Bonding Gas Meter or Pipe (Again)?!

TheNamek · 10 Jun 2010

A much discussed topic but even after a lot of reading I still have a question. It seems quite clear that bonding needs to be within 600mm - but there's conflicting info whether it's 600mm of the pipe entering the building or 600mm of the meter.

Pic of both my gas entry point and meter:

As you can see, there's zip all bonding! The pipes are so chunky that regular bonding straps don't even go all the way around. Can I bond to the metal plate on the meter itself - i.e. nut, bolt n washer? Pic of reverse below.

Cheers for any help!

ricicle · 10 Jun 2010

Larger straps are available. As both pipes come from under the ground (although the house side probably just goes under the wood floor) I would bond them both with an unbroken conductor

LoveRocket · 10 Jun 2010

ricicle said:
Larger straps are available. As both pipes come from under the ground (although the house side probably just goes under the wood floor) I would bond them both with an unbroken conductor

I thought the bonds had to be on the customer's side of any meters / cocks

(I bet that gets censored)

Steve · 10 Jun 2010

What nutter put the meter in the middle of a floor? The metal plate is to support the meter if its mounted on a wall, I dont think it should be relied upon for a bond. You can get bigger bonding straps.

Whats that wrapped in tape in the corner?

ban-all-sheds · 10 Jun 2010

Place yer bets:

A piece of Eland biltong: 100-1
A gift-wrapped walking stick: 33-1
An electricity supply cable: 1-2

TheNamek · 10 Jun 2010

Steve said:
What nutter put the meter in the middle of a floor? The metal plate is to support the meter if its mounted on a wall, I dont think it should be relied upon for a bond. You can get bigger bonding straps.

Whats that wrapped in tape in the corner?

That's my electric supply. EDF came and did some work on it just the other day because it was/is leaking pitch despite the service head having been replaced donkeys ago.

kirkgas · 10 Jun 2010

TheNamek";p="1641489 said:
A much discussed topic but even after a lot of reading I still have a question. It seems quite clear that bonding needs to be within 600mm - but there's conflicting info whether it's 600mm of the pipe entering the building or 600mm of the meter.

to clarify, the bonding must be on the outlet of the meter, the Right hand side from the front, gas regs say within 600mm of outlet but sparkies dont have this dimension in the regs as long as it is bonded properly, which needs to be on clean smooth pipe not the flexi
as an aside you need to get the meter secured as well, the L shaped plate is a wall bracket, if it is on the floor you need the other part which bolts on to the bit you have and fixes to the floor, check BES online for meter brackets

TheNamek · 10 Jun 2010

Yep, I just read the wiki (D'oh!). I'll find some meatier bonding straps. Thanks fellas!

TheNamek · 11 Jun 2010

D'oh - regular strap fits - just. Pipe was a bit of a pig to scrub up - it's steel with lots of lovely pits and extrusion striations!

Anyway, is this satisfactory? Wiki says resistance should be no more than 0.05ohms but I don't have the right equipment to measure - my POS DMM says 0.5 (even probe to probe is 0.4

). 10mm straight into MET.

LoveRocket · 11 Jun 2010

That should be fine mate. A DMM will not give an accurate reading that low, you'd need a proper low-ohms continuity tester. But where are you measuring? One probe on the MET and one on a gas pipe?

PS. Thanks very much for the edumacation - Striations means a series of ridges, furrows or linear marks

TheNamek · 11 Jun 2010

LoveRocket said:
That should be fine mate. A DMM will not give an accurate reading that low, you'd need a proper low-ohms continuity tester. But where are you measuring? One probe on the MET and one on a gas pipe?

PS. Thanks very much for the edumacation - Striations means a series of ridges, furrows or linear marks

LoL - that is what I meant - like in ballistics where the rifling of the barrel leaves linear marks on a bullet (too much CSI).

I was measuring just the bit of wire open circuit.

LoveRocket · 11 Jun 2010

I'd never heard that word before, every day's a school day! (but I don't watch crap like CSI - on principle I wont watch anything where a computer goes "bleep-bleep-blip-bleep" whilst it does some operation, even completely ****** operations that only happen in Holywood)

Don't worry about measuring a the resistance end-to-end of a bit of ten mil squared wire you've just installed, it will be fine. The continuity check is more for when a spark visits an existing installation and can't visually confirm the continuity of the bonding conductor(s).

dingbat · 11 Jun 2010

TheNamek said:
A much discussed topic but even after a lot of reading I still have a question. It seems quite clear that bonding needs to be within 600mm - but there's conflicting info whether it's 600mm of the pipe entering the building or 600mm of the meter.

BS 7671, reg 544.1.2 says:

"The main equipotential bonding connection to any gas, water or other service shall be made as near as practicable to the point of entry of that service into the premises.

That's the important bit. But there's more:

"Where there is an insulating section or insert at that point, or where there is a meter, the connection shall be made to the consumer's hard metal pipework and before any branch pipework."

Straightforward enough and so far, so good.

"Where practicable the connection shall be made within 600mm of the meter outlet union or at the point of entry into the building if the meter is external."

Most sparks only remember the 600mm from this third sentence and then get themselves into all sorts of practical muddles.

kirkgas said:
...gas regs say within 600mm of outlet but sparkies dont have this dimension in the regs as long as it is bonded properly...

BS 6891 (the 'gas regs') 8.16.4.2 says:

"Main equipotential bonding shall be connected:

a) on the customer's side of the meter;
b) as close as practicable to the meter before any branch in the installation pipework;
c) in a position where it is accessible, can be visibly observed and fitted with a warning label stating "Safety electrical connection. Do not remove.";
d) by a mechanically and electrically sound connection which is not subject to corrosion."

The commentary on these low pressure gas pipework regulations then goes on to say, "For meters in outside meter boxes/compartments, the bonding connection should be preferably inside the building and as near as practicable to the point of entry of the installation pipework into the building."

Both electricians and gas fitters are generally unaware of what the actual regulations require and are convinced that there is conflict.

I see no conflict and I think both sets of regs are quite clear.

I hope that helps.

TheNamek · 11 Jun 2010

It helped indeed. Thanks for clarification.

flameport · 11 Jun 2010

TheNamek said:

That clamp isn't fitted correctly - the warning label should be fixed under the central screw/nut, not by using the strap through the slots in the label.
That's why the label has round holes in it.

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Bonding Gas Meter or Pipe (Again)?!

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