OT-Any electricians here? Lil' help?

[somata]

So I just got a bit of a shock from a light outlet in my basement and I'm wondering how dire of a situation it is, being that it's late now and tomorrow's Friday, and I worry about getting an electrician out before next week...

 

We have a light outlet over our dryer with a compact florescent. It was flickering a bit and I thought maybe it wasn't set the whole way into the socket, I tightened the bulb up, and it was still a little flicker-y, so I touched a steel sheathed wire that comes out of the junction box, thinking it might be a loose connection or something and I got a little jolt. Not painful, but enough that I didn't want to touch it again. So I touched the metal junction box and got another jolt. I'm handy enough to change out an outlet or light switch, hang and wire a ceiling fan or light, and rewire an outdoor light to be a motion detector, but beyond that, I'm at a loss (and I turn off the entire house's power when I do anything, so I'm not brave about it... ).

 

From a bit of searching around, I'm thinking it may be a grounding problem, but my real question is whether I need to worry about my house burning down if I can't get someone in to sort it out before next week?

[cavemanic]

sounds like you got a live wire to ground with no where to go

I would think the house would be safe but I wouldnt go near it...its only making a pathway thru you when you touch it

to be safe I would try to isolate that circuit try flicking the breakers till you get the right one (most likely 10A single pole breaker)


how old is your house? unfortunately much of north american wiring is pretty 3rd world...they never run grounds in EMT years ago (which is the {censored}tiest possible idea for a way to run cable anyway)