My hot tub has recently started shocking me. If I stand outside the tub on wet ground and I touch the water I receive a nasty shock. My local dealer says I have a bad ground. I'm not an electrician, but I was under the impression that the ground wire is only used if there is a short in order to prevent electrocution. Is it normal for current to pass over the ground wire?

Thanks,

Laramie

The ground wire is used to provide, electrical current a path of least resistance, and intended to allow enough current to travel through it to trip the circuit breaker. A bad ground is one possibility. So is a bad circuit breaker. It sounds like you may not have a GFCI on the circuit. Or it's wired up incorrectly.

It's also possible something is bonded incorrectly (and not necessarily your spa, or even something on your property). Typically one assumes the spa is "leaking electricity" which is traveling through you to earth. While rare, it is possible that the stray electricity in coming from the ground, and traveling up through you to the ground wire of the spa.

The spa is protected by a GFCI. The tech told me that he was able to hammer a grounding rod into the ground (duh) and it stopped the water from causing a shock. My concern was just that I thought current shouldn't normally pass over the ground wire anyway.

If all that was done to correct your "problem" was a ground rod was installed, your problem has NOT been fixed, but has simply been covered up and you still have a potentially life threatening situation. I would suggest bypassing the dealer and finding a well qualified electrician.

The only place a "ground rod" should be installed is at the main electrical panel. It's intention is to protect the electrical system from damage due to lightening strikes, and large power surges from the power company.

Electricity takes the path of least resistance. When you were getting shocked, YOU were the path of least resistance. The rod installed became the path of least resistance........ for now. The ground (earth, the dirt) is actually a pretty poor conductor of electricity (under 600 volts).

Additionally, grounding through a grounding rod has its limitations. Grounding (earthing) of electrical equipment doesn't provide a low-impedance fault-current path to clear ground faults (translation: "lower" voltages don't travel well, or freely, through the surface of the earth). In fact, according to the NEC, code prohibits the use of the earth (a grounding rod) as the sole return path because it's a poor conductor of current at voltage levels below 600V [250.4(A)(5) and 250.45(B)(4)]. In reality what this could do is potentially electrify the ground around the spa and has the potential of ELECTROCUTING you. If you were to be standing on the ground and touch something that IS properly grounded you could be fatally electrocuted (electricity in the electrified ground travels up through you and out to what your touching, which is properly grounded). There's actually a documented case of this happen at a fish farm in the UK. The little fishies were periodically being electrocuted from an improperly grounded/bonded power line TWO MILES AWAY.

Again, there should NOT be any voltage leak to begin with, and your problem still exists, and has simply been covered up.

I have exactly the same problem. My electrician ( the guy that wired the install 4 yrs ago) thinks it's in the board.

Have you checked to see if perhaps one of your underwater lights has a bad gasket and is leaking? Many spas have a step-down transformer that reduces the voltage from 110/220 to about 12 volts. Not enough to kill you, but you will feel it. Anyway if the gasket is leaky, and floods the light housing, you are probably charging your water when your lights are on.

A quick note to anyone getting shocked.

You have 2 problems.

The most important thing to realize is that current leakage is a normal failure. If you're properly grounded, you will never get "shocked."
So, just fixing whatever is leaking electricity might temporarily solve the "shocking" problem, but it will happen again unless you find the bad ground.

Sometimes, the bad ground is something loose in the control box, sometimes the ground itself is bringing in the current from the house. Whatever it is, fixing the Ground is a MUST, and is far more important than fixing the bad component. This is a potentially fatal failure!!!

Someone said it correctly. In order to get a shock from your spa, 2 things have to be wrong.

A) A part is likely failed and leaking to ground and

B) the spa is not wired properly, or something in the wiring (the GFCI?) has failed.

If someone was to get a shock everytime a heater/pump/blower shorted to ground, there would be alot more reports of this, and everyone would be getting shocked by their spa... all the time.

So, my suggestion is have to a technician out who will identify the problem with the breaker/wiring first. Once that's fixed, it's likely that your GFCI won't even stay on until the bad part is removed/replaced.

Spa technicians running around with ground rods is an extremely scary thought...

I purchased a 1 year old Leisure Bay Spa. I had it installed by a certified electrician and can feel the slightest of tingling on my fingers when I put them in the water. If I am wearing flip-flops I can not feel it. I have had my electrician back to find out what the problem is and and he can not find the short. It is very low voltage and is constant. I am very frustrated and have e-mailed the manufacturer to request a wiring diagram and they won't even respond.

FilterCleaner already gave the answer. And, a wiring diagram wont be of any help. You need to find someone else to look at the spa. Ceritified or not, if your electrician can't figure out the problem he's not qualified...plain and simple!

For all who feel current in the water, it is truly a serious problem.
The need to isolate the hot tub from the house is the first step.
An electrician with a multimeter needs to verify potential in the
water via one probe to physical earth (dirt, or wet slab), and one
into the tub. Then disconnect line one, and line two,from the breaker
or terminal block. Then re-check. If potential goes away, call for an immediate
heater element replacement, and GFCI replacement. If the current is still there,
you are dealing with a bad house ground. No repair on the spa will fix that.
(older houses with ground attached to metal plumbing will bite you at the outside
water spigot) Sometimes it is "Bell Current" from the phone line.
Ive had some situations of bad house ground that kept me from servicing the
spa without removing ground, neutral, and bond just to pull a pack for a pump seal r&r.

i am a journeyman electrician and i can verify that running a ground rod in at the sight of the spa is not the true solution but is a something that still has to be done. it's called equipotential bonding. but it doesn't solve the solution as to why the shock occured. 1st all pool, spa's, hot tub's etc etc have to have there own ground system, by code. this is to reduce electric shock to a minimal point if it occurs. a GFCI should trip at 5 milliamps at 16 milliamps your start entering lifethreating situations. so make sure your GFCI is wired correctly and test it religiously. 2nd start in your control pack and see what the overall condition is do you have rust built up in it. if so you have mosisture in it and this is most likely your culprit. from there your heating element and then your lights. again a grounding rod at the spa is a must but its not a fix. get yourself a local JOURNEYMAN electrician minimum and have him look at it. journeymen have tested out on code requirements for wet location installs. most trade electricians do not do this. good luck