Main Bonding Plastic Water Pipe

[vespa]

Hi I have noticed that the water pipe in my own house has mains bonding to the CCU. However the incoming pipe is actually plastic that has been painted white. I know the on-site regs say bonding in this circumstance is not necessary. It is however providing an earth passage..albeit into the building. As I intend to replace the CCU shortly would any kind person please advise if is better to remove completely or bonding or leave it where it is the continuity reads 0.07 ohms. Many Thanks

 

[SPARTYKUS]

Girt love it (lived in Brizzle/Bath & near)

"fair play"

 

[somersetsparks]

Thing is you can have a house that has all copper inside but have a plastic supply pipe. years ago because of metal cold water tanks and copper immersion tanks we had "Electrically and Mechanically Sound" connection but the introduction of plastic started to cause problems ie changing the zinc cold water tank with a plastic tank so needing a bit of cross bonding needed here and that ok then the introduction of plastic pipe and joints that terminate on to a copper pipe.

So its left to the poor spark to decide if it is required so for me my house had gas water bonded and cross bonding on the bathroom ,kitchen ,CH cupboard and at the plastic cold water tank. Transco has visited and replaced the main gas incomer to plastic and the water pipe is copper until it hits the main in the street to plastic and no doubt this could be replaced in plastic as well.

You can also at the time conclude that the pipework in the house is electrically and mechanically sound and then bond it only to find 6 months later the owner gets a dishwasher fitted and the plumber fits plastic T pieces in but is under no obligation to fit cross bonding.

One other thing that is starting to come to the fore with this is what I call a borrowed earth where because the gas or and water supply pipes are metal then houses that have their gas/water bonded the owner gets a visit from BG and find the technician saying do you know that you do not have and earth why well because BG guys are starting to test for an earth but utility companies are replacing metal supply pipes with plastic. Examples I found was that the customer had been told they did not have an earth so I asked if anything had changed the replay was not in the house but Tranco was in the area changing the pipes result being that the house never had an earth but because he had gas bonding as did the guy next door he was borrowing and earth

Its common when I'm testing 50's/60's terraced houses with metallic gas and water services to get exactly the same Ze onto the bonding as you do on the supply earth, alot of the places literally have gas water and leccy all under stairs with another house back to back.

I got a reading of 0.20 the other day when taking a Zdb and 2000 onto the cable sheath when doing a Ze, turned out to be dodgy joint in road

 

[Geordie Spark]

Enlighten me. How do you control a consumer?

You'll need to ask Harness69 about that. :ihih:

 

[GLENNSPARK]

I used to do so too in domestic when I first started for all but about two weeks but the problem is I got sick and tired of the following converstion happening:

ME: "Where abouts is your Consumer Unit?"

CUSTOMER: "My what???"

ME: "Sorry, your Distribution Board"

CUSTOMER: "Oh right, yes, it's under the stairs"

now...theres a lot of sense in this...
not bamboozling customers with `technical stuff`....very important....
i have been guilty of this in the past...

 

[GLENNSPARK]

You'll need to ask Harness69 about that. :ihih:

yeah...you`l find `pink handcuffs` over on the scaffolders forum....

 

[Geordie Spark]

yeah...you`l find `pink handcuffs` over on the scaffolders forum....

............ with a noose around its neck ..

 

[GLENNSPARK]

............ with a noose around its neck ..

oh aye....they`l have built a scaffold...just for him...lol..

 

[Stroppy]

I have been told to use the term 'consumer unit' or CCU in my college work, as using incorrect terminology, such as 'fuseboard' or 'Megger' when referring to an insulation resistance tester will get you marked down. I was under the impression that a distribution board distributes power out to further boards, and not to final circuits.

On Thursday at college we were suddenly told (after 4 years) that we can't call them MCB's and they should be called 'circuit breakers' instead!

Obviously I still use the terms 'fuseboard', 'light fitting', and 'lightbulb' when talking to customers so they know what I am talking about. If you tell a customer his Zs at the luminaire with the CFL out doesn't allow sufficient PEFC and needs a supplementary CPC he won't have a clue what you mean!

 

[somersetsparks]

I have been told to use the term 'consumer unit' or CCU in my college work, as using incorrect terminology, such as 'fuseboard' or 'Megger' when referring to an insulation resistance tester will get you marked down. I was under the impression that a distribution board distributes power out to further boards, and not to final circuits.

