Static current causing monitor blank

[Sachin]

Hi. I am currently facing a situation which I never encountered before and was wondering if any of you has experienced it before and might help me out with a solution please.

At work, some people are having static electric shock and it's causing there's and there neighbor's monitor to go blank for a few seconds then back on again. Did anyone encountered this issue before please? If yes, how did you resolved it and what might be causing this?

Thanks for your time and advice.

Regards,
Sachin

 

[shaun1]

Do you know what these people are touching/doing when they recieve this shock? How have you ditermined that this is a static shock and not an electric shock?

Are these PC monitors? Are they connected to a laptop or desktop machine? Have they recently been tested for electrical safety? Has the electrical instalation been recently tested?

 

[DPG]

Agree with shaun1 - basic electrical safety testing needs to be done here. And I don't mean someone plugging the monitor in to the PAT tester and pressing 'go'. It needs someone who understands what may be wrong.

Do people also get shocks when touching metal cabinets, etc? This would indicate maybe a nylon carpet, etc. causing it - although it would not explain the monitors going blank.

Make sure you report this to your manager and that he/she gets it checked out.

 

[Squid]

Monitor casings are plastic are they connected to PC's or Laptops and laptops are mainly plastic but the chassis of a PC is a large lump of metal, earthing issue somewhere along the line or not connected to the back box.

 

[Sachin]

Hi both, thanks for your time and effort in getting back to me. Yes, the building is new built and all the circuits has been tested and certified. The monitor is for PCs and they do have a surface pro that they use to connect as well.

The building AHU don't have a dehumidifier do you think that humidity might be a factor? How about earthing the tables? Do you think that this might be a solution? Bearing in mind that I have around 400 tables in the whole building though.

 

[DPG]

Don't earth (bond) the tables. This is unnecessary. You need to confirm whether you are getting static shocks or leakage shocks.
If it ends up being static discharge then there are products available that can help with this.

 

[Strima]

Moisture isn’t normally a factor, dry air increases the build up of static.

Had a similar problem in our warehouse office, everything tested out fine but the panel heaters were drying the air out. Placed a couple of bowls of water in the office and instances of static shock dropped quite a lot.

Ended up putting a humidifier in and and have had no complaints since.

 

[Sachin]

Don't earth (bond) the tables. This is unnecessary. You need to confirm whether you are getting static shocks or leakage shocks.
If it ends up being static discharge then there are products available that can help with this.

Hi mate, how will I find out/ test if it's static current or leakage please? And for static current products, do you mean anti-static wristband?

 

[DPG]

Do some touch leakage tests on the equipment.
Do people get shocks when touching metal cabinets etc.
You would only need wrist straps if you were working on sensitive electronic equipment. If you look into the stuff people like Vermason sell it may help. Things to reduce the charge in the air etc.

 

[Des 56]

What floor covering do you have?
Read up on causes of static and see if it applies to you
https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/h.../information/electrical/staticelectricity.pdf