Electric shock from stove?

Question

So I was cooking some ramen on the stove, leaning my hip against the (metal) handle to the oven door. I stick the fork into the pot and I'm stirring, and I notice a strange tingling in my hip. I have bony hips, so I though it could just be the pressure of the fabric of my sweatpants between my hip bone and the stove causing the sensation (there was a layer of cotton between my skin and the metal). However, I had a friend who would get shocked if they touched the metal part of their fridge at the same time they touched the stove. So I stick the fork back in the pot, and touch the handle with one finger and yep--it was a shock. I actually yelped, and my finger still tingles.

Is this normal? Is this dangerous? Should I have this looked at?

Answer 1

It may not be a problem, but you should get it looked at. I'm assuming the stove is all electric, and not gas (which can have electric controls). The 240V the electric stove uses comes from two opposite 120V wires and a common wire. Since the two 120V wires are opposites with identical currents in them, the common wire will normally have zero volts on it (the opposites cancel). Until recently, the common wire was also used for the safety ground because of this, saving the cost of a 4th wire. However, small electronics (like a clock or lights) are usually only connected to one of the 120V wires, making the current between the two wires different and thus you can get a tingle off the metal on the stove.

However, what you describe may be a stronger tingle than would be expected and could indicate a bad connection in the stove or the circuit causing the opposite parts of the circuit not to cancel properly, and that should be fixed as it could be dangerous.

Answer 2

This is a very real danger to you and anyone else in your house. Your description seems to indicate a ground fault.  If you can feel a shock, then you need to have a qualified electrical person inspect your wiring.  Unplug the stove until you can get it serviced.

Now for the technical parts ....  

The NEC (national electrical code) does not allow for any stray voltages/currents high enough that you should be able to feel a "tingle"...

This symptom (able to be shocked) is typically cause by the stove not being grounded properly. Another root cause may be that your prime power (220 VAC) is not properly connected or properly wired in your home.  

Tingle can be felt at about 0.25 to 0.5 mA for females and between 0.50 and 1 mA for males. A current over 1 - 2 mA is very uncomfortable to everyone. The maximum "you can't let go of an AC line and it will kill you"  level for a woman is about 9 mA and for a guy it is about 15 mA (above this level of current you can be killed).

Consider that a typical electrical stove has the potential to draw 25 to 30 Amps ....  and the "kill" current for a female is 10mA ...   10 mA is  1/100 of an amp and your stove can easily put out 2500 times more current than is needed to hurt you...

According to the IEEE Std. 80, the maximum safe shock duration can be determined by the formula Seconds = 0.116/(E/R), where R (resistance of person) is assumed to be 1000 ohms. So, for a 277V circuit the maximum shock duration = 0.116/(277V/1000) = 0.43 Second.  

I think you are pretty lucky that you didn't get zapped harder ... best not to try the fork in the pot trick again !  ;-)  Yee-Ouch-ee!

Answer 3

It is not normal, Yes, it is dangerous.  Yes, you should have an electrician look at it.

It sounds like a ground problem  (something is not wired properly).

The electrician can track it down in short order.

You'd probably be surprised just how many volts you were feeling when you got your fingers 'tingled', hehehe.

Be Safe

Answer 4

you have a fault in your stove.  have it looked at immediately.