Question Static discharge buildup on my PC, next steps?

[Dominik H]

I assume it's my PC anyway, it seems to be charging up as every time I touch things in the living room (like the sink, fridge, microwave) I get a static discharge shock.

At first I thought it was my monitor wire, and that definitely was a bit faulty as it was creating a build up quickly. Now for my PC, I've tried 3 different PSU wires however the static slowly just builds up still.

I've unplugged everything else and just have the PC plugged in and on. Still the same discharge so I think I have that narrowed down. Sometimes touching my pc case will also give me that static shock.

I'm currently discharging myself by using a knife and tapping it against the kitchen sink so I don't get shocked when I try to use any appliances in the kitchen.

The PC and all my accessories are fully usable and you wouldn't notice anything wrong with it until the above scenario.

**Notable things that have happened that may be relevant:**

I had one of my plug sockets swapped out in the living room, during the swap my PC was on, and the socket had a really loud boom which the engineer said was normal to happen in that scenario.

I also upgraded my CPU from an i5-8600k to an i9-9900k. The i9 does have a blemish at the front but doubt any of that is relevant (I could be wrong).

Really not sure where to go from here. Any help is appreciated!

 

[kanewolf]

\----

I assume it's my PC anyway, it seems to be charging up as every time I touch things in the living room (like the sink, fridge, microwave) I get a static discharge shock.

At first I thought it was my monitor wire, and that definitely was a bit faulty as it was creating a build up quickly. Now for my PC, I've tried 3 different PSU wires however the static slowly just builds up still.

I've unplugged everything else and just have the PC plugged in and on. Still the same discharge so I think I have that narrowed down. Sometimes touching my pc case will also give me that static shock.

I'm currently discharging myself by using a knife and tapping it against the kitchen sink so I don't get shocked when I try to use any appliances in the kitchen.

The PC and all my accessories are fully usable and you wouldn't notice anything wrong with it until the above scenario.

**Notable things that have happened that may be relevant:**

I had one of my plug sockets swapped out in the living room, during the swap my PC was on, and the socket had a really loud boom which the engineer said was normal to happen in that scenario.

I also upgraded my CPU from an i5-8600k to an i9-9900k. The i9 does have a blemish at the front but doubt any of that is relevant (I could be wrong).

Really not sure where to go from here. Any help is appreciated!

Get a humidifier. Static build-up is a problem when the air is dry.

 

[Dominik H]

Get a humidifier. Static build-up is a problem when the air is dry.

Damn could this genuinely be the cause of it? If so I'm buying one ASAP

 

[kanewolf]

Damn could this genuinely be the cause of it? If so I'm buying one ASAP

You don't have the issue in the summer do you? Indoor warmed air, has low humidity. That allows static charges to build. Getting the humidity closer to 50% will minimize the problem. You might also want to get a hygrometer -- https://www.amazon.com/ThermoPro-TP49-Hygrometer-Thermometer-Temperature/dp/B07WCR5Y4B?th=1 to see what the humidity actually is.

 

[Dominik H]

You don't have the issue in the summer do you? Indoor warmed air, has low humidity. That allows static charges to build. Getting the humidity closer to 50% will minimize the problem. You might also want to get a hygrometer -- https://www.amazon.com/ThermoPro-TP49-Hygrometer-Thermometer-Temperature/dp/B07WCR5Y4B?th=1 to see what the humidity actually is.

Yeah this issue has started recently. Last winter (around December is when I moved here) there hadn't been an issue with this - though if humidity is the problem here then it's possibly the air wasn't as dry last winter?

Will look at getting a hygrometer to see if lack of humidity is the case

 

[helper800]

Yeah this issue has started recently. Last winter (around December is when I moved here) there hadn't been an issue with this - though if humidity is the problem here then it's possibly the air wasn't as dry last winter?

Will look at getting a hygrometer to see if lack of humidity is the case

In my opinion, there are so many other ways you could be building a static charge that has nothing to do with the PC. By what specific mechanism do you believe it is the PCs fault you are becoming statically charged?

 

[Dominik H]

In my opinion, there are so many other ways you could be building a static charge that has nothing to do with the PC. By what specific mechanism do you believe it is the PCs fault you are becoming statically charged?

Well, I'm not sure entirely, it could very well not be my PC as all this happened some time after my wall sockets got swapped out by an electrician.

When I leave everything unplugged overnight I don't get a static shock in the morning when I touch the sink, when I leave everything unplugged while I'm in the room, and discharge myself. After a few minutes I get a static shock from the sink. Does this imply that the room is being statically charged up by something, and therefore myself? I do wear rubber house shoes all the time, not sure if that even makes a difference. My floor is laminated wood.

So, yeah it could be absolutely anything at this point :/

 

[Dominik H]

You don't have the issue in the summer do you? Indoor warmed air, has low humidity. That allows static charges to build. Getting the humidity closer to 50% will minimize the problem. You might also want to get a hygrometer -- https://www.amazon.com/ThermoPro-TP49-Hygrometer-Thermometer-Temperature/dp/B07WCR5Y4B?th=1 to see what the humidity actually is.

Bought a hygrometer and can confirm that humidity is consistently between 55-57% so I don't believe this to be the issue

 

[helper800]

Bought a hygrometer and can confirm that humidity is consistently between 55-57% so I don't believe this to be the issue

I would very highly suspect it's NOT actually the PC itself at this point. You most likely became aware of excess static buildup around the same time you upgraded the PC and assumed they were related. To become statically charged you would need a way to physically interface with the PC, or the replaced socket to build it up, if that were possible to begin with, to then have such a charge to dissipate. If you have carpeted rooms it is very easy to build up a charge in the normal going abouts of your life.

