I'm from India
After searching many sites I signed up here to clarify my doubt as I don't know much about electricity…
I recently brought a fridge(250litres) (3 months ago) and it was working fine until 2-3 days back when I experienced a mild electric shock while touching the fridge. I called the service men from the company he said maybe the earthing is the problem.
It turned out earthing is all fine and when he came to the house and checked no shock was experienced (he just removed the earthing pin connected to frame and again connected back). After that 2-3 days it was fine but again I experienced major electric shock but this time much higher.
When I switched off the fridge and turned on 15 mins after there was no shock.
When I was searching about the same many things popped up on internet as possible causes but one that related was overloading for single socket.
- The fridge is connected to one socket.
- And from another socket, I have connected 4 devices using junction box:
- Set-top box
- LG smart TV(43 inch)
- 5.1 Home theatre
- Sony PS4 slim
My question is:
Although my fridge is connected to another socket is this okay to have these 4 devices connected to one socket, is this causing the problem?
Best Answer
You need to assure that your refrigerator's metal chassis is firmly connected to the electrical supply's safety ground pin.
Then, you need to assure that your house's wiring is tip-top as far as the safety ground. The receptacle's ground is connected properly to the panel's metal chassis, AND, the panel's chassis is properly connected to grounding rods, an Ufer ground cast into a concrete foundation, or a metal water main not interrupted by a plastic meter.
Further, things like gas pipes and metal water pipes interrupted by a plastic meter also need to be bonded to the abovementioned grounding rods.
Then this check needs to be done for all other electrical circuits and devices in the kitchen. It could be that the refrigerator is grounded properly but something else you are touching is leaking current.
If that is correct and complete, it should arrest any shocks.
It may also be appropriate to think about an RCD for the house. That is a ground fault detector, which looks at current coming in and going out, and assures they are equal. If they are equal, all current is accounted for and it's not likely to be traveling through weird routes such as through a human.