whenever we have tried to wash our dishes?
I agree that the garbage disposal is the first suspect. However, it is not the only possibility. As also said, older homes sometimes grounded to galvanized water pipes. I once had a refrigerator that caused a mild shock. I discovered that there was a faulty connection in the sub panel that fed it.


I would disconnect the electricity garbage disposal first and see if the basin still has current. If so, you need to do some checking with a meter. Good luck and be careful.
Your house may not have ground wires - many older homes use only a two-wire system, which is inherently unsafe, especially around water faucets and water-related appliances.





The real safety risk occurs when an appliance, such as your garbage disposal, develops a short between the hot side of the power connection and the housing of the device. In a properly grounded 3-wire system, that would cause the breaker (or in better-equipped installations, the ground-fault-interrupter) to trip, thereby removing the power to the circuit.





My recommendation would be to either have the house re-wired, or if your local building codes permit, install a third ground wire to all the outlets. Then install new outlets that support the safety ground (aka ';U'; ground) connection, and put in GFIs near all sinks and outdoor outlets.





The risk of not doing that is electrocution.
You bet it could be the garb/disp.---- it should be on it's own seperate circuit protected also by a GFCI(ground fault circuit interrupter).Does'nt appear to be the case through.


Look underneath the garb/disp in the bottom center --- there may be a little hole where you can insert a allen type tool to use as a crank to turn it back and forth to try and break it loose.


I would find out first which circuit breaker controls it and turn it off before touching around on it --- first. I say this because I think you have a ';short'; in the garb/disp. going to ';ground'; -- which would be your kit. sink --then into your hands as you touch metal or the water. Most likely you should replace the garb/disp --- as I say ---it probably has a ';internal electrical ground short';.


Turn the breaker off that feeds it --- then see if you are still getting shocked -- that should tell you.


A special GFCI breaker can be installed quite easily in your power box to replace your old regular breaker ---- or if the garb/disp. has a cord and plug /with ground----- then the electrical wall box plug can be changed out with a GFCI --- then your garb/disp. cord plugs in here --- make sure the circuit has a bare copper ground wire-- since this is how the GFCI works. It should really be wired straight into the box through.


It happens that in older wiring systems things get changed around --- your garb/disp. may not be the only thing running off this circuit --- with this in mind --- I would take the wires off the garb/disp and wire-nut/tape them at any rate.


Spock
Garbage disposal at fault here. Check all wiring. Next on the bottom of the disposal unit, there should be a place to use a 5/16 Allen wrench to free up the disposal and work again.
Unplug the garbage disposal and see if that stops you from getting shocked when you wash dishes. If that doesn't help then you need to have an electrician check out your household wiring.
Metal water pipes are often used as a ground. The short could be anywhere really but the first suspect would be that disposal .
You have a loose ground to your kitchen plumbing. Simple as that.
Yes. It is likely bad wiring in the disposal unit.