I am re-plumbing parts of a large house in plastic pipe. However large parts of the existing copper installation will remain. The new installation has isolated long copper sections of pipework and radiators from the main earth bond. In addition to re-re-reading the regs and studying Paul Cook’s article on plastic pipes I’d like to run my conclusions past this forum.
1) Metal Water and Gas mains bonded to main earthing point at their entry to property in 10mm.
2) All non special areas with plastic pipes exclusively supplying them (even if a short metal tail is used to the radiator for aesthetic purposes) are NOT earthed.
3) Special areas (Bathrooms) all metal paperwork cross/supplemental bonded together. None of the rooms has any Class I or II equipment in them (lights, extractors etc are all SELV) and as such there is no equipment with which to supplemental bond. (In 4mm)
4) The existing runs of copper pipe have been bonded together to ensure the earthing continuity where plastic pipe has been inserted. (In 10mm)
5) The boiler, immersion heater, CH pump, shower pump etc are located in the same cupboard and have all been supplementally bonded together. (Not required I know but all that Class I in one small space and with water about during maintenance I felt it was a good idea.) (In 4mm)
I’d welcome your views on this approach. I should point out that the installation will be electrically inspected once the rewiring work (another story) has been finished– but at this stage I’d like to keep things safe and avoid rework if the inspector disagrees. The installation is TNC-S single phase.
1) Metal Water and Gas mains bonded to main earthing point at their entry to property in 10mm.
2) All non special areas with plastic pipes exclusively supplying them (even if a short metal tail is used to the radiator for aesthetic purposes) are NOT earthed.
3) Special areas (Bathrooms) all metal paperwork cross/supplemental bonded together. None of the rooms has any Class I or II equipment in them (lights, extractors etc are all SELV) and as such there is no equipment with which to supplemental bond. (In 4mm)
4) The existing runs of copper pipe have been bonded together to ensure the earthing continuity where plastic pipe has been inserted. (In 10mm)
5) The boiler, immersion heater, CH pump, shower pump etc are located in the same cupboard and have all been supplementally bonded together. (Not required I know but all that Class I in one small space and with water about during maintenance I felt it was a good idea.) (In 4mm)
I’d welcome your views on this approach. I should point out that the installation will be electrically inspected once the rewiring work (another story) has been finished– but at this stage I’d like to keep things safe and avoid rework if the inspector disagrees. The installation is TNC-S single phase.