electric fencing problems.... what is the problem?

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EmmaAndSummer

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i put my new horse into her new stable for the winter 3 days ago and ever since then shes been acting wierd about rushing in to go to the back... then i realised when she lifted her feet up when she ever touched the concreate and she felt static too... why is she getting shocks and feeling static when shes not on her straw in the stable?
The electric fence is about 2 metres away is this the problem?
 
is the electric fence mains powered? is it earthed correctly or if not it could be sending some current into the concrete. it would be worth switching it off for awhile to see if it resolves the problem. or is your horse wearing a nylon rug which might be building up static which then discharges when contact is made with the concrete? i would experiement by changing things round and see what makes your horse more comfortable x
 
Hi, your horse, should not feel any shocks through the concrete! If your fence is set up correctly. Providing your fence line is well insulated, there should only be current flowing to ground, when the horse touches the fence. Please check your fence line, then if you are sure, that it is correctly insulated and is not shorting to ground anywhere, then check you have your earth stakes pushed well into the ground, away from your mains earth system. If you would like a talk through or some more advice, please PM me and I will give you my work number. Any advice, you are welcome to!
 
What makes you think she's getting electric shocks E&S? If you stroke her and get a little blast of static off her it's almost certainly from her rugs. You're most likely to feel this shortly after you have slid a nylon lined rug off your ned's back. The friction creates static, you touch her and you get a little shock. To test if the concrete is "live" (which I very much doubt), take your boots and socks off and stand on the concrete yourself in bare feet. For definitive proof, you could put a light bulb in your mouth while you stand there, but do make sure it's a low energy one lol xxx
 
The concrete can easily have a potential difference across it,and be live.FACT.It doesnt have to be your fence unit either. A neutral fault on your mains supply can cause this, I have seen it.
 
Thanks the Engineer really helpful am going to have a look about today!!

box of frogs... she didnt have a rug on that day... i think shes getting some sort of small electric shocks because she picks her feet up and holds them up like shes dancing around then stops when she moves to the back of the stable when shes on the straw (insulated) then when she goes on to the concreat again i think she feels something slightly. Haha will the light bulb work? might give it a shot thanks

Mike007... thanks i didnt know concrete could be live thats what was baffeling me!
 
Many people have problems because they don't have a suitable earthing rod. The earthing rod needs to be into the ground for about 3' to give a suitable grounding, any shorter than that & there can be problems.
 
I would back Toby up on the earth rod, you "cant have enough", the more earth rods you have the better. But they must be situated away from the normal "mains" earthing system, which tends to use the cold water supply pipes of your house. It may pay to get an electrician in, to check your mains "earth bonding"...have you noticed your mains trip switch "tripping out" at all?

Also, what? and how many Joules output, is your mains energiser? as I have seen a horse, pick its hooves up, after getting shocks, because the energiser used was realy too powerful and the horse having been shod with "metal horseshoes" was feeling a big shock through them (or so we presumed) The person who set the fence up, replaced the energiser with a lower Joule unit, more suited to equestrian use and the horse calmed down a lot.

If you have acces to a fence "voltmeter", there are a couple of tests you can try:

Firstly go out to your earth stake and close to it, stick the earth probe of your tester into the ground, then touch the top probe onto the earth stake. You should get no reading. Repeat the test, but short your electric fence to ground, by leaning a metal pole or similar against it. This means the "shock" is going to travel through the soil, back up the earth stake to create the circuit back into the fencer. Check the reading on the meter, if you get a reading, it means some of the current is trying to go through the meter rather than up the earth stake, which indicates a bad earth, so increase the number and or depth of stakes. If you need any more advice feel free to PM me

Regards

Ian
 
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