We live on the 3rd floor and have a balcony. The deck of the balcony is Trex or some similar composite decking. Our furniture out thre is recycled plastic material. Anytime we’re out there we are constantly getting zapped with static electricity when we move and touch the aluminum railing or door to go back inside.
There is an outlet out there, if i run a wire from the ground of the outlet to the aluminum railing or the deck itself, would that solve the problem?
That wouldn’t solve the problem and I wouldn’t stick anything but a plug in an outlet, even if it’s only the ground terminal.
When you touch the railing, the static discharges from you to the railing, which is at a lower potential. If you ground the railing it will still be at lower potential and you’ll still get shocked.
That’s the answer. Grounding the railing will not fix the problem. The problem is the plastic chairs, your clothes, maybe the wind causing your clothes to flap, all conspiring to create static buildup. Probably your footwear for not conducting the charge down to the floor. Try different clothes, footwear, or replace those chairs. Hmmm you could try placing a conductive mat under the chairs and ground that mat to the railing.