Getting shocked by my appliance, ruh roh?

[TridenT]

So, here's the deal: I have this toaster oven. It's nice. Uses a 3 prong plug. I put it in a 3 prong outlet.

However, whenever I am touching the toaster and say, the sink... I get some current going through my body and thus shocked (It ain't terrible, but it's never what you expect). It's a shitty experience if you're doing 1 finger on toaster and 1 finger on the sink (less surface, lots more jolt per surface area). So, I'm tired of this. It has become the case where if I am standing in a certain place in the kitchen and touching the toaster, I get shocked. (Wtf?)

So, any ideas about how to go circumventing this problem? It's not something that's common from what I can tell.

 

[paulney]

Hot wire touching the toaster case, probably. Is it metal?

 

[TridenT]

Hot wire touching the toaster case, probably. Is it metal?

Yeah, whole thing is stainless steel. I figured something like that too. However, this thing ain't likely to be fucking easy to take apart.

Fuck it. My warranty on the thing is up. I might try it out anyway.

 

[Jeff7]

- wire contacting the case
- unconnected ground in the outlet

 

[Ronstang]

Toaster ovens are cheap. Throw it away. You trying to figure out how to fix it could be fatal. Fruit Loops don't involve anything dangerous so just eat them.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Either a bad ground on the toaster/plug or bad ground on the sink/pluming. Test the voltage between the toaster and the sink, just to see what kind of reading you get. Then test between the toaster and ground, if it's 0 then test between the sink and ground.

If you get a reading between sink and ground then you need to check why it's not grounded, possibly due to plastic plumbing, and something is electrifying the sink. Since you are not getting a bad shock I would not think it's a complete dead short to ground, so maybe some kind of phantom voltage or other voltage source. Maybe doorbell wire somehow passes by there and is in contact. That's 24v I think which is enough to feel a slight tingle. 120 will make you jump so you're probably not getting that much voltage.

I'd also test the outlet to make sure it's properly grounded. Hot to neutral should be 120, hot to ground should be 120 neutral to ground should be 0. Or use a plug tester if you have one, easier.

 

[BladeVenom]

So, any ideas about how to go circumventing this problem?

Quit touching it.

Unplug it, do you still get a shock?

 

[TridenT]

- wire contacting the case
- unconnected ground in the outlet

Yeah, I'm trying to figure it out. I took apart the toaster. I couldn't see any obvious wires touching the metal. But, the whole fucking thing is stainless steel. It could be anywhere inside the thing and not just where I looked (btw this toaster is a huge PITA to take apart).

It's a Breville 800XL. You don't fucking just toss it out and buy a new one (It's $250 before tax).

Quit touching it.

Unplug it, do you still get a shock?

Obviously not. I am not that dumb. I've tried touching the sink and touching other things. No shock then, it seems.

Either a bad ground on the toaster/plug or bad ground on the sink/pluming. Test the voltage between the toaster and the sink, just to see what kind of reading you get. Then test between the toaster and ground, if it's 0 then test between the sink and ground.

If you get a reading between sink and ground then you need to check why it's not grounded, possibly due to plastic plumbing, and something is electrifying the sink. Since you are not getting a bad shock I would not think it's a complete dead short to ground, so maybe some kind of phantom voltage or other voltage source. Maybe doorbell wire somehow passes by there and is in contact. That's 24v I think which is enough to feel a slight tingle. 120 will make you jump so you're probably not getting that much voltage.

I'd also test the outlet to make sure it's properly grounded. Hot to neutral should be 120, hot to ground should be 120 neutral to ground should be 0. Or use a plug tester if you have one, easier.

All these would be easy to test if I had a multimeter, but I don't.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Yeah, I'm trying to figure it out. I took apart the toaster. I couldn't see any obvious wires touching the metal. But, the whole fucking thing is stainless steel. It could be anywhere inside the thing and not just where I looked (btw this toaster is a huge PITA to take apart).

It's a Breville 800XL. You don't fucking just toss it out and buy a new one (It's $250 before tax).



Obviously not. I am not that dumb. I've tried touching the sink and touching other things. No shock then, it seems.



All these would be easy to test if I had a multimeter, but I don't.

Any person at least half geek should own one, go buy one if you want to be worthy of posting here.

Clamp meters are fun for serious current testing too.

 

[mnewsham]

All these would be easy to test if I had a multimeter, but I don't.

How...
find a friend who has one, or pick one up for like 10 bucks. Always something useful to have around.

 

[ShawnD1]

toaster
(It's $250 before tax).

Fail. Does it give blowjobs or anything else to justify that price?

 

[l0cke]

Fail. Does it give blowjobs or anything else to justify that price?

