Shower not bonded what would you do?

[Paul Barker]

Went to fix a boiler. no bathroom bonding whatsoever, copper pipework, boiler in old airing cupboard in bathroom, large room so well outside zones, and so switch is OK without needing a lock on the boiler cupboard.

I can bond the boiler pipework to get all the bathroom bonding done and take it to met because I am doing meb'ing anyway as there is non of that, at least you can't see it within 600mm of either service, so it doesn't count if it is there.

The question is what category of risk is the fact that the electric shower cpc isn't caged into the bathroom bonding? If it just have to be done at all cost then it'll be trunking slapped on the white tiles. You guys must come across this a lot. What do you normally insist on?

 

[equitum]

Opinion varies on category of risk, some say its a code 1 (immediate danger) personally I believe its code 2 (requires improvement). You have to decide the chances of a fault to earth occuring at the same time a person touches both the extraneous conductive part(s) of the shower and another extraneous conductive part all at the same time.

You have not regulatory requirement to upgrade or install supp. bonding.
However, I would advise the customer they should consider this.

Also ensure that the shower is RCD protected.

Is it not possible to access the CPC of the shower (or at least switch) in the loft or adjacent room (e.g. airing cupboard) to bond to lighting circuit cpc and/or pipework ?

 

[Paul Barker]

Yes I could get it at the switch from the room above and bring it down into boiler cupboard. That would be a suitable compromise.

It isn't rcd protected but it shall be..

Thanks. I am sure this is going to come up again and again.

 

[steve1811uk]

Is it not possible/allowable to bond inside the plastic case of the electric shower? I mean bond the cold water copper pipe to the shower cable earth conductor. The bond clamp and bond wire will then be hidden.

 

[JohnD]

very often there is an airing cupboard adjacent to the bathroom, and most bonding can usually be done there.

Remember that, if done with soldered copper pipe, you can use the pipes as part of the bonding which can save you having to run G&Y cable on the surface inside the bathroom.

The bonding should be done just as the pipes enter the bathroom (but the other side of the wall is OK).