Wire under sink

[Shade]

Hello. I would appreciate any help on this as i am concerned what this could be and any potential hazards this wire may pose.

I was having a spring clean underneath my nans sink unit in her kitchen and found this really long green and yellow wire. I examined the wire and it has a silver tag attatched to it saying electrical wire do not remove but i'm very concerned because this wire was literally hanging out of the cupboard underneath the sink and isn't connected to anything. It looks like it was originally connected to the wall at the back of the sink (i am only presuming this) as there's a rusted part on the end of the wire with a very rusty nail/screw sticking out of it.
I got my torch and had a further look under the sink and i found a second wire which is attatched to the pipes under the sink and this wire also has the same silver tag attatched to it. Thankfully this wire is not lose.

My nan has never had any electrics over there that she knows of, no dryers, sockets, washing machines etc on that side of the room and i cannot find a switch of any kind. She's never had waste disposal under the sink or a automatic washing machine so it can't be from this.

Does anyone know what this wire is and should i call in a electrician?

I will try and attatch a pic of the wire that's hanging down best i can.

 

[Shade]

Here's 2 pictures i've just taken of the wire. Hope this works!

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• Shade
• 13 Mar 2009
• 1

Untitled

• Shade
• 13 Mar 2009
• 1

 

[wingcoax]

Sounds like it is a bonding wire and there must be a earth strap on a pipe somewhere with no cable connected , if so connect the cable to the strap and you should be ok.

 

[Shade]

I'm sorry i just saw your post. I must of posted the pictures at the same time you replied

What exactly is bonding? Will electric be running through this wire if it is a bonding wire?

I couldn't see a strap of any kind earlier but there was this little rusty metal piece that was on the end of the wire - i think this may of been fixed to the wall and screwed/nailed in but I can't see where it came from.

 

[electronicsuk]

Bonding (or Protective Earth Bonding in this case) consists of running a suitable bonding cable from any incoming services (or other extraneous conductive parts) back to the Main Earth Terminal of your property. This ensures that there is no difference in potential (voltage) between different metallic earthy objects in the house.

This bonding is especially important under fault conditions as it prevents metal parts becoming live for long enough (and at a voltage great enough) to cause serious electric shock.

To me, the bonding cable you photographed looks too small to be up to current standards, assuming TN supply to the house. You say there is another bond that IS attached to the sink - does this have a thicker cable? If so, has there been any electrical work done recently? It may just be that an electrician has upgraded the main bonding to meet current standards, and the old cable is now redundant.

 

[skenk]

I don't see the silver tag in the photos

You say there's another green & yellow attached to the 'pipes'

You should have a green and yellow bonding cable fixed to the incoming cold supply and if this other cable is that then I would wager the loose cable was for bonding the sink under old regulations and is not required - so nothing to worry about (assuming the main bond to the incoming water supply is intact).

To know for sure you would need to locate the other end of the cables in the fuseboard or consumer unit and test (probably a job for an electrician in your case)

 

[sparkyspike]

Sounds like it is a bonding wire and there must be a earth strap on a pipe somewhere with no cable connected , if so connect the cable to the strap and you should be ok.

'You should be ok' when investigating electrical earth bonding is not the best advice. You really need an electrician to have a look.

 

[kevindgas]

if as you say the pipes have a bonding wire attached then the loose wire probably comes off the sink.

what type of sink does your nan have stainless or coated? if stainless is there a wire attached to it that is similar?

 

[ColJack]

can't see from the photo's, but can I ask...

have you had the counter-tops / sink replaced at some time?

this is more than likely the earth bond to the kitchen sink, which is no longer required by the regulations so sink makers stopped putting places to attatch it..

edit: you say it had a rusty piece of metal attatched to it? then it may well have broken off the sink itself.. see it you can see where it may have broken off from..

 

[Shade]

hi all and thank you very much for your replies. i really appreciate it.

my gran has a stainless steel sink. i had a look underneath the sink again and there isn't a strap or anything that would indicate the wire came from under the sink.

she did have a new sink unit and counter top about 7 years ago and the other bonding cable does look slightly thicker than the one in the picture and it's secured to the pipes. maybe the one in the picture is the old bonding wire like someone mentioned and it's been made redundant