UK Earth bonding requirement for water pipe (metal entry point, switch to plastic after 300mm)

[mbat22]

Good morning everyone. I’m looking at getting an EV charger installed at my home and the company is requesting that I earth bond my water supply piping. The main water pipe entering the property is metal, then there is the stop cock, and after about 100mm it turns into a plastic pipe (total metal section is about 300mm from point of entry).
After a good deal of research on regulation and its interpretations, it’s still unclear to me whether earth bonding in this particular case is strictly necessary or not. I’ve read that one should bond any extraneous-conductive-parts as close as possible to point of entry in the house, but also saw people saying it needed to be done within the initial 600mm section of the pipe, and the regulation states that “Metallic pipes entering the building having an insulating section at their point of entry need not be connected to the protective equipotential bonding”. Now I’m confused as to whether my water supply needs bonding or not, given the piping becomes plastic shortly after entering the property but this is not strictly speaking at point of entry. And by the way, the entry point is in an awkward and hidden position, which makes me have zero safety concerns and, annoyingly, complicates the job of doing the protective bonding (i.e. messy and relatively expensive).
Any guidance or help on this matter would be much appreciated.
Thanks

 

[mattg4321]

The metal pipe almost certainly needs bonding, possibly unless you make it completely inaccessible by building a permanent structure around it so it can’t be touched.

 

[loz2754]

If the stop tap is metal and connected directly to the metal pipe, then it needs to be bonded.

An alternative would be to insert a new stop tap into the plastic pipe, and then completely box in the metal pipe and stop tap so that it's impossible to touch them.

 

[ImpededLoop]

Can you touch any part of the electrical installation and the metal pipe at the same time? If not, it's OK as it is.

 

[mbat22]

If the stop tap is metal and connected directly to the metal pipe, then it needs to be bonded.

An alternative would be to insert a new stop tap into the plastic pipe, and then completely box in the metal pipe and stop tap so that it's impossible to touch them.

Thanks for the response (and thanks mattg4321 as well.

The stop tap is indeed metal. What confuses me is what is considered “point of entry” as it sounds a bit subjective to me, and given how short the metal section of the piping is (before switching to plastic), whether 300mm could be considered close enough to point of entry.

Put another way, if you were to introduce an insulating section in the water supply pipe, how close would you do it to the point of entry to not worry about bonding? And how important is the position of the stop tap in this scenario (i.e. whether the insulating section is before or after it)?

The reason why I ask, is that it sounds like a rather messy job to insert a plastic section before the stop tap or move its position.

Thanks

 

[mbat22]

Can you touch any part of the electrical installation and the metal pipe at the same time? If not, it's OK as it is.

No, unless you make a really big effort to.

The water piping is inside a closed box (with a removable lid) and the only reason to open it would be to get to the stop tap. The closest socket is about 3m away.

The photos show the box with and without the lid. The plastic section of the water pipe starts almost immediately after the upper section of the pipe that can be seen in the photo.

 

[Deleted account]

It needs bonding. It’s metal incoming To a metal stop cock. It continues in metal. Ok it then turns to plastic after 300 mm, but that’s irrelevant. It need bonding. If you want the installer to continue with his installation then bond it. He can’t until all the boxes are ticked. Regs are regs.

personally I do feel it’s un necessary from a safety point of view to bond in this situation, but I don’t make the rules so I would still have to comply.

 

[mainline]

It needs bonding. It’s metal incoming To a metal stop cock. It continues in metal. Ok it then turns to plastic after 300 mm, but that’s irrelevant. It need bonding. If you want the installer to continue with his installation then bond it. He can’t until all the boxes are ticked. Regs are regs.

personally I do feel it’s un necessary from a safety point of view to bond in this situation, but I don’t make the rules so I would still have to comply.

Agreed it should be bonded, circumstances could change, wonder where the original water bond went.

 

[Eric12]

Are you based in Dulwich London per chance ?