I wear UGG boots in winter because it’s fucking cold.
I also wrap myself in a blanket on the couch, and have a lovely area rug so I don’t have to walk on a cold floor. All these things are necessary to survive the winter; my house isn’t well insulated.
The problem with all this, is that I build up a static charge. So when I go to pat my beautiful sweetheart of a dog, I zap him. It’s audible and I’m sure, quite unpleasant. Often on the head. He obviously doesn’t like that, I think he’s taking it personally, and I feel awful. It completely cancels out the affection I’m trying to show him.
So the question for the Lemmy community is:
How do I discharge the static before I pat my dog? I have started shocking my partner (which he doesn’t like, but accepts over the alternative), before patting my dog. But as he’s out tonight, I have no human vessel to offer as tribute?
What can I touch in my house before patting my dog so that he doesn’t receive a shock?
Edit: standard Australian house and furniture
Another edit: I’m all the sheets to the wind so the engineering advice is not sinking in. But I’m loving the immediate response that I’d never have gotten on Deaddit.
Again: I can’t stop giggling at how helpful everyone is being and how short m, drunk and silly I am, in a house with apparently no metal
And again: I should probably take me and my baby to bed now, but a big thank you to everyone who replied. You’ve all been lovely. Lemmy is really a different space to ask these questions! I’ll be trying out many of your suggestions over the weekend; big thanks from me and my boy x
Final: thanks to everyone who responded. I did try the kitchen tap again last night and this time it worked! Mustn’t have built up enough charge when I tried the night I posted. I will still primarily zap my partner’s leg as it’s usually closer and doing it makes me laugh. It’s important he understands where he fits in the household hierarchy as well. I also learnt that American houses are very different (screws and radiators everywhere!) so that was interesting too.
Simple, just touch the ground. That’s what your dog conducts to. Just take the dog out the equation.
I like him in the equation though?
What ground? The floor? Carpet?? Do I have to go outside? It’s raining
This sentence made me lol!
On a more serious note: when i remember to do it, i take my keys - which are always in my pocket - and touch a metal door knob with them.
Or the tap
Tap didn’t work, but I have metal door handles… But my keys aren’t usually in my pocket when I’m drinking on the couch watching Germany defeat USA in the basketball
Whatever the dog is standing on when it gets shocked, if u touch that u discharge directly instead of going though the dog.
Dryer sheets and fabric softener will reduce the potential for stadic electricity in your fabrics.
That’s very American advice I’m afraid. Here we just put our washing out until it catches on fire
Our air quality is so bad most Americans (even if they have the space for a clothing line) can’t hang their clothes to dry. They’ll come out smelling.
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I have no advice for you, as I live in a very humid place without very much risk of static shocks. I just want to say this question and post are hilarious.
Haha I admit to using a ragebait headline for attention
There might be a solution in their comment though, do you have a humidifier?
This is the way. My last place was so dry, I would get zapped touching the metal frame in my desk and reboot my PC. I installed a humidifier into the central heat, no more zaps!
Internet says to touch the screws on a light switch panel.
They’re covered by plastic as standard here
They are screws holding the plate on, usually two flathead screws above and below the switch or paddle that them connect to the junction box which is how they ground you.
Covered in plastic
Covered in plastic how? Mine all look like this https://imgur.com/a/9EBDjPS
There’s these little white plastic plugs over screws, or an entire plastic panel over the top
Replacement covers are like $1.25 at the hardware store. If you’re renting, you can save what’s there in some closet and put them back when you move out.
Damn, I was going to suggest this, I do it all the time. Perhaps shuffle around and touch everything in sight until you find something that zaps and therefore discharges you. Once you find something grounding (zappy) touch that before you touch your dog.
A metal radiator might ground you.
None in the house :(
Do you have anything else that might be earthed? A metal tap will probably work, so long as it is attached to a metal pipe.
Like my kitchen tap? I think it’s coated metal rather than, I dunno, an outdoor tap… Would that still work?
Yeah, absolutely, that’s what I meant. I am pretty sure that will be earthed. Go work up a charge and give it a try.
Equally, if you have a metal oven or any metal electrical equipment that is earthed that will work too.
I just tried and felt no shock… Would I feel it if it worked? I’m willing to feel the pain myself.
I would have thought so. Maybe you have non-metal pipes leading to the tap.
Can anyone else in the thread think of something?
