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#169469 10/05/07 07:37 PM
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 4
C
calmart Offline OP
Junior Member
Hi all: I spend a lot of time reading the post on this site and have learned a lot from you guys. I had a call from a motel that I do service calls for,saying That a man in the hot tub touched the light in the hot tub with his foot and got a shock, and at the same time, the power to the whole building shut off - then came back on - then went off again. I was several miles away so I had them call POCO. When I got there, one of the 15kva wires had failed close to the transformer. They spent most the night replaceing the wire all the way out to the street. My question is: Could this 15kva short in the ground have sent volts thru the earth to the water in the hot tub which has been leaking water for a long time and this man just happen to touch the wetnitch light which was grounded at the same time as the short happened? The man is okay, and the POCO was back today looking to see where they could add some more ground rods around the transfomer. No GFIs popped and all tested good. The hot tub is about 50ft. from the transfomer. Thanks, Cal.

calmart #169471 10/05/07 08:07 PM
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 827
Likes: 1
J
Member
Forgive me for my lack of trust for my fellow man BUT: I wonder if he called his lawyer first. In other words, unless there is credible evidence of the shock, I'll bet it was someone sniffing for a law suit.
Joe

Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 9,923
Likes: 32
G
Member
I would not be surprised if a 15kv line could cause a significant "ground shift" certainly enough volts for a "tingle".


Greg Fretwell
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 4
C
calmart Offline OP
Junior Member
Originally Posted by JoeTestingEngr
Forgive me for my lack of trust for my fellow man BUT: I wonder if he called his lawyer first. In other words, unless there is credible evidence of the shock, I'll bet it was someone sniffing for a law suit.
Joe
I was thinking that way my self, he did get his room comp'd and was real nice. But thats why I ask the Question to see what others thought.

calmart #169510 10/06/07 05:02 PM
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 138
P
Member
If the light is in the water (below the water line) touching it by foot would not be any different than not touching it. The bath water is a conductor and the whole tub would have the same potential. I also assume you meant to say 15 kV instead of 15kVA.

I did have a case where the drain in a residential shower would show 120 volts between it and the shower handle - only when the water was running thru the drain. After talking to the plumber who had worked on the drain several times, i found out that it clogged frequently and he would run an auger thru it. (The shower sat on the ground floor of a slab home.) I assumed the pipe came apart, the auger nicked the wires and would conduct when water flowed.

I capped off the line at the panel and rerouted the power from a plug in an adjacent room.

The ground does conduct electricity and it goes from a point of higher potential to a point of lower potential. Adding ground rods would be a waste of money and time. Sounds like they have plenty of ground connections...

calmart #169888 10/18/07 11:25 PM
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 6
A
New Member
1 possible path for the 15kV fault to shock this man would be if the guy is a path between the grounded light socket and the metal plumbing. I could see where the light's grounding connection to earth is actually done back at the main service panel, but the plumbing pipe could be in the ground closer to the fault so the physical distance between these two ground points could produce a voltage.

I know that at electrical substations several ground rods are use as well as a ground grid buried under the whole site just to limit the ground potential rise between two points during a fault at the station.

Andy


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