Who wrote this pile of tripe?

[John Rumm]

do you begin? (the title I suppose!)

[Andy Dingley]

Ouch! It really is hard to find any statement in there that _isn't_ wrong.

I guess "earth bonding" can be needed sometimes, but the only instance I can think of would be in static-sensitive workshops & labs.

[John Rumm]

I like that phrase... ;-) I think I may pinch a version for my comment. Just posted this:

Wow, where do we start? There is very little in this article that isn't either wrong or misleading!

Even the title "Earth bonding" makes no sense (BS7671 (the wiring regs), recognises "Earthing", and "Equipotential bonding" (main and supplementary). "Earth bonding" has no meaning. Earthing (limiting the duration of a shock) and bonding (limiting the voltage difference between touchable conductive parts) are there to do two distinct and different jobs, and by different methods. They are not to be confused!

If you want a more informed description of the the functions of earthing and bonding, and how they differ, have a read of this:

ore repairing large cracks in the ground after an earthquake?

[ARWadsworth]

vbg

[GB]

that a good thing?

[John Rumm]

Probably not much - urls in the body of usenet posts (even when mirrored to the web) are not encoded as links and hence probably not spidered by the search engines.

In this case, its debatable!

[Andy Wade]

I particularly liked:

"In bathrooms, any metal item which you can touch must be bonded to the earthing system."

Could cause some difficulties if your partner is into body piercing jewellery...

[John Rumm]

Lol... lets hope she is a down to earth kinda gal!

It conjured up a mental image of green/yellow sleeved (6mm^2 according to the article you note) wire snaking around and connecting the loo roll holder to the shower curtain rail and the carpet threshold strip under the door.

[Skipweasel]

I wish I could remember where I'd seen it - somewhere in Hounslow - but there's a kitchen that's been done like that. The sink, the hinges on the cupboard door under the sink, the metal knife-magnet; every bloody metal thing near the sink was wired in.

[ARWadsworth]

That is what Doncaster council still do.

John and I had a good laugh at their spec sheet.

[jgharston]

It's changed to Equipotential Earthing now. Ensuring all of the Earth is at the same potential?

JGH

[Jules Richardson]

I think it might have something to do with horses.

[Andrew Gabriel]

What size bonding wire do they fit to each link in the bath plug chain?

The original article seems to be empty now.

[John Rumm]

Lol, the content has gone, and the title has changed to "Equipotential earthing" - different but still wrong!

(just added a comment to the new one: "Much reduced error rate in the text now Shame the title is different but still makes no sense!")

So as not to lose such a classic pile of tosh, here is a copy of the original from Google's cache:

=== begin quoted stuff ===

Earth bonding Main earth bonding

Main earth bonding conductors, coloured yellow and green, run from the earth terminal block in the consumer unit to the metal service pipes such as water, gas and oil. The size of these conductors is a minimum of

10mm sq. Supplementary earth bonding

Different regulations may apply where plastic plumbing has been used. Please consult the Institute of Electrical Engineers Regulations for details, or seek the advice of a professionally qualified electrician.

There are strict rules on earthing of metal items in a house. Non electrical metal equipment, which could be a danger if it came into contact with electricity, including items such as radiators, pipes, sinks, basins, baths, towel rails etc. must be bonded to the earth connection terminal at the consumer unit. These include items which may not be immediately apparent such as metal frames supporting a plastic bath. These may be linked together and connected to the Earth terminal or separate earth cables may be used for each. The minimum size for this cable is 6mm sq. Earth cables have a green and yellow sleeve.

You can get the supllementary bonding tested by a professionally qualified electrician. Should anything fail these tests you must have them corrected.

In bathrooms, any metal item which you can touch must be bonded to the earthing system

pipe clampConnection to each of these items is made by using an earth clamp or tag on the item. Metal sinks, for example, have an earthing tag pre fitted to them.

Clamps, used to earth metal pipes, consist of a strap which is fastened around the pipe and a terminal to which the earth wire is connected.

The effectiveness of the connection is vital. So, if you are not certain how this should be carried out or have not done it before, have the work done by a professional and get them to show you how it is done. A common error is to fit an earth clamp to pipework without cleaning away oxidation or paint from the surface first. The result of this is that there may not be a good bond between the two. Positive contact between the pieces is essential. Any earth bonding carried out should be inspected by a qualified professional.

Pipes either side of plastic items such as water tanks or plastic fittings may need to be bridged to maintain earth continuity. An earth clamp is fitted to the pipe on either side and an earth conductor is run between them.

[ARWadsworth]

To be fair the page now says "to be added shortly".

How long does it take to cut and paste the DIY wiki?

[ARWadsworth]

<

There is still this tripe

[Huge]

Attributed to Wolfgang Pauli; "This isn't right. It isn't even wrong."

[John Rumm]

Yup, ISTR recall he used the "That's not even wrong" response to a number of unlucky students submitting papers on quantum theory. ;-)

[John Rumm]

Changed again to "Main & Supplementary Bonding", and what is more I can't see anything wrong with it now.

(Still it is content free with "To be added shortly" in place of the article).

[The Other Mike]

The threshold strip in a concrete floor can make an almost acceptable earth on its own as I found out one day as I reached through a doorway to a light switch with my sweaty feet covered in sweaty socks positioned right on top of the threshold strip.

The PVC insulation had a tiny nick in it and live contacted the backbox. There was a massive area of plastic to touch but sods law dictated that I contacted the now live switch fixing screw.

I reckon the fault had been there for many years