EICR bonding connection not visible/accessible

[westward10]

I suspect that used to or still has a cellar.

 

[ppelec100]

I suspect that used to or still has a cellar.

There wasn’t a cellar no. It’s the next road from mine pretty much the same type of build no cellar too

 

[littlespark]

There wasn’t a cellar no. It’s the next road from mine pretty much the same type of build no cellar too

In that case, where is your stopcock?


Too old a property to assume it’s under the kitchen sink.

If the on street stopcock is at this side of the property… I would guess it may be just up by the front door…..
is there no sign of any access hatch in the woodwork around the door?
I would expect big door architraves and panelled walls. And very possibly an original tiled floor just inside the door…. So any water pipe will not be under the floor.

Might even be original lead pipe.

 

[brianmoooore]

I've worked on several properties off this kind over the years, and the usual arrangement is that the supply pipe is buried all the way up the passage inside the door, to the kitchen, and is often still lead.
The main stopcock tends to be under a hatch just inside the front door.
In these cases, I've replaced the pipe with plastic all the way back to the street if lead, or from the old stopcock to the kitchen, fitted a new stopcock in the kitchen, wound the stuffing gland on the old cock wound right down, removed its handle and covered it permanently.

 

[ppelec100]

In that case, where is your stopcock?


Too old a property to assume it’s under the kitchen sink.

If the on street stopcock is at this side of the property… I would guess it may be just up by the front door…..
is there no sign of any access hatch in the woodwork around the door?
I would expect big door architraves and panelled walls. And very possibly an original tiled floor just inside the door…. So any water pipe will not be under the floor.

Might even be original lead pipe.

Mine is nice and easy under the stairs along with the gas meter (until cadent moved it to the porch recently) and consumer unit.
I’m going to guess it’s under the hallway floorboard. I’m going back there for an hour later just to check the bonding, if I can’t find the water bond I’ll have to C2 it and see if I can investigate it when I do the other remedial works. The gas I guess I guess I can measure the bond to the pipe but again I can’t see it and I’d be inclined to run a new bond to where the meter is so the connections are always accessible.

 

[ppelec100]

Guys so I went back the other day to get a reading and got a good reading for the gas pipe but I’ll still put a clamp outside where it’s accessible.

The water mains however cannot be found whatsoever. Is it possible that houses don’t have stopcocks inside their house and only have one outside on the pavement?

Where are the common locations inside the house? I know of them being under the stairs, by the sink and under the entrance floor normally

 

[Pretty Mouth]

Some old terraced properties would have had a shared water pipe that would be buried across the rear gardens, with a spur off to each house. Usually the kitchen, bathroom, outside loo etc were at the rear of the building, so it made sense to do it this way. So check the rear ground floor room(s) of the building, maybe it will be there. Have you pulled off the plinth in the kitchen and had a good nose around under there?

 

[littlespark]

It’s a fairly recent standard to have it under the kitchen sink, or at least in the kitchen by an external wall.

It won’t be far off line where the outside valve is. (Metered property? Look for signs outside)

In my experience, older houses could be just inside the front entrance door… but visibly obvious, unless someone blocked access off in the past. The pipe could even be visible inset into the skirting board, painted the same colour.

You said your own home was similar… but what about other houses on the same street? Any identical designs that you can ask the neighbours where their stopcock are?

 

[pirate]

