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Please help! I'm static-man

Grafight

New Blood
G
Joined
Feb 9, 2007
Messages
12
I'm pretty sure this is not a paranormal phenomenon, but it sure hurts. I collect charge like a mother and I get zapped all the time.

Every time after a ride in the car I get out and get zapped by the door. I get zapped by every door knob, water fountain, light switch...

I no longer can vacuum. Touching the vacuum cleaner after a few seconds of it being on is like grabbing a high-voltage wire. Everyone else in the house can vacuum without a problem, however.

I make a light show by taking off a sweater in the dark. I had to quit a job making road signs, where we applied reflective sheeting signs onto metal blanks. I woudl grab a sheet of metal, and if it touched another (which it had to, since they were stored in piles) there'd be a huge spark, and it was quite painful. We had a cement floor and my wearing boots with rubber soles and gloves didn't help. But everyone else was OK.

So what's wrong with me?? and why does it seem to get worse?? I fear that some day I will find myself within 10 feet of a VanDe Graaff generator and spontaneously combust. If spontaneous combustion is a paranormal phenomenon... Can I claim the JREF prize posthumously?
 
thank you

Thanks for the repies guys. I have experienced this problem all-year-round, and far more noticeably than other people around me, who share the same humidity/wind conditions.
 
How do you fix such a problem?

Might I suggest grounding yourself? For example before I work on a computer I touch a piece of metal to get rid of static electricity buildup. Walk around with a metal bracelet or something, maybe that would help? Steel toed shoes too. The shoes might be a good idea.

I'm not educated enough on this subject to be of much help though.
 
Lots of good advice here. I'm usually all charged up, too, especially in dry weather. (I live in AZ and it's dry here but not cold.) I've taken to occassionally touching anything, even walls, to disippate some of the lectric before letting it build to painful proportions. It's metal banisters I dread most.
 
I can help with the car problem! As you get out of the car, make sure you are already touching the metal frame of the car. I grab hold of the top of the door. Keep holding it until you are completely out of the car. For door knobs and such, use your keys for the initial contact. (I know, it sounds counter-productive...) You still kind of feel the shock, but the zap isn't in it.

My biggest problem since I found the solution to those two is canned items at the grocery store, since walking around touching everything with my keys attracts attention....
 
Once upon a time (back in school) I had long hair and there was one floor of one building in which I seemed to charge up like nobody's business. Only that floor, but I spent some time there, so it was a problem. Others (even with long hair) didn't seem to have that problem. I think I even killed a computer once, zapping it with my Electric Power Of Doom.

My solution? Kick some metal every now and then. The spark goes from the foot/shoe and is much less problematic.

This really was just a symptom-dealing solution. The real problem I suspect was that my hair rubbing against dry air and whatever t-shirt I was wearing charged me up.

I think you could try a different conditioner (I didn't use one, but when I started, the problem went away/got much smaller).

Mosquito (now have short hair, so no problem)
 
Fair skin?
Very dry skin (celtic/anglo-saxon decent)

.... plus the dry weather

Happens to me all the time

On fridges handles, cars, steel railings, anything metal.

It has gotten to the point where I test ever metal surface I touch, by quicky touching the surface and then jerking my hand away. All an effert to minimize the shock - you should see the looks I get at work

Being in IT it really is bad. I have even killed a couple of boards.
 
You might try noticing how you walk as well. I have joint problems in my feet that make me tend to scuff or drag my feet a bit instead of picking them up and putting them down with each step. It seems to have the same effect on me as rubbing a balloon on your hair has on the balloon. I gather tons of static, am zapped by everything I touch, and zap every person I touch.

Living in dry as a bone Tucson doesn't help :shocked: .
 
My main static problem is when I'm in the supermarket, and have to open one of those doors with glass frames and a metal handle to get to the milk and other dairy products.

The only "trick" I have here isn't a solution as such, but I found that my knuckles are less sensitive to these shocks than my fingertips are, so even when I could hear the discharge, I hardly felt it. Quite an improvement, really.