Seriously, a $250 toaster oven that now shocks you?

My suggestion was to throw it out, but since it cost so much I would at least try to repair it.

 

[ShawnD1]

Seriously, a $250 toaster oven that now shocks you?

I would guess it's not the toaster that is broken. If the toaster was not grounded, and the hot wire was touching the case, that kind of fault would shock you a lot worse than what he's describing.

It's a shitty experience if you're doing 1 finger on toaster and 1 finger on the sink (less surface, lots more jolt per surface area)

This means something. If it were a hot wire touching the case, having 1 finger make the connection would be a milder shock than having your whole hand make the connection because more area = less resistance = more current. If the shock is less when your whole hand is making the connection, that would imply the shock is limited by the source of this current rather than being limited by the resistance of your hand.

Current limited rather than resistance limited -- > the power is NOT coming from a hot wire in the toaster.

Assuming there's nothing wrong with your toaster and nothing wrong with your water pipes, voltage coming from the water pipes means there is a ground fault somewhere else. If the neighbor above you has a ground faulted power drill, that ground fault will cause current to flow through the water pipes. If the voltage at the broken power drill starts at 120V and the voltage where the pipes in the basement are tied to ground is 0V, then every point between is somewhere between 120 and 0 volts.

 

[Puppies04]

Toaster checklist.

1. Does it toast bread
2. Does it not give you a fucking electric shock when you touch it.

Go buy a new toaster and please don't waste $250 this time, it applies heat to bread it doesn't do your freaking tax return.

 

[TridenT]

Toaster checklist.

1. Does it toast bread
2. Does it not give you a fucking electric shock when you touch it.

Go buy a new toaster and please don't waste $250 this time, it applies heat to bread it doesn't do your freaking tax return.

Spoken like someone who doesn't have a clue about anything.

Just an FYI: This $250 toaster oven is the best god damn substitute for an oven. Uses less electricity than a full sized one too. (And hey, it works really great. That's why I bought it. Because I don't fucking have an oven where I live)

 

[olds]

Go buy this.

 

[tfinch2]

Toaster checklist.

1. Does it toast bread
2. Does it not give you a fucking electric shock when you touch it.

Go buy a new toaster and please don't waste $250 this time, it applies heat to bread it doesn't do your freaking tax return.

toaster != toaster oven, dipshit

 

[NL5]

Yeah, I'm trying to figure it out. I took apart the toaster. I couldn't see any obvious wires touching the metal. But, the whole fucking thing is stainless steel. It could be anywhere inside the thing and not just where I looked (btw this toaster is a huge PITA to take apart).

.

Did you look to see that the ground was still connected? If it's properly grounded, the case won't have any potential, even if it's in contact with a hot wire.

 

[Leros]

Its likely that your ground wire is connected to the chassis of the toaster. I would suspect that your outlet isn't actually grounded. Also buy a new toaster.

 

[ShawnD1]

Just an FYI: This $250 toaster oven is the best god damn substitute for an oven. Uses less electricity than a full sized one too. (And hey, it works really great. That's why I bought it. Because I don't fucking have an oven where I live)

The difference is probably marginal at best.
table of heat capacities, looking at volumetric
Air - 0.00121
Water - 4.1796

Conclusion:
energy to heat frozen pizza to 400F >>>>>>>>>> energy to heat air to 400F

Also, $250? My toaster oven is big as hell and I got "ripped off" by paying almost $200. I saw a similar size toaster oven in a liquidation store for $50 and I wanted to shoot myself in the head. It took 3 cashiers to wrestle the gun out of my hands.

Also buy a new toaster.

Don't do that unless you test it with a multimeter first. If the resistance from the ground pin to the case of the toaster is 0, then you know the toaster is perfectly fine and should not be thrown out.

 

[weadjust]

Plug it into a different outlet near the sink. Turn it on touch toaster and sink at same time. Post results if your still alive.

 

[ShawnD1]

The other solution is to do the obvious - connect a wire from the toaster to the sink. Weird current will go through the wire instead of going through you.

 

[TridenT]

Did you look to see that the ground was still connected? If it's properly grounded, the case won't have any potential, even if it's in contact with a hot wire.

I did see a green wire come from the main 3 prong wire-combo. 2 wires were curled up and sent off to magic land on the circuit board. The green wire (ground I presume) was just connected by a bolt and washer to the stainless steel case.

My presumption is that either my sink has some current in it or that the wiring system that I have is not wired for ground properly (Which is possible. It's likely that I have something akin to 1920's wiring).

 

[OVerLoRDI]

Get an outlet tester. They are like 3 bucks at home Depot.

 

[arkcom]

Is there some reason you need to be touching the sink and the toaster at the same time?