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.
I do have a little table which I think has metal legs. Forgot it was there to be fair… Worth a try!
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This is it.
Also a humidifier may help. Static builds up more in dry air.
Touch it with a key or something conductive to avoid getting zapped yourself.
touch a wall with the palm of your hand for a couple of seconds.
On the plus side, your dog must be convinced that you are a wizard. You need something to ground yourself on.
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
Whatever the dog is standing on when it gets shocked, if u touch that u discharge directly instead of going though the dog.
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
Buy a object like a lamp that has 3 prongs and exposed metal. Before you pet your dog touch the lamp. 3 prongs so thats it’s grounded.
Also when you touch your dog for the first time touch him on his body with you whole hand at once, it’ll spread the shock over a larger area and be less painful.
You can look for ESD heel & shoe straps. They are relatively cheap and help you discharge while walking around or buy shoes that are ESD rated in the first place.
Anti-static keychain! They’re small, cheap, and buyable on Amazon. You basically just touch it and it discharges the static without hurting. Life saver for me, my hair builds up a lot of static and I used to shock myself and family all the time.
Oooh maybe that’s the goods!
A keychain you carry in your pocket is somehow supposed to discharge your static charge? I’m sorry, but electricity does not work like that. Unless the keychain has a ground wire of course, but the things image search showed me are just as effective as touching coins in your pocket.
I dunno man. All I know is that this is very similar to the one I had (https://www.ebay.com/itm/404424220236) and it always worked for me. Just trying to help a person with a suggestion…
I’m no expert in the field, but my limited experience would say that the potential difference just cannot be discharged by something you hold in your hand and not connected somewhere to complete a circuit. No matter what is inside that dongle.
I don’t know about keychains, but antistatic wrist straps are absolutely a thing and are very important for people who regularly work with electronic hardware. But I think you’re right in that these devices use a ground wire. There’s also antistatic bags, but again, it just protects what’s inside, and doesn’t discharge you unless it’s touching something else it can discharge to, I believe. Ultimately these are tools used mostly to prevent you from building up static while you work, and not really something you could just wear around the house.
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.
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 probably need to get a humidifier. Low humidity is very common in the winter, and creates (or at least encourages) static buildup. Added bonus is that it will make your place feel warmer at the same time.
You may also want to invest in better insulation. Even if you just rent, there are a variety of cheap and temporary options that can save you a bundle on heating and cooling.
I’ve always felt humidity in winter/cold weather feels more cold, not warm. Am I alone in this appreciation of temperature?
I live in Scotland and yes, you don’t want to be damp in cold weather. It feels miserable. You douse yourself in water to cool down on a hot day, don’t you? In winter you do your best to keep snug and dry.
Re the static issue, give the dog a treat every time you shock it, train it to enjoy being shocked. 👹
I own the place but honestly, we’ve got “feature weeds” in our back yard so insulation is just another thing on the list
I’m going to agree with the other commenter. We had the same issue and started running a humidifier and it resolved the static issues. Not only is it uncomfortable for your pet, but it’s also really bad for your electronics.
Watch out with the type of humidifier though. Standing water and parts that never dry (e.g. inside hoses in the humidifier) are perfect breeding grounds for bacteria. And “cool mist” type humidifiers use ultrasonic frequencies to atomize all that crap that builds up in your humidifier and spread it into nice little droplets, which are perfect for getting germs really deep into your lungs.
If you tend to get respiratory infections quite often, your humidifier might be to blame.
Mate, my lungs are mostly chalk and I have half the sinus space of most humans. Humidifiers just sound like my version of Skynet
My son has a chronic respiratory illness, and as much as I’d love to raise the humidity in my flat, doing so using a humidifier would probably send him to the hospital pretty fast.
actually, (unless you have been told not to) humidity can help.
Humidity yes, bacteria and other germs, especially germs that can live in water are a massive no-go. Germs like Pseudomonas aeruginosa would give him a permanent lung infection and many strains of it are resistant to pretty much all antibiotics.
For people with his condition, a Pseudomonas infection is usually the point where stuff like sports or even walking up stairs permanently ends.
So raising humidity isn’t bad, but the means to do so are a killer, literally.
Btw, thanks for the downvote. I’m sure you know much more about the illness of my child, an illness that I haven’t even named here, than I do, who has to make sure that kid survives. Seriously, that kind of behaviour triggers me so much. That happens so often, that people who haven’t even heard of that illness before know everything better. It seriously makes me angry.
That kid spent ~5% of his life in hospital, getting IV antibiotics due to his condition. He takes ~30 doses of medicine a day, just to keep him alive. But people who wouldn’t even know how to spell the condition think they know better.
Pro tip: If you aren’t affected by the specific illness in question / aren’t taking care of someone who is, keep your armchair medical knowledge to yourself.
That’s using even more electricity mate and I’m producing enough of my own!
you can make a humidifier with a bowl of water with a towel in it, for faster humidification add more bowls and towels.
And put them near a breeze, like a fan. Opening your windows for a breeze will defeat the entire purpose of humidifying your home.
