What to do with pipe bonding

Question

Now that my hot water pipes are replaced with all PEX, I'm left wondering what I should do with my bonding wire. I left the galvanized in place, simply cut them with the Sawsall and left in place, but the end of the bonding wire is attached to it. It's the end of the bonding wire, clamped to the last portion of the galvanized that I haven't hauled away. Should I cut the bond wire at the next pipe in the circuit - in this case the gas line, or should I simply unclamp it from the pipe and leave it dangling, or should I leave the galvanized pipe in place even though it doesn't go anywhere or do anything?

In case it isn't clear, the bonding wire goes from the panel, to the cold water line, to the gas line, then ends at the hot water line. The water line was replaced with PEX, but the pipes are still in place as is the bonding wire.

Deke · Accepted Answer

You mean Grounding wire?

RBM · Answer

Your interior metallic piping should be bonded to the service equipment. If you don't have any, or remove it, there would be nothing to bond. If you are only removing portions of it, make sure the bonding conductor is continuous to any piping that remains

hallerb · Answer

whats your outdoor line made of? if its metal bond to that.

if your replacing the outside line leave the old metal line in place and ground to that. a 50 foot unused line in the ground is still a excellent ground addition to your system.

hallerb · Answer

maybe bond to the hot water tank?

John Grabowski · Answer

Since there is nothing to bond to anymore I would just coil it up a bit and tack it to the wall or ceiling. I suppose that you could cut it back to the gas pipe, but I'm the type of person who would leave it there in case you change back to copper in 50 years. There is no need to leave the galvanized in place since it no longer is functional.

paulking · Answer

Assuming your buried outdoor pipe is still metallic, just run a longer ground wire from the water heater all the way over to your water entrance pipe, and connect the clamp there. Even if you got to tack

50 feet of wire across your basement rafters, that's still better than having old sections of galvanized pipe, which serve no purpose if they are not connected to metal. DO NOT use the gas pipe. Thats a bad idea. Just get some bare, or green insulated wire of the same or thicker gauge as what you have now, and run it to your water entrance pipe, which is usually where the water meter is located.

If you dont have a metallic underground pipe, drive a ground rod outside and connect to that.

HeyBub · Answer

The purpose of the "bonding" wire is NOT to ground the electrical service. It's purpose is to ground the plumbing. If the "bonding" wire is attached to something that can never be touched by a human (instead of plumbing fixtures), it's irrelevant what you bond it to.

Eigenvector · Answer

Alright that sounds like a reasonable solution.

Eigenvector · Answer

"whats your outdoor line made of? if its metal bond to that.

if your replacing the outside line leave the old metal line in place and ground to that. a 50 foot unused line in the ground is still a excellent ground addition to your system."

Perhaps, but like I said the cold water line is already bonded and while I didn't include this in the original post, I already have a typical grounded electrical system anyway. I'm gonna go with what Grabowski suggested and just hang it somewhere out of the way and remove the rest of the galvanized

What to do with pipe bonding

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