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I've recently noticed that touching the metal interior of my dishwasher gives me a slight tingling. I put that (stupidly) to static electricity.

For "fun" I then decided to touch a finger on the metal interior and another finger on my sink. Felt an AC voltage running through my body. The current wasn't painful, but it was uncomfortable and made my fingers twitch slightly.

In the UK, all metal appliances must be earthed (grounded for those across the pond). Touching other areas of the metal chassis revealed that these are not providing an electric current.

What I am most concerned about is that my fuse box (circuit breaker/RCD box) is not tripping. Surely it should detect that some current is flowing out of the electric socket and not returning, right?

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    Your fuse box doesn't react to "some" current. It reacts to a lot of current. Have you looked at the dishwasher's connection box yet? Maybe there's a loose connector that has left a wire resting against the enclosure. – isherwood Jul 25 at 18:57
  • It sounds like the dishwasher and plug don't share the same ground. You should have continuity (0 Ohms) between the chassis and the ground pin of your plug. If you do, then it's possible that the ground wire in the cable to the receptacle is not actually connected to the plug/jbox (I don't know what your locality requires). The circuit breaker might not trip with such a low current. I doubt if it's on a GFCI breaker circuit and the plug probably isn't GFCI, either. Search for "Appliance Ground Fault" for some solutions. – Ring Jul 25 at 18:58
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    By the way, that tingle was line voltage at a few amps. A tenth of an amp across your heart can stop it. Turn off that circuit and leave it off until the problem is solved. – isherwood Jul 25 at 18:59
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    Weird, and that didn't kill you?? Try soaking your fingers in salt water for a few minutes and try it again. That should kill you! I joke, but electric shock situations like this are extremely fickle to local conditions, and often you luck into having enough impedance to not die. That is no guarantee of future luck! – Harper Jul 25 at 19:15
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    @Mazura In the UK, it doesn't rely on detecting a voltage through ground (if that's what you mean). It detects a difference between the current flowing out through Line and in through Neutral. I believe our downstairs appliance ring trips at 30mA, so it wasn't enough to trip our "fuse" (RCD). – David Wheatley Jul 25 at 19:34

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