Damn Earthing!

[SSE]

The house I am working at has been sheeted, filled etc and now the woman has decided she wants a whirlpool bubble bath in. There was already a supply in for something else that I can use as it's not needed now but still have a question. As all circuits are going to be rcd protected I was told there was no earthing required in the bathroom but on the installation instructions for the bath it says all conductive parts including hot and cold pipes on bath, metal supports etc must be earthed in no less than 6mm. The pipework in the house is done in plastic and copper and in the bathroom to the bath goes copper-plastic-copper at the taps. Do I need earth this or not?

 

[WayneL]

A bit of a mix up with terminology, I think.

The pipes / metal supports etc. don't require 'earthing' as they are not a part of the electrical installation and therefore not 'exposed conductive parts'.

They may, though, require 'bonding'.

Although the regs allows us to forego 'supplementary bonding' if certain requirements are met, if the 'manufacturers instructions' say that it is required, then you need to comply with them in addition to complying with the regs.

The circuits, and associated 'exposed conductive parts' require 'earthing', regardless of what conditions are met.

 

[SSE]

A bit of a mix up with terminology, I think.

The pipes / metal supports etc. don't require 'earthing' as they are not a part of the electrical installation and therefore not 'exposed conductive parts'.

They may, though, require 'bonding'.

Although the regs allows us to forego 'supplementary bonding' if certain requirements are met, if the 'manufacturers instructions' say that it is required, then you need to comply with them in addition to complying with the regs.

The circuits, and associated 'exposed conductive parts' require 'earthing', regardless of what conditions are met.

Cheers for reply! Maybe got terminology bit mixed up, don't have instructions handy. It did say earthed back to met though I'm sure. So basically it's fine as it is and I should just supp bond the h & c? As far as I'm aware there aren't any exposed conductive parts.

 

[WayneL]

Hi mate.

Yeh, if the installation (as it is before the bath install), complies with the regs, then that is fine.

If the manufacturers instructions have additional requirements, then I would comply with these as well, during the installation of the bath.

That way you are completely covered.

 

[SSE]

Cheers. Just if I needed to run in a seperate earth it would be a ****! So just trying to see if it is needed. Can't even find an official site for the company Wellness Whirlpools so that I can copy & paste the instructions!

 

[alarm man]

The house I am working at has been sheeted, filled

i just couldnt work in a house thats been filled with sheet..

 

[SSE]

i just couldnt work in a house thats been filled with sheet..

had my hopes up there, thought I had some welcome advice! Don't suppose you have anything (serious) to add?!

 

[alarm man]

had my hopes up there, thought I had some welcome advice! Don't suppose you have anything (serious) to add?!

tbh..err no,that plastic to copper thing confuses me too,tho id earth at the copper part of the tap to be safe,tho someone on here will have to confirm it...

 

[SSE]

tbh..err no,that plastic to copper thing confuses me too,tho id earth at the copper part of the tap to be safe,tho someone on here will have to confirm it...

Basically the plumber has copper pipes coming through the floors then to save bending pipes or whatever it's joined to plastic pipes then just before going vertical into the taps it goes copper. Not sure if this is the norm with plumbers or not! This is looking like it's gonna be a **** of a job trying to get an earth from cu to bathroom as it's upstairs!

 

[alarm man]

i had similar a few years ago when i got the bathroom replaced,the new pipes were plastic,i was left with a earth cable i could only reconnect to the copper pipe prefitted to the new taps,tho should the bathroom not already have a bonding earth already,been out the game a few years and never done domestic..so im guessing tbh..

 

[SSE]

It's a new build I'm finishing off as a favour for someone. There was no bathroom bonding as I was told it's no longer required if all circuits in room are rcd protected and disconnection times are met. Only thing I'd be able to do if need be would be to borrow an earth from the shower which ain't ideal but better than nothing.

 

[alarm man]

im sure it will be in the 17th edition,i was brought up on the 15th so dont know mate..

 

[Deleted member 9648]

Only metallic services entering the bath/shower room may be classed as extraneous conductive parts...once they are within the confines of the location they can no longer introduce an earth potential from outside the location so it matters not if they change to plastic. If supplementary bonding is required it should be carried out on the metallic services where they enter the location.As it is permissible to use a copper pipe as a supplementary bonding conductor,providing the pipe is electrically continuous up to the point where it enters the location, bonding can often be carried out in a more convenient location such as the airing cupboard.
Bonding has absolutely nothing to do with earthing pipes and taps....it is to prevent a potentially dangerous difference in potential between exposed conductive parts and extraneous conductive parts during fault conditions....the definitions of what constitutes an extraneous conductive part in the BRB is often poorly understood and leads to a lot of the confusion on bonding issues.

 

[Sintra]

Basically the plumber has copper pipes coming through the floors then to save bending pipes or whatever it's joined to plastic pipes then just before going vertical into the taps it goes copper. Not sure if this is the norm with plumbers or not! This is looking like it's gonna be a **** of a job trying to get an earth from cu to bathroom as it's upstairs!

Would you please stop swearing in your posts any more and an infraction will be issued.

 

[SSE]

Only metallic services entering the bath/shower room may be classed as extraneous conductive parts...once they are within the confines of the location they can no longer introduce an earth potential from outside the location so it matters not if they change to plastic. If supplementary bonding is required it should be carried out on the metallic services where they enter the location.As it is permissible to use a copper pipe as a supplementary bonding conductor,providing the pipe is electrically continuous up to the point where it enters the location, bonding can often be carried out in a more convenient location such as the airing cupboard.
Bonding has absolutely nothing to do with earthing pipes and taps....it is to prevent a potentially dangerous difference in potential between exposed conductive parts and extraneous conductive parts during fault conditions....the definitions of what constitutes an extraneous conductive part in the BRB is often poorly understood and leads to a lot of the confusion on bonding issues.

Ok cheers for information. So what do you suggest I do regarding my query? If I need to do anything?