OK, this is a bit off-piste, but bear with me...
I live in a flat in a block of 6. Originally, all the flats were served with water from a tank on the roof. Many years ago it was deemed essential that at least the main tap, in the kitchen, was served directly from the mains, not a tank.
Thus, all the flats got a direct mains feed to the kitchen sink, and the bathrooms and en-suites were still gravity fed from above. Being top floor, my gravity feed isn't great so I have pumped my main bathroom for the bath and shower, which works well. (The en-suite is a different story...)
I was chatting with a resident who was here when the mains feed was put in and I asked him why they didnt just take the mains feed up to the roof tanks and bridge out the downpipes via a manifold so that all supplies would be mains fed. He said he asked for that to be done and was told that "it isn't allowed". I subsequently discovered that other blocks in the area had indeed had that work carried out, so I don';t know why it wasn't allowed in my block, but no doubt there was a good reason...
Anyway, to the point. I can shut off my mains feed under the sink, but that does not shut off the feed to my bathroom or en-suite. To do that, I have to turn off the feed from the roof tank to my hot water storage tank...and the stopcock for that requires you to be very slim, lie on your back and using your 7' long arms, reack under the tank and turn it off. I had to jigsaw away half of the shelf the tank sits on to reach it, so I have NO idea how the original installers put that tank in. Incidentally, the immersion heater connection unit is at the back of that cupboard and there is no way I could ever get the faceplate screws off that with the tank in situ...except that I am blessed with 7' long arms!
Which long and rambly tale leads me to the final point...there may be more than one place to turn off more than one feed, and you can be sure that if you can't find the stopcock it's probably been overlooked in your search because "nobody would ever be so stupid as to bury it in there somewhere"...
but yes...somebody WAS that stupid.
Before you ask...yes, it is possible to go to the roof enclosure and turn the supply off there, but you need to be a midget, have a very long ladder, crawl through an almost non-existant void, and have several screwdrivers of different sizes to undo the 12 different screws hoolding the access panel on the housing...
I'd love to re-vamp the entire system but sadly that's not going to happen. All the supply pipes from above go down through my flat, then down through the flat below, etc etc...and the killer blow is...
All those flats are plumbed in stainless steel...which is a whole different story and why I hate plumbers so much!
Also why I hate kitchen and bathroom fitters so much. My kitchen and bathrooms were stripped out ready for refitting and they all sit in a line against one wall...how difficult would it have been to run a water pipe from the mains-fed kitchen through the 2 bathrooms to give them mains water? Answer: Easy!
Why did they not do that? Lazy, stupid no fekn idea.
...and my wife insisted that I not do the refurb...let the professionals do it...
One day I'll delight you with the electrics...
On a happy note, this coming Friday is Pie Day, so make sure you all celebrate appropriately!

 

[littlespark]

Pie day?

I’m afraid to say I missed super Mario day (march 10th if you’re wondering) but will of course celebrate Star Wars day in a couple of months time.


OP…. I might have missed you saying, but have you tested whether the pipe is bonded already?
Maybe can’t visually inspect… but can you reach any main pipe at all to get a continuity test to MET?

Second question…. Does it actually need bonding? Or can the local water authority tell you that the supply pipe is now plastic?

 

[ppelec100]

Some old terraced properties would have had a shared water pipe that would be buried across the rear gardens, with a spur off to each house. Usually the kitchen, bathroom, outside loo etc were at the rear of the building, so it made sense to do it this way. So check the rear ground floor room(s) of the building, maybe it will be there. Have you pulled off the plinth in the kitchen and had a good nose around under there?

I did have a look at the utility and toilet/sink room which is at the rear of the house I couldn’t see anything. I did pull off the plinth under the sink and I managed to look behind the sink as the corner unit was empty again didn’t see anything. There are stopcocks but they’re just for the hot cold and and outside tap not mains.

It’s a fairly recent standard to have it under the kitchen sink, or at least in the kitchen by an external wall.

It won’t be far off line where the outside valve is. (Metered property? Look for signs outside)

In my experience, older houses could be just inside the front entrance door… but visibly obvious, unless someone blocked access off in the past. The pipe could even be visible inset into the skirting board, painted the same colour.

You said your own home was similar… but what about other houses on the same street? Any identical designs that you can ask the neighbours where their stopcock are?

My house is on the next street but the client said she asked some of her neighbours and they all seem to say that they don’t have one indoors they use the outdoor pavement stopcock to isolate the water supply if needed.


It baffles me why it wasn’t a standard thing to just put the electric, gas and water mains all near the same position

 

[ppelec100]

Pie day?

I’m afraid to say I missed super Mario day (march 10th if you’re wondering) but will of course celebrate Star Wars day in a couple of months time.


OP…. I might have missed you saying, but have you tested whether the pipe is bonded already?
Maybe can’t visually inspect… but can you reach any main pipe at all to get a continuity test to MET?

Second question…. Does it actually need bonding? Or can the local water authority tell you that the supply pipe is now plastic?

Yeah that’s the thing i did try and get a reading off the kitchen tap and it was reading about 0.07 I would assume that it’s been earthed but I can’t prove it has been or how it’s been earthed. I can’t see where the pipe itself comes into see whether it’s in plastic or metal to determine if it needs bonding or not