Increasing the humidity in your house will also help limit the static buildup. Just don’t increase it so much you get a ton of condensation on the windows
My asthma could not deal or I’d move to Queensland
I thought humid was good for asthma. 🫣
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I have a coworker who regularly wears an anti-static wrist strap that he attaches to grounding points on furniture. I’m not quite as staticy myself, so I usually just tap the screw on the light switches when I pass by during high static months. That’s usually grounded.
No accessible screws in our light switches
Anything conductive and grounded. For example, a lamp with a steel or copper body.
Hmm all cheap lamps in this basic bitch’s house
Yeah they might be cheap, but there is a grounding law here in Australia, so legally those cheap Canberra lamps are required to have a ground. Personally I would recommend your front door, but knowing Canberra your pot plant might be more accessible.
I cant think of a sacrificial shock absorber, but perhaps you could not shuffle your UGGs around, and not build up static? I’m assuming your rug is synthetic and possibly causing it, but I could be wrong
Microfibre blanket. I’m literally just lying on the couch then I get up to pat him on the way for another beer, and I’m suddenly Thor.
Run some grounded wire around the edges of your couch. That’ll be constantly discharging you. You could also use an anti-static mat that’s grounded. And that would slowly discharge you as well. If you laid an anti-static mat over the armrest of your sofa, that would ground you as well. Run some copper from the inside of your UGGs to the outside so it makes contact with the ground, you can use copper foil. You’re going to be constantly generating charge in a low humidity environment, especially with the materials you’ve described using. You’re only solution is to discharge that potential with ground
Mate, that’s a truly insane solution that I don’t think I can muster. But thank you for the advice.
Oh man, I feel this one. I moved to a colder climate with my cat in winter and every time I pet her, if I got close to her ears… zap. She was always like ??? About it.
One day it just stopped happening one day and I’m not sure why. So I don’t really have any advice.
You could try rubber soled footwear instead?
UGGs are the key to survival in a Canberra winter climate I’m afraid.
There are other insulated shoes/slippers that are not UGGs. I have some Sorel slippers with wool lining and leather on the outside.
Do you have access to those super thick insulated socks? Could allow you to wear those house slippers with a rubber sole.
I live in Canada and those socks are too hot in the dead of winter for me.
I should’ve mentioned I’m super unco with bad knees, so the stability of the UGGs is one of the only reasons I’m upright/not dead
Ah! Darn. I’m sorry.
Hope you figure something out!
Ah! Darn. I’m sorry.
Hope you figure something out!
You’re great. Have an excellent (insert your time of day/night)
I too live in a hilariously dry climate in the winter and become a human lightning rod for several months at a time. Here’s what helped me: a quarter! I carry a quarter in my pocket all winter to touch to metal (I deeply hate getting shocked myself, especially the huge static charges). You’ll need something made of metal that is grounded, though. We have metal shelves or the aforementioned light switch screws. You can also look for screws on your washing machine, doorknob, dishwasher, sink, etc. Anything with a little metal should work. Then - touch the quarter to it, hear (but don’t feel) the zap, and enjoy your dog with no fear. Hope you can find something metallic somewhere in your home!
None of my things have accessible screws!! I’m in Australia so no quarters… And I’m not sure I even have physical currency in the house (Australia is pretty cash free these days (.
Fuck, I am just loving these responses. Everyone is so lovely.
You could also get a DIY power cable (the type where you screw the plug to the leads yourself). There you only connect the ground contact and not the live and neutral contacts. Now strip the end of the ground wire and place it where ever you want to be able to discharge yourself.
Alternatively, you can do about the same by just connecting a wire to any unpainted part of your radiators.
Jesus fuck… That’s a lot of science
No radiators
We don’t do proper heating in this cuntry
What about water pipes? Got any of them somewhat near to your couch?
You could also just buy a metal-cased lamp and maybe ask at the shop whether the metal casing is grounded. Usually it is.
Noop. My house is made of fabricated nonsense and plastic
Then the only grounded location that I can think of is the ground pin of an electric outlet.
Do you have a somewhat technically minded friend? Making a cable like the one I suggested is literally as simple as screwing in a handful of screws. So if you know anyone who’d be willing to make it, it’s not much effort at all.
I guess you’ll have to build a giant metal effigy in the center of your home at this point. Or become a wizard to better channel your new magical energies. It’s really your call now.
Bless you. Go with noodles
