Water softener gave me an electric shock. Advice?

[Alejandro]

I was putting salt into my water softener, and my hand touched the surface of the water inside, and I received a mild but painful electric shock. I don't get any shock from touching various sink pipes, etc in the house, or from water coming out of sinks, shower, etc.

WTF is going on? Do I need to unplug the softener and have it repaired? Is that supposed to happen?

[TheThan]

Do some internet research first. Then call a trustworthy specialist to come and take a look if you deem it needs repair or if you can’t find much information on them. I know virtually nothing about water softeners so yeah. General advice is just that, general.

[Alejandro]

Yep. This is part of said internet research :) Not having much luck finding info.

[Erloas]

Well the first question would be does the water softener plug in at all? I know they don't have to, but it isn't uncommon to have booster pumps on some of them as well as other diagnostic electronics.

If there isn't anything plugged into it, and you're sure there is no electrical connections grounded to your piping.

It is possible it was simply static electricity. Most softeners are all plastic so it would be possible for it to hold a charge and not discharge it into the rest of the piping, or if you've got a static charge that it might discharge through the water.

[Alejandro]

Well the first question would be does the water softener plug in at all? I know they don't have to, but it isn't uncommon to have booster pumps on some of them as well as other diagnostic electronics.

If there isn't anything plugged into it, and you're sure there is no electrical connections grounded to your piping.

It is possible it was simply static electricity. Most softeners are all plastic so it would be possible for it to hold a charge and not discharge it into the rest of the piping, or if you've got a static charge that it might discharge through the water.

Erloas,

It's plugged into an outlet, yes. I'm pretty sure nothing is grounded to the piping, but I am no expert. The only metal pipe is the water pipe coming into the basement, it's PVC stuff, etc after that point. The softener is made almost entirely from plastic.

It's one of these. http://www.systemsaver.com/morton-website/3installation/electronics-programming-msd34c.html

[golentan]

Assuming an electrical short may be ruled out, a water softener works by adding reactive ions to water containing reactive ions. I suspect as with the Romans and Egyptians before you with their pottery filled with salt water or fruit juices that could cause a tingle if touched with metal, you have rediscovered the chemical battery. Unplug it and recheck to be sure would be my advice.

[GloatingSwine]

My guess is it's not earthed.

Do you have seperate pipes running into the unit itself? If you do, run an earth wire between the two metal parts where the plastic bits branch off to go into it (step 5 of the installation instructions here (http://www.systemsaver.com/morton-website/3installation/installation.html).)

Disclaimer: Not an electrician.