 

[Dominik H]

I would very highly suspect it's actually the PC itself at this point. You most likely became aware of excess static buildup around the same time you upgraded the PC and assumed they were related. To become statically charge you would need a way to physically interface with the PC, or the replaced socket to build it up, if that were possible to begin with, to then have such a charge to dissipate. If you have carpeted rooms it is very easy to build up a charge in the normal going abouts of your life.

Yeah very possibly, I have laminated wood and had a desk carpet but got rid of that to test just to be sure as well.

So I'm with you in that the PC might be charging me up. Though when I touch the side of the case I get discharged, but when I touch the front of the case I do not. Not sure if that's just because the front panel is plastic while the rest of the pc is some kind of metal.

Now the question is, how do I figure out, if it is the pc, where the charge is coming from? would it only be the PSU at fault or are there other factors that could cause this to happen?

My water cooler block fans touch the top corner of the RAM sticks, they don't press them around just come in contact, this wouldn't cause the motherboard to use the case as a ground would it?

 

[helper800]

Yeah very possibly, I have laminated wood and had a desk carpet but got rid of that to test just to be sure as well.

So I'm with you in that the PC might be charging me up. Though when I touch the side of the case I get discharged, but when I touch the front of the case I do not. Not sure if that's just because the front panel is plastic while the rest of the pc is some kind of metal.

Now the question is, how do I figure out, if it is the pc, where the charge is coming from? would it only be the PSU at fault or are there other factors that could cause this to happen?

My water cooler block fans touch the top corner of the RAM sticks, they don't press them around just come in contact, this wouldn't cause the motherboard to use the case as a ground would it?

See my edit. I meant to say that it is almost certainly NOT the PC.

The reason why touching the from of the case is not discharging your static electricity buildup is because it is not grounded. All of the chassis that is grounded via the PSU will cause a discharge of static electricity. The contact between the CPU cooler block and the RAM could cause a small short but it would depend on what is touching more specifically. Either way a computer that is shorting out will not cause static electricity build up unless physical contact to build that electricity is made.

 

[punkncat]

This sounds a lot like a ground issue with the electrical.

When this electrician was there, did he add any new receptacles or just replace some? Do you know if they actually ran wire to or from anything?

There is an old jackleg trick that (for instance) when you have a bad wire in a run of romex you can isolate the ground out of a circuit and actually run one of the legs across the ground. Called "bonding the ground" and is not only dangerous as heck but can cause appliances not to have path to ground for such minute discharge as it builds. All of your major appliances as well as your PC are grounded to the frame or has other ways to discharge the chassis static and whatnot.

If this issue presented right at the time this electrician did work, this is what I suspect. There is a tester you can get at the local home goods store like Lowes/Home Depot that will verify all three legs between receptacles on the same circuit.

 

[Dominik H]

See my edit. I meant to say that it is almost certainly NOT the PC.

The reason why touching the from of the case is not discharging your static electricity buildup is because it is not grounded. All of the chassis that is grounded via the PSU will cause a discharge of static electricity. The contact between the CPU cooler block and the RAM could cause a small short but it would depend on what is touching more specifically. Either way a computer that is shorting out will not cause static electricity build up unless physical contact to build that electricity is made.

This sounds a lot like a ground issue with the electrical.

When this electrician was there, did he add any new receptacles or just replace some? Do you know if they actually ran wire to or from anything?

There is an old jackleg trick that (for instance) when you have a bad wire in a run of romex you can isolate the ground out of a circuit and actually run one of the legs across the ground. Called "bonding the ground" and is not only dangerous as heck but can cause appliances not to have path to ground for such minute discharge as it builds. All of your major appliances as well as your PC are grounded to the frame or has other ways to discharge the chassis static and whatnot.

If this issue presented right at the time this electrician did work, this is what I suspect. There is a tester you can get at the local home goods store like Lowes/Home Depot that will verify all three legs between receptacles on the same circuit.

An update on this. Electrician came around and confirmed that everything is grounded, and did an insulation test too which came back fine. He tested the currents on the PSU and everything was fine too.

Had all my pc stuff disconnected this time and didn't get discharge when touching something. I think last time there was just an excess build up.

Could it be my PC after all? More specifically my PSU leaking?
Think that my PC being turned off suddenly, numerous times over the last year might have done some wear and tear to it, any thoughts?

 

[helper800]

Could it be my PC after all? More specifically my PSU leaking?
Think that my PC being turned off suddenly, numerous times over the last year might have done some wear and tear to it, any thoughts?

No, that is impossible. If the electrician checked everything and it was fine, I believe the static build up is a guaranteed effect of your physical actions in your specific environment causing the build up in your body.

 

[Dominik H]

No, that is impossible. If the electrician checked everything and it was fine, I believe the static build up is a guaranteed effect of your physical actions in your specific environment causing the build up in your body.

I wonder what has changed in that instance then, I can't think of anything that's causing me to get charged up. I got my chair replaced (herman miller x logitech embody) around the same time but that wouldnt charge me up would it? Other than that I have an M-Audio track solo that I bought in recent times too, but as far as I'm aware that can't cause static charge can it?

I'm more puzzled than before at this point lol

EDIT: I've just stood up at my desk instead of using my chair, and don't seem to be getting static shocks..... I'm in desbelief that it could be my chair, but searching online it's apparently an issue... Who would've thought that it could be the chair all along.