Mains water earthing

[Theo333]

Recently been getting some very small static when touching taps.

Recently had a stop tap changed and a plastic push fit was used on the mains water suply. Pictures below.

Should the earth wire be attached below the plastic push fit? The earth was already there before but the push fit wasn't, the entire pipe was metal.

Thanks

 

[andyb]

You should get this looked at by an electrician asap Theo. It won't be static of the taps and could be dangerous.You can't tell from the photos whether it needs bonding and I'm not sure what the earth cable is doing there. As I say you need an electrician.

 

[Theo333]

Thanks Andy. I did get an EICR done and everything came back fine. Wasn't experiencing any static then, only recently after the stop tap was changed, that's why I thought it might have something to do with that earth wire and the mains water pipe.

 

[Lucien Nunes]

Unless I'm misinterpreting what I see in the pics, that green/yellow bonding is connecting a short, isolated piece of copper before the meter to another short, isolated piece of copper after the meter. As such it achieves nothing. There is copper after the plastic coupling before the meter (and what looks like part of a BS951 clamp half underground,) and copper after the plastic tee after the meter. If anything needs bonding, it's that incoming copper back to the main earthing terminal at the consumer unit.

But first, we need to be clear about 'static.' Static electric shocks are caused by walking around in certain types of footwear on certain types of floor that generate electricity by friction, in low-humidity conditions. Your body charges up and then when you touch anything earthed, or anything large and metal even if it is not earthed, you get a shock as your body discharges. It's cold now, and using heat dries the atmosphere in the house, so if you are going to get static build-up now is the time. But you will also get the shocks if you dicharge yourself to metal electrical appliances that are earthed etc, not just plumbing fixtures.

The easy way to discover whether a shock is static, is to walk around then touch the metal thing and you should get a short, sharp snap and then if you stand still, no more shocks. If you get another shock, or it is not vanishingly brief, it is not static and therefore probably an AC leakage shock from your wiring system, which should never occur and is potentially dangerous.

What might have happened is that your main earth connection is faulty, but the continuous copper pipe was serving as your earth instead. (The plastic meter was bypassed by the strap which probably made a difference at the time.) Now that the continuity of the pipe is interrupted by the plastic fittings, the faulty main earth is manifesting itself by the shocks.

Like @andyb I would suggest getting the earthing checked by a spark, although that should have been done in the EICR. If you could post a pic of your consumer unit and meter, and perhaps the page of the EICR showing the supply characteristics (with any personal details obliterated) we might be able to spot problems with the main earthing conductor.