On Thursday at college we were suddenly told (after 4 years) that we can't call them MCB's and they should be called 'circuit breakers' instead!

Obviously I still use the terms 'fuseboard', 'light fitting', and 'lightbulb' when talking to customers so they know what I am talking about.

Surely the terms CU? CCU is a cooker control unit

 

[Stroppy]

No its not, its a Consumer's Control Unit. It may be cooker as well.

 

[GLENNSPARK]

I have been told to use the term 'consumer unit' or CCU in my college work, as using incorrect terminology, such as 'fuseboard' or 'Megger' when referring to an insulation resistance tester will get you marked down. I was under the impression that a distribution board distributes power out to further boards, and not to final circuits.

On Thursday at college we were suddenly told (after 4 years) that we can't call them MCB's and they should be called 'circuit breakers' instead!

Obviously I still use the terms 'fuseboard', 'light fitting', and 'lightbulb' when talking to customers so they know what I am talking about.

a persistant problem on the 2391....
i have had a look at previous chief examiners reports and time and time again comes back the `wrong use of terminology`....all the things you mention here such as insulation resistance testers being refered to as `meggers`...and low resistance ohmmeters being refered to as `continuity testers`...all a load of cobblers....
further more there seemed to be a distinct lack of foundation knowledge as regards to earthing arrangemets and the roles earthing and bonding play....to the point where main bonding conductors were refered to as `earth bonding`.....
another one was the lack of understanding about where to apply correction factors to Zs....measured or tabulated...
the list goes on...

 

[Robson689]

I have been told to use the term 'consumer unit' or CCU in my college work, as using incorrect terminology, such as 'fuseboard' or 'Megger' when referring to an insulation resistance tester will get you marked down. I was under the impression that a distribution board distributes power out to further boards, and not to final circuits.

On Thursday at college we were suddenly told (after 4 years) that we can't call them MCB's and they should be called 'circuit breakers' instead!

Obviously I still use the terms 'fuseboard', 'light fitting', and 'lightbulb' when talking to customers so they know what I am talking about. If you tell a customer his Zs at the luminaire with the CFL out doesn't allow sufficient PEFC and needs a supplementary CPC he won't have a clue what you mean!

That's stupid!!!

 

[Stroppy]

Which bit of it, there's so much to choose from!

 

[Robson689]

Which bit of it, there's so much to choose from!

Sorry lol, I meant the bit about calling MCB's circuit breakers when they both mean the same thing! It would be like saying FCU is incorrect terminology and you have to say fused connection unit even though they both mean the same thing.

 

[oldtimer]

A bit like calling ISI&TEE PAT lol

 

[Stroppy]

Sorry lol, I meant the bit about calling MCB's circuit breakers when they both mean the same thing! It would be like saying FCU is incorrect terminology and you have to say fused connection unit even though they both mean the same thing.

Yes it is silly isn't it. It makes me wonder if there is any difference between an MCB (miniature circuit breaker) and an MCCB (moulded case c-b), or an RCD and an RCCB.

According to this site: What is the difference between MCB, MCCB, ELCB, and RCCB | EEP there is a difference between an MCB and MCCB.

Oh yes, it annoys me when people refer to an FCU as a spur.

 

[oldtimer]

Just to add at the time PAT was a great description but that came back to bite everybody in the bum when people say you are talking crap about testing fixed appliances because why else would you call it Portable Appliance Testing so your not tricking me as PAT means portable equipment only

 

[Geoffsd]

The biggest mystery to me is why RFC stands for Ring Final Circuit.

What is the alternative ???

 

[vespa]

Wow!! Did i pick the scab off that one.

Found the answer chaps P38 of the electricians guide to the building regs. States it should still be bonded but on the customer side.

That should reduce the e mail traffic now . Thanks for your inputs.

Cheers Vespa

 

[SPARTYKUS]

Hi Vespa

post #3 had the answer in.

 

[Knobhead]

You'll need to ask Harness69 about that. :ihih:

Geordie, you can be evil :devil:

 

[Geordie Spark]

Geordie, you can be evil :devil:

I know. :laugh:

 

[Knobhead]

So what is a distribution board? How far down the line do you want to go.
Every board shown here is a "distribution board". They get smaller as you go deeper in to the system.