Hi, we are renovating our bathroom and I have a quick couple of questions regarding bonding.....let me explain the scenario first...
First floor bathroom contains full size bath on one wall with an electric power shower next to a central heating radiator, toilet and sink on opposite wall, and finally bathroom light. We are busy replacing the floor and the equipotential bonding looked "odd". I understand the concept of equipotential bonding is to get all metal parts as close to the same potential as possible to avoid the risk of shock.
There are four bits of 6mm bonding wire as follows:
1) Sink hot and cold feeds bonded together under the sink, just under the taps.
2) Bath hot and cold feeds bonded together under bath, just under the taps.
3) Radiator feed bonded to bath hot water feed under bath, next to the bath tap bonding.
4) The power shower in the bath has its electrical supply coming down from the ceiling along with the cold water feed. An earth/bonding wire comes out of the top of the shower and is bonded to the copper pipe with a clamp.
I guess from an equipotential bonding perspective it's handy to have the central heating and hot/cold water pipework running under the bath - easy to get to!
All the water and heating pipework is copper, and soldered. The waste plumbing is plastic.
i) My first question is, does the equipotential bonding sound right?
ii) Another question, should there be a bond from the shower down to the bonding under the bath taps?
There is no cold water storage tank in the loft, our cold water supply comes in and connects directly to the taps and the boiler. I have had a good look in the loft, all the copper fittings are soldered. The cold water supply comes into the house and goes straight to the loft, where no doubt in the past there was a storage tank. The feed for the power shower is taken off main cold water pipe in the loft. The cold water pipe then goes down through the partition where it appears under the bath. I can only assume the soldered pipework is being used as part of the bonding.
iii) Final question, how is bonding tested? I can only assume this setup has.
Web searching has thrown up copious amounts of info. This appears to be the most confusing subject in domestic wiring. I understand the bonding doesnt have to be one piece of wire, and copper pipe can be used if it is soldered ( I take it only for the short lengths used in the bathroom).
Sorry for the long post. I have tried to find the answers myself, but I wanted to ask here first - before I push our already stretched budget and pay for someone to come in and tell me what I could have found out myself.
First floor bathroom contains full size bath on one wall with an electric power shower next to a central heating radiator, toilet and sink on opposite wall, and finally bathroom light. We are busy replacing the floor and the equipotential bonding looked "odd". I understand the concept of equipotential bonding is to get all metal parts as close to the same potential as possible to avoid the risk of shock.
There are four bits of 6mm bonding wire as follows:
1) Sink hot and cold feeds bonded together under the sink, just under the taps.
2) Bath hot and cold feeds bonded together under bath, just under the taps.
3) Radiator feed bonded to bath hot water feed under bath, next to the bath tap bonding.
4) The power shower in the bath has its electrical supply coming down from the ceiling along with the cold water feed. An earth/bonding wire comes out of the top of the shower and is bonded to the copper pipe with a clamp.
I guess from an equipotential bonding perspective it's handy to have the central heating and hot/cold water pipework running under the bath - easy to get to!
All the water and heating pipework is copper, and soldered. The waste plumbing is plastic.
i) My first question is, does the equipotential bonding sound right?
ii) Another question, should there be a bond from the shower down to the bonding under the bath taps?
There is no cold water storage tank in the loft, our cold water supply comes in and connects directly to the taps and the boiler. I have had a good look in the loft, all the copper fittings are soldered. The cold water supply comes into the house and goes straight to the loft, where no doubt in the past there was a storage tank. The feed for the power shower is taken off main cold water pipe in the loft. The cold water pipe then goes down through the partition where it appears under the bath. I can only assume the soldered pipework is being used as part of the bonding.
iii) Final question, how is bonding tested? I can only assume this setup has.
Web searching has thrown up copious amounts of info. This appears to be the most confusing subject in domestic wiring. I understand the bonding doesnt have to be one piece of wire, and copper pipe can be used if it is soldered ( I take it only for the short lengths used in the bathroom).
Sorry for the long post. I have tried to find the answers myself, but I wanted to ask here first - before I push our already stretched budget and pay for someone to come in and tell me what I could have found out myself.
