I received an electric shock from an unplugged washing machine.?

We experienced a mini-flood when the washing machine drain hose became dislodged from the drain pipe. I unplugged both washer and dryer and began mopping up, and I was re-attaching the drain hose when I received a pretty good shock from the washing machine chassis. With my multimeter I measured 85 volts AC between the unplugged machine chassis and the cold water pipe??? Is it possible some of the interior electrical components (probably wet) are retaining an electrical charge??I received an electric shock from an unplugged washing machine.?
Check the voltage again between the machine chassis and the cold water pipe. If still live switch off the entire power supply including all MCBs or Fuses, as suggested by Craig W. Now check the voltage again - hopefully it is now gone.


If it has gone switch one MCB/Fuse and check the voltage - if no voltage, switch off that MCB/Fuse. Switch on the next MCB/Fuse the voltage - if no voltage, switch off that MCB/Fuse.


In this way check each circuit individually until you find the one(s) {there could be more than one or even all (which is unlikely) of them} which gives rise to the voltage.


Another matter to check with your multimeter is which is live and which is neutral/earth - that is to say is the cold water pipe live or is the machine chassis live?


If the cold water pipe is live there is some connection to it from a live wire which could be due to a water connection arising from the flood.


If the machine is live it has to be a water connection.


Hopefully by now you will have found the defective circuit which you will leave switched off. It being the weekend electricians may a little scarce on the ground and the flood will begin to dry out and with a bit of luck the stray voltage will disappear. At 85 volts the reading is not a full line to earth voltage of 220 or even 110.


I would say that a bare live wire was accessed by water to cause this.


This illustrates the reason for all those irksome regulations regarding electric installations. All your power circuits should be controlled by RCDs (also known as ELCBs) which would trip the circuit out at a current flowing to earth of as little as 30mA (which would not harm you) assuming that was the rating of the RCD which was installed. This you should have installed with MCBs instead of fuses when all this excitement has passed by.


You also need a properly installed earth system consisting of An Earth Rod which is connected to and Earth Box into which are connected all earths from the various circuits around the house and which Earth Box is also connected to the Neutral on the Supply side of the Meter - all checked for continuity and resistance by a registered electrician.


You should not regard this as a disaster - it is rather an opportunity to correct defects with, thankfully, no real damage done.


Good luck and be Careful out there.I received an electric shock from an unplugged washing machine.?
I wonder if you have a secondary fault in your house and your cold water pipe is actually ';live'; because it is not earthed properly.





Try switching off the power to the whole house and try measuring the voltage again.





Another test would be to hammer in a large earth rod etc. into your garden and measuring the voltage between the earth spike and the cold water pipe.





If you don't know what you are doing then you need to get an electrician in quickly though (just in case you kill yourself).
You have something more wrong with your electrics, any condencer retaining a charge will discharge in one foul surge so I suggest you disconect the earth from your water supply then forget your washing m/c and check for any voltage between your copper plumbing and a good earth, try the earth point on your socket with the plumbing detatched, my guess is the wall could be damp making a ciruit between the power point and the plumbing
yes and you were standing on either a wet floor or in water at the time. There could also be a ground short