Quick Q on earthing reqs for bathroom taps

[dmc]

Hot tap on bathroom sink "fell apart" this morning. Cold tap is also knackered. Need to replace now as sprog2 is due to make an appearance in the next couple of days and DIY will be off for a bit :-)

Having investigated the plumbing under the sink the best plan is to chop it out and replace (the previous owner obviously had a load of compression elbows as the feed to the cold tap "zig zags" up behind the sink!)

Quickest solution (I need quick - phonecall expected from wife in labour any time :-)) appears to be those flexible pushfits with isolating valve one end and tap fitting the other. Something like:

example. This would allow me to chop out the crap, fit new taps and just "plug it together". I don't want lectures on the pros and cons of pushfit (been there, done it) but I am wondering about the earthing.

Are Metal taps on the end of a pushfit fitting in a bathroom ok? The tap feeds in there at the moment as all copper and (I assume!) are earth bonded somewhere under the bath.

I know I ought to do it properly but...

Darren

[Wheelbarrowbob]

You need to establish if your bathroom is earthed ( cross bonded pipework ) and I would bridge out the plastic pipes and earth the taps. I assume your sink is plastic or ceramic, not cast iron ( and bath ! ) otherwise they definetley need earthing .

[Christian McArdle]

Don't do this. The golden rule is that totally insulated from earth is best (i.e. plastic supply). If it can't be insulated, bond it to make sure that all (at least potentially) earthy things are exactly the same, so you can't touch two conductors with different potentials.

Even metal baths and radiators should not be bonded if supplied via plastic and not touching something potentially earthy, like metal building structure.

Christian.

[Neil Jones]

The only thing in my bathroom which is supplied by copper is the towel radiator - all the water supplies are in plastic. I'm looking to add an illuminated mirror cabinet with an internal shaver socket - if the cabinet has a metal body (I've seen some in aluminium) presumably I have to bond it to the radiator?

Thanks

Neil

[Christian McArdle]

Yes. But you don't bond it to the taps or the bath, or window frames, even if metal.

Christian.

[Neil Jones]

No danger of that - far too much work!

Thanks

Neil

[Christian McArdle]

BTW, I meant the electrical supply to the shaver unit needs to be attached to the radiator (but NOT the output from the transformer!!!!). However, the metal cabinet parts would only need bonding if they are physically connected to the shaver unit so have the possibility of becoming either live or earthed through that. This could be quite likely, though, depending on the design. If it is a wooden or plastic bodied cabinet with metal inserts on the doors, I wouldn't bond them, as they should be well insulated.

Christian.

[Neil Jones]

However, the

OK thanks. I need to have a good look at the design of these things before buying, I think.

[N. Thornton]

Why dont you just replace the tap as is instead of mucking about with more work - you clearly got more pressing things to do :)

Regards, NT

[dmc]

while attempting to remove the top of the tap this moring (half a sleep and with a knackered spanner that nearly fitted :)) I managed to twist the pipe work and one of the many compression elbows started leaking...

Hence why chop it off and replace with nice simple flexible tap connector sounded a good idea. Kinda mute point anyway as neither Wickes or B&Q had anything other than the 22mm versions of pipes in stock and I haven't had chance to get anywhere else :(

I'm about to head off to take a proper look now that I am more awake :)

Cheers,

Darren

[Martin Angove]

Just a thought having skimmed the thread. I think that both sides of the argument are correct :-)

If the length of plastic in the copper-plastic-tap equation is short then yes, you should bridge it out and bond the taps because there will be some conductance through the water in said pipework, possibly enough to make the tap "earthy" and capable of passing a current should you grasp the tap with one hand and something "live" with the other.

If, however, you have a lot of plastic (didn't we discuss this before?)

- something of the order of 1m or more (can someone confirm that figure?) - then you're better off *not* bonding the taps as they are effectively isolated from earth and hence not a shock hazard. The coppery bits should still be bonded though.

HTH.

Hwyl!

M.

[N. Thornton]

Hi

Flexible connector sounds like a quick solution to me. As far as the philosophy of earth bonding a tap goes I'm sure the poor chap has more pressing issues :)

Regards, NT

[dmc]

Well, given the complete lack of flexible connectors in wickes, B&Q and homebase I gave up on that idea and fitted new taps to the old manky plumbing.

Plenty of ptfe and doing leaking joint up to 1/4-turn-beyond-its-about-to-break seems to have stopped the leak for now and at least the hot tap now works.

Wife can uncross legs now... ;-)

Darren