- Reaction score
- 80
I recently did a load of work making good a poor installation for a friend who just bought a flat. I have some electrical qualifications and 30 years experience, but I'm not a member of a CPS because I don't do enough notifiable work for it to be worth paying the subs.
When it came to bonding, I only bothered bonding the gas and didn't bond the water pipes. I did this because the water incomer is plastic to 1 foot above the floor in the kitchen. There's literally 1 foot of 15mm copper pipe connected to the plastic incomer in a cupboard under the kitchen sink with a stop tap in it and after that, it's all plastic joints and more plastic again off to the boiler and shower.
Once I'd finished, I got a CPS registered electrician out to do a condition report on the place for me so that my work had been verified by someone else. I explained my reasoning for not bonding the water and asked if he was happy with that.
He told me that I had to bond the water, even if it's plastic because the "water can become live".
Is this a thing? I can't find anything about live water in my regs book on the subject of bonding water pipes. I thought the point of bonding metal pipes is that if they were stuck in the ground somewhere, they might introduce a dangerous earth potential into the installation? I don't really see how that can happen with plastic pipes.
I've added the bonding as he requested since I don't see it can do any harm. Was I missing something?
When it came to bonding, I only bothered bonding the gas and didn't bond the water pipes. I did this because the water incomer is plastic to 1 foot above the floor in the kitchen. There's literally 1 foot of 15mm copper pipe connected to the plastic incomer in a cupboard under the kitchen sink with a stop tap in it and after that, it's all plastic joints and more plastic again off to the boiler and shower.
Once I'd finished, I got a CPS registered electrician out to do a condition report on the place for me so that my work had been verified by someone else. I explained my reasoning for not bonding the water and asked if he was happy with that.
He told me that I had to bond the water, even if it's plastic because the "water can become live".
Is this a thing? I can't find anything about live water in my regs book on the subject of bonding water pipes. I thought the point of bonding metal pipes is that if they were stuck in the ground somewhere, they might introduce a dangerous earth potential into the installation? I don't really see how that can happen with plastic pipes.
I've added the bonding as he requested since I don't see it can do any harm. Was I missing something?