I know that supplementary bonding is supposed to be safe, I get the Faraday Cage analogy, and I've read the DIYNOT wiki but I'm still struggling with the principle. According to the Electrical Safety Council, the definition is as follows:
"Supplementary bonding
The connecting together of the metal parts of electrical equipment (such as a heated towel rail) and the metal parts of a non-electrical item (such as pipes) to prevent a dangerous voltage between them, if a fault occurs. May be required in bath and shower rooms."
So if a fault does occur, the heated towel rail becomes live. Since it's connected to the bath taps through the supplementary bonding, presumably the taps are also live. So you could be sitting in water, in the bath, touching a live tap...
Doesn't sound particularly safe to me.
Can anyone explain why it is?
"Supplementary bonding
The connecting together of the metal parts of electrical equipment (such as a heated towel rail) and the metal parts of a non-electrical item (such as pipes) to prevent a dangerous voltage between them, if a fault occurs. May be required in bath and shower rooms."
So if a fault does occur, the heated towel rail becomes live. Since it's connected to the bath taps through the supplementary bonding, presumably the taps are also live. So you could be sitting in water, in the bath, touching a live tap...
Doesn't sound particularly safe to me.
Can anyone explain why it is?