It’s currently 5 degrees Celsius
Do you want solutions or just to complain about the problem?
There are a few different types of humidifiers out there. Here are the 3 main types:
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Vaporizers. These literally just heat the water until it boils, and the steam evaporates into the air. They use a lot of electricity, which also creates a lot of heat (note: exactly the same amount of you have an electric resistor furnace). They can be a safety risk (because boiling water), and require frequent cleaning/descaling if you have hard water. IMHO, these also make the air feel more humid.
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Evaporators. These are basically just a fan over a wet towel. Very cheap, very low energy. Often less effective. As they are effectively standing water, you have to be careful to keep them clean or the nasties will grow quickly. This is also the type that “whole home” humidifiers typically are.
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Ultrasonic. These are very popular these days, and may randomly be sold as cool mist, warm mist (if they have a small heating element). Low energy options that vibrate the water into a fine mist, which then evaporates. But they will also vibrate everything else in your water into the air. These deposits, like calcium or limestone, can affect your breathing. They will also leave dust all over everything you own. Recommend using distilled water for these.
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If it’s cold and the place isn’t that well insulated, adding humidity can lead to disastrous results.
The humidity will build up and cling to the windows, it can freeze breaking the seals, but it can also run off into the wall causing mold and damage to the framing and anything else.
You shouldn’t have the humidity above 35%rh below freezing, unless you have very specific reasons too (hard wood, piano, health) but be prepared for additional costs eventually in some form. Wheter it’s upgrading to allow the house to do it, fixing issues, or preventing damage.
Also, raising the humidity makes the air feel colder not warmer, so that’s just plain false.
Do you have anything to support that last statement? A quick Google search returns countless hits saying that humid air feels warm. Examples:
https://teamhardingcomfort.com/2022/10/05/does-running-a-humidifier-make-your-house-feel-warmer/
https://airsmartly.com/does-a-cool-mist-humidifier-make-the-room-cold/
The only real exception I could find is swamp coolers, where it gets your skin slightly moist and evaporation cools you.
That’s the issue with quick google results, they are likely from fair weather states and refering to warmer temperatures.
If the RH is too high your body can’t evaporate your perspiration which leads to it clinging to you and you feeling cold and damp instead.
Thank you for the meaningful response. While I have several issues with the information in that page (among others, 75% RH is very hard to reach in cold weather), I do see a path to how it could feel colder.
I try to keep my home around 40-45% RH in the winter, and find that it feels significantly warmer than when it’s at 25%. It also greatly reduces the static shocks, as well as keeps my skin from drying and chapping.
I will concede it’s also not likely not an issue with everyone. I sweat at like 18c so it’s always going to feel colder to me since I’m always “drenched”.
So not even I’m entirely correct, but trying to explain too much loses people sometimes.
I’ve lived in Denver for the past 15 years or so, this is a problem I relate to. If you live in a house or apartment with drywall, it turns out that the corners are made of metal under the plaster. For years I have discharged myself by bumping my forearms against the corner of a wall before flipping a light switch to avoid a painful shock on the tips of my fingers
Yeah wall corners are often metal and the paint on it seems to soften the discharge.
A stove, washing machine or other large electrical appliance with a metal case and grounding pin on the plug should work too. The chassis is connected to an earth ground.
No metal? Get some Megadeath albums to fix that.
Here in the us there are certain fabric sprays that help with static buildup, so there might be some alternative over there in Australia.
A humidifier will also work but is pricier in comparison.
Lastly you can wrap a cover cable to your anke and burry the other side in the ground 😆
Does mumbling ‘the ace of spades’ to myself over and over work? Because I was already doing that due to playing cards earlier
Contrary to popular belief the metal is in the mustache, not the lyrics. I think there was a mythbuster episode about it or something
An while you’re at it get a band that’s not shit
I’ve read all the responses here and am horrified that you seem to live in an ungrounded plastic bubble. Is that a Canberra thing? Or can’t even find a small metal object the size of a coin to make discharging painless, how why?
If it’s an old house there should be tonnes of metal things to touch.
Corners of walls, radiators or central air vents or return air vents, screws on switches or power outlets, furniture with metal bits on it, sinks taps and water fixtures with metal parts, thermostat, fireplace casing.
Literally touch everything and report back.
Not an old houuse (2015 build), not sure if we have coins but I’ll check…
No vents in reach and certainly no radiators, no screws… No metal furniture… No screws… The sink didn’t work… No fireplace.
I’m not in Coober Pedy but may as well be it seems!
If you have a desktop computer with a metal case, touch the case.
Go to the hardware store and buy a metal pipe to use as a walking stick
There’s really not a single screw holding the covers on your light switches?
My partner has this problem a lot. The fridge zaps her pretty often (metal door and handle). There must be a metal surface somewhere on yours? Maybe the shelves? Or the stove / oven?
ETA: As a person who occasionally kicks my kitties when I go to the bathroom in the dark, I sympathize. It’s a terrible feeling when you startle or hurt them. Luckily, they seem to know that I’m a clumsy idiot and accept my immediate apologies.