Of course, my situation isn't half as serious as yours, but if you can't actually fix the problem, then at least try to find a less sensitive spot for the discharge, if possible.
 
I most often build up a charge because I am wearing dis-similar materials. A sweater over a polyester shirt, or under a jacket with a polyester lining is ideal. As you move around you will start to generate a charge. You are essentially a big bag of water and can hold quite a static charge. You will retain this charge until it can find somewhere to leak to, either slowly because of a damp atmosphere or quickly because you come in contact with another body that has a different charge such as another person or electrical earth.

So basically look at what you are wearing, Dump the wool sweater or go for cotton shirts. Check the lining of your jackets for polyester too. Wearing rubber boots will insulate you from the earth meaning the charge has nowhere to go, it sounds like you might be stuck with the boots though. Finally hold onto a piece of metal like your car keys and touch them to anything you might get a shock from. So long as you have good contact you wont get zapped as much. Most of the pain comes from when a spark is formed from your skin to something, the rest is just muscle twitch.

Good luck.
 
Try wearing a different pair of shoes. There was one pair I would never wear in the test lab because I would get static shocks all the time. More conducting soles will help.
 
simon dalton said:
It has gotten to the point where I test ever metal surface I touch, by quicky touching the surface and then jerking my hand away. All an effert to minimize the shock - you should see the looks I get at work
Click to expand...

Moving your hand quickly won't help, electricity moves at the speed of light, and I doubt you can move your hand that fast. The better idea is to ground yourself with something less sensitive like your elbow of the back of your hand.
 
ClintonHammond said:
Is Fair Skin really a factor?!?!
Click to expand...

Your right...fair skin does not matter. I guess I was trying to give a discription of myself being of celtic decent.

I should have stuck more with the (very) dry skin....my mistake :o
 
Oh yeah, I have this problem too, may cats absolutely HATE it lol! One thing is, all that insulation with socks and shoes isn't helping you any, as it's only preventing the charge on your body from dissapating. Static is normally built up by motion, so touching metal before you get out of the car and such like others have suggested is a really good idea.

Of course if it's just too big a problem, a nice extreme solution would be to stick a small peice of metal/foil on the bottom of your shoe and attach an antistatic wrist strap to it and your ankle LOL
 
You can buy static dissipative shoes for use in labs, If it is *really* a problem mayby lash something up (actually that might look pretty wierd- goes with the tinfoil hat brigade...)*. It is best to have a large resistnce, so any static is constantly dissipated, but slowly...

*As the tinfoil hats aren't earthed, are they just GBFO arials that would make any mind-control radio signals stronger?


Jim
 
Thanks

Thanks everyone for the replies. I've already tested some of the solutions suggested, and I do touch every metal surface with my knuckles or the back of my hand. Sometimes I get caught by surprise, like with light switches.

I will try the key-to-metal idea, hcmom, and see if that works. Simon, I have dark short hair and I was born in Spain, so my skin is darker than an Anglo-Saxon or Nordic/Celtic, but lighter than American Hispanics (Spanish + Native American). People say I resemble Antonio Banderas, so I have the same skin/hair color as he does.

I do have dry skin. Patsy, I'll make a conscious effort not to drag my feet and see if that helps. Orangutan, I will take notice of what I'm wearing, but the rest of my family dress similarly and they don't seem affected. Also I've noticed I get charged about the same regardless of clothing (even at the pool or the beach with nothing but a bathing suit on).

Crazycowbob. Believe it or not, I've thought about grounding myself like that. For what I know about electrostatics, the charge builds up on the surface of poor conductors, like skin gradually, with most people. With me it builds really fast and I don't know how the foil in the foot trick would work. I may actually try it. I've also heard that the amount of sodium in your body makes a difference, but I don't know for sure.

Thakns everyone for the suggestions. I'm gonna do some experimenting.
 
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