hi got bathroom radiator moved a couple of years ago but recently my neighbour had his moved and his has an earth wire on with a tag he says its law how will i check the pipework in my bathroom is earthed
earthing in bathrooms
- Thread starter winduewarrior
- Start date
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All the metallic pipes entering the bathroom have to be bonded to the earth conductors of all the electric circuits entering the bathroom. They can be bonded where they enter the bathroom, or just outside, e.g. in an adjacent airing cupboard. note that you only need to bond each pipe once (so bond the hot pipe as it enters, you haven't got to bond it again at every tap).
Metallic pipes include lead waste pipes and iron soil pipes, if any. Circuits are always lighting, may also be wall heaters, immersions, electric showers, central heating pumps and controls, shaver sockets.
You can conveniently gather together all the earth wires in an Earth Block. Try to run the wires continuously from clamp to clamp without cutting them. this reduces the risk of a broken circuit if one comes loose. the connections must all be accessible for inspection, so not hidden under floors or tiled over.
See //wiki.diynot.com/electrics:sp...l_bonding:supplementary_equipotential_bonding
Metallic pipes include lead waste pipes and iron soil pipes, if any. Circuits are always lighting, may also be wall heaters, immersions, electric showers, central heating pumps and controls, shaver sockets.
You can conveniently gather together all the earth wires in an Earth Block. Try to run the wires continuously from clamp to clamp without cutting them. this reduces the risk of a broken circuit if one comes loose. the connections must all be accessible for inspection, so not hidden under floors or tiled over.
See //wiki.diynot.com/electrics:sp...l_bonding:supplementary_equipotential_bonding
Check around your meter, you should see that there is an earth wire to your water pipes and gas pipes. This in effect should earth all your system. But in bathrooms there is a chance that in the event of an earth fault, there may be different voltages present on your gas, water and heating pipes, caused by poor pipework connections for example. As they often come together and are easily touched by wet hands in your bathroom it is important that there should be no voltage difference between them.
Supplementary earthing would do just that. Your water pipes to your sink, bath, cistern, radiators should all be connected together in your bathroom. Use 10mm green/yellow and earth clamps that wrap around the pipework. You can also get small clamps that can be screwed onto a flat metal edge like the bottom of your radiator. Make that the last one on the circuit so that there is only one cable going to it, so that it looks better. The regs don't actually state that it needs to go back to the main earth terminal, just that they have to be bonded together, although if I was starting from scratch I would run it back. Use 10mm.
Supplementary earthing would do just that. Your water pipes to your sink, bath, cistern, radiators should all be connected together in your bathroom. Use 10mm green/yellow and earth clamps that wrap around the pipework. You can also get small clamps that can be screwed onto a flat metal edge like the bottom of your radiator. Make that the last one on the circuit so that there is only one cable going to it, so that it looks better. The regs don't actually state that it needs to go back to the main earth terminal, just that they have to be bonded together, although if I was starting from scratch I would run it back. Use 10mm.
briwire said:
Then you would be wrong! (sorry
Also, you bond the pipes, not the radiator.
Also, the correct size G&Y for supplementary bonding is 4mm
(10mm is for main bonding of incoming metallic services like the water main and gas main where they enter the house)
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Why do people pick faults with every word typed on these forums.
I said if I was doing it I would run it back to the main earth terminal. You don't have to as I stated BUT I WOULD. Is that wrong???
I also told him to bond the PIPES to the sink, bath and RADIATOR. There is absolutely nothing wrong in then bonding to the actual radiator is there? It's not a requirement but there is nothing wrong with it.
4mm is the minimum size cable required for supplementary bonding. If you want to drive to B&Q for a seperate roll of 4mm then fair enough, but I prefer to use the one reel of 10mm for everything.
Rant over.
I said if I was doing it I would run it back to the main earth terminal. You don't have to as I stated BUT I WOULD. Is that wrong???
I also told him to bond the PIPES to the sink, bath and RADIATOR. There is absolutely nothing wrong in then bonding to the actual radiator is there? It's not a requirement but there is nothing wrong with it.
4mm is the minimum size cable required for supplementary bonding. If you want to drive to B&Q for a seperate roll of 4mm then fair enough, but I prefer to use the one reel of 10mm for everything.
Rant over.
If you run an earth wire back to the main earth terminal then it is possible that you may introduce a potential into the bathroom and that is not what you want to do.
Just to add to the mix, CPC may be used as supplementary bonding conductors. This is especially the case when all power and lighting points in a bathroom must be bonded together. 'The bonding connection may be to the earth terminal of a switch or or accessory supplying equipment'.
By using CPC, or an earth terminal of a switch, as recommended in the OSG, then you're doing just this, earthing back to the MET, no? I'm confused and I've been doing this quite a while, please forgive me.
By using CPC, or an earth terminal of a switch, as recommended in the OSG, then you're doing just this, earthing back to the MET, no? I'm confused and I've been doing this quite a while, please forgive me.
There will be paths back to the MET via the CPCs of the circuits and more than likely through copper pipework and the Main Equipotential Bonding.
The idea of supplementay bonding is to keep the potential between the exposed and extraneous conductive parts in the zones of the bathroom at or about the same potential in the event of a fault. The supplementary bonding is there to protect people who are at an increased risk of shock from being wet and naked in the bathroom. The supplementary bonding is not required to connect to the MET. Supplementary bonding is only carried out local to the location. There is no need to connect it to the MET, connecting it to the MET as Taylortwocities says can assist in introducing a potential into the bathroom.
The idea of supplementay bonding is to keep the potential between the exposed and extraneous conductive parts in the zones of the bathroom at or about the same potential in the event of a fault. The supplementary bonding is there to protect people who are at an increased risk of shock from being wet and naked in the bathroom. The supplementary bonding is not required to connect to the MET. Supplementary bonding is only carried out local to the location. There is no need to connect it to the MET, connecting it to the MET as Taylortwocities says can assist in introducing a potential into the bathroom.
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