I have just been informed by my electrician that we have to bond our gas pipe. The problem is that the gas meter is within a housing on the front external wall of my house and apparently he has to connect this back to my fuse box etc which at the farthest point on the rear of the house. Running this through the house is not an option, and the only opther idea he has is to run a conduit right around the perimeter of the property which will be an eyesore! Are there any other options? Can it just be earthed straight to the ground or is this something different?
FROM CHRIS MURPHY - I HAVE ALSO POSTED THIS REPLY ON ANOTHER THREAD ABOUT EARTHING A GAS PIPE - ALSO IN ANSWER TO dboi75 - THIS IS WHY THERE IS A REFERENCE TO WHETHER THE GAS SUPPLY TO THE METER WOULD BE OF MILD STEEL PIPEWORK:
"Hello dboi75",
The Electrical Professionals on here WILL advise You correctly regarding Earthing the Gas Pipe to your Property - BUT - First a comment regarding whether the Gas Supply Pipe to the Meter is `Coming into Contact with Earth`:
Depending on the `Age` of this Gas Supply Pipe to the Meter it may NOT be a Mild Steel Pipe - The Practice of siting the Gas Meter outside a Property is a fairly recent one [Last 20 Years approx. in most cases] - This time scale would fall within the period where `Plastic` Gas Supply Pipework has been used - with Electrofusion Jointing.
So it does NOT necessarily follow that the Supply Pipe to your Meter is Mild Steel - Even if it was the Earthing of the Gas Supply Pipework FROM the Gas Meter TO your Property has to be carried out in the `Correct Manner`.
However - I did raise a point on here recently about WHY Electricians who I had used to Earth the Gas Pipework that I Install did NOT usually want to run the Earth Cable TO the Meter Box / Within 600mm of the Meter Outlet - and there were some comments about the Earth Connection being applied - `As the Pipe Enters the Building` - IF You can get confirmation of this as being an `Acceptable`/ `Within the Regulations` Method of connecting the Earth Cable to the Gas Pipework it would obviously be YOUR `Best Way` of adhering to the Electrical Safety Regulations.
Your Electrician obviously DOES NOT Feel that He can Adhere to the Regulations by doing this - OR He would have mentioned doing it this way ?
I thought that I should mention this to you - Just in case that it CAN be done this way [?]
I expect that there WILL be Conflicting Opinions about this `Method` of Earth Connection !
Chris - Registered Gas Installer / Heating Engineer.