Gas main earth bonding has been removed

[iep]

We had new elec and gas meters installed a couple of years back. Both meters are in the garage and the gas main passes through the garage along a wall. I was just tidying the garage and noticed that the earth bonding that was attached to the pipes as they entered and exited the old meter have been removed and tucked away by the guy that swapped the meter over. As a result, the exposed copper gas main is no longer bonded to the main earth.

Is this allowed?

 

[CountryFan]

Is this allowed?

I’ve been told by electricians that it depends on the incoming supply (being PE), but also been told it needs to be bonded regardless.

 

[pete01]

Probably not but if the feed from the ground is plastic then it might be...

 

[ericmark]

There is a problem if a current is passed through a gas pipe, causing it to melt, so any earth connected to a gas pipe needs to be at the correct side of the insulating block/pipe so with a loss of PEN excessive current will not run through the gas pipe.

We see reports of metal theft being blamed for explosions like this

where someone has stolen the copper used to earth the PEN, but if the current did not go through the gas pipe to start with, it would still not have happened.

So one assumes the installer knew what he was doing, and there is a reason why the earth cable is not connected, but there is no harm phoning your energy supplier and asking, but don't refit it yourself.

 

[Murdochcat]

Meter installers have a nasty habit of disconnecting bonding and not reconnecting it.

 

[EFLImpudence]

. I was just tidying the garage and noticed that the earth bonding that was attached to the pipes as they entered and exited the old meter have been removed and tucked away by the guy that swapped the meter over. As a result, the exposed copper gas main is no longer bonded to the main earth.

Do you mean it had two wires from the meter to the main earth terminal?

 

[mattylad]

A photo says a thousand words...

Although if it cannot get so many out it would really help others to understand the situation more