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dan2323 · Jun 20, 2011, 02:40 PM

Received a slight shock through a cut on my finger from an r/v faucet. Noticed the heating element was not gounded. The voltmeter read around 40 volts from the heater element. I placed a wire from the heating element to a ground and the voltmeter went to zero. Would this be all it takes to resolve the issue?
Thanks

ma0641 · Jun 20, 2011, 05:01 PM

It really means you have a ground fault or an improper ground or possibly a loose neutral. The only thing the ground wire is doing is running the 40V to ground. You could still get a shock outside and need to determine why the voltage leak is occurring. Cuts will quickly show a leak because the blood and water in the cut allow a quick ground. Bare feet are good too!

drtom4444 · Jun 21, 2011, 06:54 AM

Yes, the heater must be grounded to prevent shocks, but I think you have a burned out element or one that soon will be burned out. It sounds like it is dangerous and a possible fire hazard. Somewhere you have a hot wire grounding out and touching the water line if not in the element. I have seen fires caused this way in R/V's. Look at all of your connections, but disconnect the ground temporarily and shut off power to hot water heater. If you get no voltage from heater to ground then you know the circuit responsible. Look inside where power enters heater and at other wires to find where the short is located. If cutting off power to HW heater does not stop voltage leak then you have another place where voltage is getting to pipes. It could even be an electrical ground elsewhere where something like an AC is grounded. You need to find it and fix it, though. DrTom4444