Earthing

[sedgy34]

Just starting a debate this is what happened!!
i had an assessment on 1 of 6 newbuild houses we had done, the outgoing pipe off the gas meter had been bonded in 10mm earth the water incoming main was bonded too at point of entry in the utility area.
i was told by the electrical inspector he would have to revisit because at each point a gas pipe comes out the floor there should be 10mm bond on it!!!! in response i said you got no chance of me doing such works now theses are new houses.
now there should be 2 responses to my dilema i will give you the rest of the story when ive read your responses.

 

[Strima]

Take it all the gas is in copper pipe? Did he class this as supplementary bonding?

Sounds a bit silly to me.

 

[sedgy34]

new house all in copper

 

[Guest111]

Well it would be copper,you aren,t allowed to use plastic on gas.

 

[sjm]

Test from main bonding point to each place where a gas pipe comes out of the floor. The reading should be below 0.05 ohms if so then all pipework can be considered to be bonded.

 

[sedgy34]

just to reitterate the gas was bonded at the meter, he wanted 10mm earths where the gas pipes come out the floors in different areas round the ground floor ie by boiler,gas fire,gas hob.

 

[Guest123]

just to reitterate the gas was bonded at the meter, he wanted 10mm earths where the gas pipes come out the floors in different areas round the ground floor ie by boiler,gas fire,gas hob.

Well either he had good reason to suspect they may introduce a potential of their own or....the chap was a cretin!!!

A test to prove either 1. the pipework is effectively connected to earth already or 2. to prove that it is not an extraneous conductive part 'should' appease him.

 

[sjm]

Can't remember exactly where I saw it but I believe that re-emerging pipework should be bonded. So the answer is to test as per my previous post then mark it as a deviation on your EIC.

 

[Guest123]

Can't remember exactly where I saw it but I believe that re-emerging pipework should be bonded. So the answer is to test as per my previous post then mark it as a deviation on your EIC.

The only doubt regarding the pipework is the electrical continuity of the underground joints.

Technically the re-emerging pipework could be classed as a seperate extraneous conductive part in it's own right, but as we said, a test would confirm this.

 

[sedgy34]

The assessor was from another area filling in for the normal guy i have making a name for himself suppose he also had another guy with him who was learning to be an assessor. he raised the issue relating to corrosion of pipes in the ground reg and was adamant it needed doing and i will pay for a revisit.

 

[sedgy34]

i seemed to question my knowledge and ability at this stage for a second, then realised this guy was off his rocker afterall this was a new house new pipework would take 40 yrs to corrode i guess

 

[Guest123]

As I said, this is the only issue that may arise.

Are you able to speak to the plumber regarding the joints themselves i.e, are they just bare copper buried in the floor or did he use the insulated type copper pipeing??? would he offer you some sort of written confirmation on thier installation???

Confirming electrical continuity now is one thing, guaranteeing it for 30-40 years is quite another.

 

[Geoffsd]

To confirm, as it hasn't actually been said -

This is a concrete floor?

Is it a Building Inspector or a Scheme Assessor?

 

[sedgy34]

he was a scheme assessor
you can imagine at this stage it was a high topic and you ask all sparkies you know and have the debate in the wholesalers
the floor was concrete with block and beam below that
the copper pipework carcass was as you would expect in a new house laid in the block and beam floor concreted afterwards perfect job from a plumbers point of view.
i did raise this topic with the plumbing contractor noting it was the assessor asking this question and not me!! you can imagine it went down like a lead balloon

 

[sedgy34]

The issue went back to his HQ i took it up with the regional area manager who couldnt decide who was correct!!
the regional manager then asked his good friend assessor who i should have had originally to assess our work who favoured us
logic prevailed in the end!!!