Stray Voltage on Doorknob!?

D

dinger28

Member
Hey all. I saw one of my acro frags succumbed to RTN overnight and went into the fish room to pull it out of the tank. When I went to turn the doorknob, I got shocked pretty bad. I opened the door and stuck my hand in the water and everything was fine in the tank. My question is, what in the world would cause the doorknob to shock me? My wife just tried to open the door (4 hours after I did) and got shocked too! This doesn't make sense. Anyone?
 
dinger28 said:
Hey all. I saw one of my acro frags succumbed to RTN overnight and went into the fish room to pull it out of the tank. When I went to turn the doorknob, I got shocked pretty bad. I opened the door and stuck my hand in the water and everything was fine in the tank. My question is, what in the world would cause the doorknob to shock me? My wife just tried to open the door (4 hours after I did) and got shocked too! This doesn't make sense. Anyone?
Click to expand...

Pictures of both sides of the door? Is it recently installed? Is it wood?

A real shock right, not static?

The only thing I can thing of if it is a wooden door is maybe if the plate for the mortice on the door frame is screwed into a wire. (should not be possible without 5 inch plus screws or improper wiring...)

Get out a multimeter and start testing to ground and isolate it.
 
more than likely...
Its called "static electricity"..

The doorknob didn't shock you.. You transferred the shock TO the doorknob from what was built up in your body..
 
mcgyvr said:
more than likely...
Its called "static electricity"..

The doorknob didn't shock you.. You transferred the shock TO the doorknob from what was built up in your body..
Click to expand...

I mentioned that. Trying to give them the benifit of doubt first.
 
Door has been installed for a year and a half and nothing like this has ever happened before. I've been shocked by static electricity and this isn't it. The shock from the doorknob will stay with you until you let go of the door handle. :/
 
Pull the trim and see if someone ran romex around the door and it now has a nick in it? I was installing a security system onetime and when I drilled the door frame to install a contact I drilled into the romex. After removing all the trim the owner or someone else had run romex using the base boards to hide it and when they got to door, yes they went up around and back down to an outside plug. It is amazing what I have seen over the years.
 
dinger28 said:
It was actually a pre fabricated door from Lowes that my father in law and I installed to the fish room we built.
Click to expand...



If you do not have a multimeter than pick one up. Put one end on the ground of a socket. Start touching stuff with the other probe and the meter set on voltage. There is no way you are inducing current on your doorknob. You need to figure out where your short is, you have one.
 
Like others have said sounds like you have a short in a wire near your door frame somewhere. I don't think that has anything to do with your tank.
 
Its very common to replace one of the screws on each hinge with a long one to help secure the door.. As stated that may have pierced a wire in the wall and with enough humidity/moisture you could be feeling it at the door knob.. (pretty low..low chance but possible)..

As stated get a multimeter and ground the black lead at a local outlet and then probe the hinges with the red lead.. Anything over 30V or so would indicate a problem..

Don't touch the handle again without gloves/shoes if you are positive its not static..
 
I found out that the extension chord running under the door had a nick in it, therefore exposing wire which in turn sends stray voltage to the doorknob. Electrical tape has fixed everything. :) Thanks all!
 
Wow, glad it was just a small shock. I would figure a way to not have an extension cord or at least not one running under a door.
 
extension cords are for temporary use only.. (no more than 2-3 days max)..

sure would have been nice if you mentioned an extension cord running under the door too..

Hope you are aware of and implement GFCI protection too..
 
LOL

You take the time to post this thread...why you got shocked by your door knob....

And have an extension cord running underneath the door and didn't think to check that first....are you kidding me!?
 
i still want to know how the heck electricity got to the door knob anyway. even despite a cord under it.


Like, isn't the door wood? how would that even work? wood isn't usually very conductive...or is this also a metal door too....
 
Wood itself is not conductive, but can possibly conduct electricity if the moisture content high enough. You could say the same thing about shirts. A dry one won't conduct anything, but a damp or wet one would.
 
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