Main Bonding

[LondonRay]

Last of several questions on work I need to get done (by a professional), thanks for answers to date.

I think I've got my head round what is required and why, gas & water bonded to main earth terminal, but I'm not sure if what I have in place is up to the job.

I had a new boiler installed recently (moved into loft) and the electrician brought in by the builder has bonded the gas pipe just after the meter to the earth terminal and also run an earth cable from there up to the loft where it looks like it bonds ...mains water supply(combi boiler)/hot water/CH.

So there's about a 60' run between the bonding and the terminal.

The 'entry point' for the water is in a corner behind kitchen cabinets and it's not accessible (boxed in/under floorboards and flooring) until it hits the loft so bonding any closer would be a major pain though of course safety is no1 priority.

Any comments on what (if anything) else I need on the main bonding front and if req'd any ideas how to get it done without ripping the kitchen apart would be MOST gratefully received.

 

[JohnD]

How do you get to the stop cock when you next put a nail through a pipe?

 

[LondonRay]

Stop Cock is outside... not that I ever nail anywhere without checking for pipes or cables....obviously

 

[JohnD]

You need a main bond in 10mm G&Y to the first place where a metal water pipe enters your house. On the house side of the stop cock, if there is one. The pipe often comes up through the kitchen floor, and this is the place to bond it. Occasionally it passes under the hall floor or comes up under the stairs or in the garage. You can poke the wire behind or under kitchen units and appliances if you have to. It has to be a single unbroken length all the way back to the main earthing point which will be inside the Consumer Unit, or in a block between the CU and the incoming service head (there is often a supplier-provided earthing point on the side of the service head).

If the incoming water main is in plastic, you bond at the first point where it changes to metal. If there is no metal water pipe at all you do not (and cannot) bond to it.

Once you get down to it I expect you will be able to lower the legs on a kitchen unit and ease it out of the corner.

 

[LondonRay]

Cheers for that John, I'm going have a very busy electrician !

In order to get the cable back to the terminal, it would have to traverse at least one doorway and there's laminate flooring down so any tips on how to get it run safely but neatly as poss across those would be most welcome.

In purely practical terms it would actually be easier and neater to run it from one side of the house to the other by drilling through the walls and running the wire outside under the decking which joins the house. I don't suppose that's a great idea, but thought I'd mention it.

 

[DESL]

In purely practical terms it would actually be easier and neater to run it from one side of the house to the other by drilling through the walls

Not a problem - I've had to do it several times as the only practical solution where a house has been extended or altered.

 

[LondonRay]

Thanks DESL ... am going to get a socket put outside anyway, so this would probably dovetail with getting that done. I know advertising etc on here is banned for obvious reasons, but as you're in Essex and I'm in Ilford and was going to just pick a name out of Yellow Pages, am I allowed to ask if you're interested in the work ?