Hello all, just fitted a new shower in my parents, the old one has the copper feed pipe bonded to the earth on the incoming T&E although the pipework is bonded to a seperate earth "downstream". The pipewrork is copper up to the inlet of the shower which is plastic, I dont think it should be bonded to the incoming cable as well. Am I correct ?.
On 14 Feb 2007 11:20:28 -0800, "Staffbull" mused:
Nope.
That's helpful. Stuart ( another one ).
But I thought you were not supposed to bond pipes to the earth on a supply cable as it could introduce its own fault situation but rather a dedicated earth clamp run to earth seperatley !!. I'm no electrician though thats why I asked on here as through this group I managed to save a small fortune on wiring my extension, no pipe bonding problems there though, plastic throughout :-)
The Part Pee police from our local council BCO failed the rewire at my mams because the 10mm T&E cable feeding it (or the earth thereof) wasn't bonded to the rest of the metalwork in the bathroom. The 15mm copper water pipe feeding the shower had already been plastered and tiled over at this point, so I ended up drilling from within the shower casing, through the wall into the bedroom, dropping a 4mm earth bonding cable down the bedroom wall (encased in white plastic mini-trunking) and drilling back through the wall again below the bath level, where I could then clamp it to the copper pipe :o(
John.
On 14 Feb 2007 12:55:12 -0800, "Staffbull" mused:
Maybe that was the case some time ago but the current regulations basically say connect anything metally\earthy together. So all pipework, baths, rads, protective conductors etc...
You'd be amazed at the amount of earthing problems plastic pipes can cause.
I think your original query may be mixed up with your recollections on earthing with plastic pipes. This can be the situation that arises when supplying a bathroom with plastic pipes.
On Wed, 14 Feb 2007 21:09:00 +0000 someone who may be Lurch wrote this:-
That is what some think. However, that is not what they say. In particular many metal bits are not likely to introduce a potential and thus don't need to be bonded.
inlet of the shower then plastic into the shower does that mean it is likeley to introduce a potential or not :-(
On 15 Feb 2007 10:09:12 -0800 someone who may be "Staffbull" wrote this:-
Principles need to be applied in particular circumstances.
It is fairly obvious that a metal pipe entering the bathroom introduces a potential. It should be bonded to the other metalwork that it is necessary to bond and bonded to the protective conductors of all circuits feeding electrical equipment in the bathroom. This is all clearly stated in the Wiring Regulations.
The intention is that the metalwork that may become energised in a fault is all at the same potential. Metal window frames, coat hooks, the little bit of metal in a plughole and so on are not likely to introduce a potential and so are not bonded.
The bonding may be by reliable metal to metal contact along pipes, hence it is not necessary to bond every length of pipe and something like a radiator may well be adequately bonded via the flow and return pipes (soldered and compression pipe joints are very good conductors of electricity). However, for the price of not very little it is as well to bond the pipe to the shower near where it enters the shower. The bonding cable also needs to go to the cpc of the circuit feeding the shower, either at the shower terminals or nearby such as the controlling switch).
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