Earthing a steel bath

[darrenh]

I've just ripped out an old plastic bath and fitted a steel one - aswell as this I now have a valve and filler for the water.

I re-connected the earthing between the hot and cold taps but am unsure if I need to earth the bath somehow (there is a loop on the underneath for me to attach to).

Where do I connect this to?

D

 

[il78]

If a connection method has been provided (the loop) this needs to be connected to the supplementary bonding that exists (hot & cold) by using a crimped lug fixed using a nut & bolt etc......

Has the X bonding been connected to all metal work and circuits within the bathroom?

 

[darrenh]

all taps pipes leadinginto taps are connected together by the lugs.

Does the bath just connect from an exisitng lug?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

According to this ,

Metal baths supplied by metal pipes do not
require supplementary bonding if all the pipes
are bonded and there is no other connection of
the bath to earth

But I don't see that it would hurt to bond it.

Just to clarify, since assumptions can be dangerous, you wrote:

all taps pipes leadinginto taps are connected together by the lugs.

Does the bath just connect from an exisitng lug?

What do you mean by the term "lug"?

 

[Goofyish]

Surely the steel bath would be insulated from the earthed pipes by the plastic/rubber sealing washers and enamel between the bath and the taps taps.

 

[darrenh]

that's what I thought - the metal pipes feed into a plastic valve connectoed to the bath - does this mean I'll need to connect the bath to th exisitng earthing wire then?

 

[Big_Spark]

Surely the steel bath would be insulated from the earthed pipes by the plastic/rubber sealing washers and enamel between the bath and the taps taps.

You obviously know very little about Electricity or you would not ask this question.

The Bath is a steel object filled with water, water that contains dissolved metals and chemical compounds, generally salts of one type or another, these conduct electricity, water does not.

If the bath became live whilst you were in it and it is insulated from the surrounding area, you would electrically earth the charge in the bath once you touched an external item that was at earth potential, usually a damp floor, bath tap etc. Should this occur then the entire charge would dissipate to earth through your body, and likely killing you in the process.

This is why all metal or conductive baths MUST be earthed. The very worst situation possible is to have any conductive object or material that can be potentially live under fault conditions remain disconnected from an earth path and thus dafely removing the danger by causing the operation of a protective device.

 

[Big_Spark]

Ban, that is hogwash and contradictory to the regs and common sense. (I know you are simply reprinting it so it is not a comment on you).

The regulations state clearly that " All exposed conductive or extraneous metalwork must be connected to earth"

This is to be achieved by bonding this metalwork to the earth terminal of the nearest accessory or by cross bonding between metalwork to achive this aim.

As a bath is clearly extraneous metalwork that could, potentially, become live under fault conditions, to not earth it is clearly a breach of the regs..regardless of any contradictory statement that may be found elswhere.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

That contradictory statement was made by Paul Cook......

 

[Goofyish]

Surely the steel bath would be insulated from the earthed pipes by the plastic/rubber sealing washers and enamel between the bath and the taps taps.

"You obviously know very little about Electricity or you would not ask this question."

I have actually got an HNC in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and my question was in response to the earlier quote from the IEE:

Metal baths supplied by metal pipes do not
require supplementary bonding if all the pipes
are bonded and there is no other connection of
the bath to earth

I was questioning that earthing of the steel bath seemed to rely on the connection between the taps and the bath!
You obviously are so full of yourself that you either mis-read or mis-understood the reason for my question!

 

[Big_Spark]

Actually Goofyfish you simply asked a stupid question, I did not misunderstand it as what is there to misunderstand?

Perhaps if you had worded it different then it would have indicated some knowledge of electricity, but the manner of your post gave the impression that your electrical knowledge is squat.

 

[darrenh]

what have I started ....

 

[breezer]

don't ask

 

[securespark]

FWL

Be fair.

Goof's statement about the bath being insulated from the pipes was in response to the theory that you don't need to earth bond the bath if the pipes supplying it are bonded, ie what he meant was that the bath would not be bonded even if the pipes were if there were plastic washers separating the two.

If you see what I mean.

Your impatience seems to get the better of you sometimes!

 

[AdamW]

I have to say that I understood and agreed with what Goof meant first time I read it. I am wondering, is FWL's quibble here with the word "insulated"? Is "isolate" a more correct term? I fear this may be a situation where having approximately 7 shedloads of knowledge on the subject makes one a little pedantic!

Now, according to that IEE report bathwater has a specific resistance of 100Kohm/metre. So, at 230V one would only receive a current of 2.3mA. Is that enough to derive any invigoration or should I just get a spa-bath instead?

NOTE: ADAMW DOES NOT IMPLY THAT ANYBODY SHOULD ATTEMPT TO INVIGORATE THEMSELVES THROUGH ANY APPLICATION OF ELECTRICITY. PLEASE DON'T SUE ME! I STILL HAVE STUDENT DEBTS TO PAY OFF!