No Main Bonding to Gas/Water

Ridgey88 · Jul 26, 2010

Hi Guys,

I have an ergent problem, my usual contractor asked me to wire a new boiler he was installing, and i forgot to check the main bonding before commencing works! I have only replaced a single socket outlet with a s/f spur and connect the a flex to the boiler and upgraded the supplementary bonding.

When it came to filling out the minor works certificate and inspecting adequacy of earthing and bonding i noticed that there was none present!! further more i could not identify the main earthing to the house!! although i got a low ZS (0.72ohms) reading back for that circuit!? so this gives me the impression of a TNS/TNC-S earthing system --note the incoming supply is next to the CU--

How do i stand issueing a certificate etc, i was told by niceic technical helpline that because i had made the circuit live i was now intitled to upgrade the earthing and main bonding at my exspense --How can that be right!!??--

Could someone please give me some advice that is not cut and paste from the regs book.

Thanks

Guest123 · Jul 26, 2010

131.8, does say that earthing and bonding arrangements for the installation should be adequate before carrying out any work, as there is none present at your install, I would say this is not adequate and you should really have mentioned it beforehand.

Also EDQ 5 in here requires it too.

Alterations and Additions in Domestic and Similar Premises

gaulty · Jul 26, 2010

Basically mate put this one down to experience. You've done the work and you need to make sure the earthing is up to standard unfortunately you've been caught out and I'm sure after this you'll not be again. NICEIC is right.

You can refuse to connect the boiler till the client agrees to pay you to upgrade the earthing but not really good for business. my advice would be just bite the bullet, run in your earth to standards and remember to check next time. however unfair it may seem.

Ridgey88 · Jul 26, 2010

same regulation niceic guy at technical quoted on me. like i said though, i didn't check before and the deed is now done. I always thought that if it were very minor works such as those i was undertaking, and providing the level of safety is not less than it already was before you started then you were ok. I hate grey area's!

So any idea's on some loop hole around this that will save me the cost of installing the main bonding?

Ta

Ridgey88 · Jul 26, 2010

Thanks Gaulty, I think your right!... unfortunately

gaulty · Jul 26, 2010

no probs, look on it another way if someone ends up fried and you where the last one in and provided a test certificate that was satisfactory you're goin to end up in jail! Think i'd rather pay the money for a drum of earth cable and run in the bonding just chalk it down as a learning curve.

Deleted member 9648 · Jul 26, 2010

Ridgey88 said:
. I always thought that if it were very minor works such as those i was undertaking, and providing the level of safety is not less than it already was before you started then you were ok.

So any idea's on some loop hole around this that will save me the cost of installing the main bonding?

Ta

The thing is the work you have carried out relies on main bonding as much as the existing installation to be safe in the event of a fault. Therefore by not ensuring adequate main bonding you are carrying out an unsafe installation.