Shower supply, ever needed additional earth cable.

[Spoon]

This may be one for the older members on here.
Got chatting with a mate about a general supplies to showers.
At the moment you just supply the correct size cable, (usually 10mm for a new circuit) to a shower.
Was there ever a requirement/regulation to add an additional earth cable along with the power cable? Thinking old regs...

 

[Pete999]

In the distant past I believe there was a need to add an separate earth cable, don't know the reg number or even if there was one,

 

[Nigel]

Sounds like the 16th to me when equipotential bonding went a bit mental.

 

[chris gray]

Supplementary bonding

 

[Spoon]

In the distant past I believe there was a need to add an separate earth cable, don't know the reg number or even if there was one, I'm not a Domestic Electrician though.

Neither am I. I'm just curious about it.
It sounds like it may have been a thing when the domestic people had to earth everything metal in the house...

 

[Spoon]

Supplementary bonding

I think so... But was it a reg or best practice thing.

 

[chris gray]

It came under special locations

 

[Spoon]

It came under special locations

So was @essex correct in that in that it may have been in the 16th?

 

[chris gray]

Yes,
Maybe on site guide if memory serves me

 

[Andy78]

Only time I have ever seen additional green/yellow cables in shower circuits it has been supplementary bonding.

Still required if certain conditions are not met ?

 

[ruston]

Not a separate earth as such in the 16th as I remember , but if the supply pipe was copper (conductive) it would be part of the equipotential bonding , as would all the other extraneous metal parts , including the radiator.
There is still a requirement in the latest regs unless certain conditions are met.

 

[ruston]

Andy we will have to stop meeting like this.

 

[Ian1981]

In the 16th we had a 4mm earth cable connecting to all earth terminals of the circuits serving the location in a bathroom such as the shower then to the light and then down to the extraneous pipe work under the basin, radiator etc
Looked Gorgeous darling!

Then additional protection by an rcd made my life so much easier.

I think it was the 15th when they bonded every piece of metal they could find but I’m far too young to have ever been involved with anything earlier than the 16th

Westy is your 15th edition guru on here , still reads the books I think

 

[westward10]

I shall have a look laters.

 

[Deleted member 26818]

Could be that the T&E had too small a CPC, so required Supplementary bonding for the Zs.
Not aware of any requirement for two CPCs.

 

[westward10]

It is not likely the cpc was inadequate the only time this may apply was when 2.5 cables had 1.0 cpcs on BS3036 30A fuses.

 

[telectrix]

was in 16th, all electrical equipment in bathroom supplementary bonded to each other like spaghetti. ( except the metal windows and bog flush. these were the preserve of D.W. cock something.

 

[ruston]

was in 16th, all electrical equipment in bathroom supplementary bonded to each other like spaghetti. ( except the metal windows and bog flush. these were the preserve of D.W. cock something.

A blast from the past that Tel.

 

[Risteard]

Could be that the T&E had too small a CPC, so required Supplementary bonding for the Zs.

Supplementary bonding is not there to reduce the Zs. It's there to keep the touch voltage at a safe level until disconnection occurs.

 

[Deleted member 26818]

Supplementary bonding is not there to reduce the Zs. It's there to keep the touch voltage at a safe level until disconnection occurs.

That’s supplementary equipotential protective bonding.

 

[Risteard]

That’s supplementary equipotential protective bonding.

It is not defined as "supplementary equipotential protective bonding" in BS7671, so I'm unclear as to what point you were trying to make.

 

[Deleted member 26818]

It is not defined as "supplementary equipotential protective bonding" in BS7671, so I'm unclear as to what point you were trying to make.

Sorry.
Supplementary protective equipotential bonding.

Point is this:
The 16th allowed supplementary bonding to be used where a low enough value of Zs for ADS could not be achieved.

 

[Risteard]

Point is this:
The 16th allowed supplementary bonding to be used where a low enough value of Zs for ADS could not be achieved.

Yes it did. And so did the 17th. My point was that this was not there to reduce the Zs but to maintain the touch voltage at a safe level until disconnection occurred (even though this would not be within the prescribed disconnection times).

It obviously might result in an improved Zs but this most certainly is not the purpose of it, but merely incidental.

 

[westward10]

Strange this is the third thread to walk this path in the last couple of weeks and harks back to the 15th Ed. Nicely summed up by @Risteard.

 

[Deleted member 72666]

'Bondamania' was definitely 15th edition.

 

[l4urence]

I await @westward10 reading guidancen with interest. I think this requirement was killed by RCD's which changed the game. Bonding in the 16th was so misunderstood - people bonded everything, some plumbers still do it today! However working somewhere that has no RCD protection (given the date of install) may require it (not to be removed).

 

[Top Cat]

I remember when metal toilet roll holders, metal window frames, towel rails and ducks in the bath (if they were metal) had to be bonded! You could dry your washing off the earth wires!