Earth Bonding

[Devon988]

Hi this is my first time posting of a forum so hope I am in the right place!

I recently had a problem with my boiler and whilst the engineer has resolved this problem he advised there is no earth bonding on the outside gas meter. He said this is not a problem just something he had to make me aware of. 

However,  I have woken up this morning and seem to be getting shocks of the taps and sink in my kitchen. Is this linked to the earth bonding?

The shocks are quite harsh and actually hurt!

Please advise as I am unsure of what to do.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Rob.]

You really need to be getting an electrician in sharpish. 

If you're experiencing shocks with a magnitudes high enough to hurt, then these could be potentially fatal. 

I'd also have the electrician check the work this 'engineer' has done if now you are getting shocks. 

If you post up a rough location there may be a member on here that's close by that could take a look. 

 

[Tony S]

I can only echo what RoB has said.

 

[Devon988]

Thanks I am in Huddersfield West Yorkshire I am going to ring British Gas as they carried out the work and see what they say. I have 2 small children to think about as well. Typical one problem fixed another one opens up.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Devon988]

They work was carried out on the boiler and as far as I know he didn't touch the electrics. Just sorted the boiler pipes and cleaned the system. He did turn the boiler off at the mains but that was about it. Will have to talk to British Gas as the shocks have only occurred since the engineer was here.

Thanks again  

 

[Rob_the_rich]

I assume you had a powerflush done. He would have used some sort of mechanical vibration on the radiators to loosen the sludge within them, which in turn could have loosened any earth bonding on the water pipe(s)

 

[binky]

think it would be advisable to switch the boiler off, you can always boil a kettle for a wash.

 

[Devon988]

Thanks going to switch the boiler off typical had nearly a week without hot water and heat and then I thought the issue was fixed guess not. Will have call them back in good job it's not too cold yet.

Thanks again

 

[roys]

Just out of interest, did you stop getting the shocks once the boiler was switched off.

Not that it makes any difference as it still needs looked at ad soon as possible.

 

[phil d]

They should come out as a priority call, I don't believe in coincidences, especially where something like this is concerned.

 

[Blue Duck]

Could they have replaced a copper fitting with a plastic one rendering any bonding useless? 

 

[Lurch]

he advised there is no earth bonding on the outside gas meter

There isn't a requirement for there to be. You should get an electrician in to check if there is any bonding and where it is as these gas folk seem to assume that if it isn't in the meter box then it must be missing.

 

[phil d]

There isn't a requirement for there to be. You should get an electrician in to check if there is any bonding and where it is as these gas folk seem to assume that if it isn't in the meter box then it must be missing.

One of them rocked up at a friends house while I was there once, she'd bought the house to rent out and he was doing the gas check and I was doing an EICR, it was laughable. He had one of those socket and see loop testers, the one with the lights, rather than open the boiler to get a loop at the terminals he plugged into a socket and used a wander lead to test at the cover screws on the fused spur for the boiler, got a reading and pronounced it earthed!

He wasn't impressed when I asked how the spur being earthed happened to prove the boiler was also earthed. Lets be honest, the earth from spur to boiler could have been disconnected for all he knew.

 

[Tony S]

The old word game:

A recommendation isn’t a requirement.

Practicable is as it says, it doesn’t mean wrecking a house to meet a recommendation.

 

[phil d]

The old word game:

A recommendation isn’t a requirement.

Practicable is as it says, it doesn’t mean wrecking a house to meet a recommendation.

The trouble is Tony, these plumbers/ heating engineers/gas fitters, or whatever they call themselves haven't a clue about BS7671. I had a row with one when I refused to bond the pipes under a boiler, apart from the gas feed everything else in the house, and to boiler was plastic, except for the last meter before the boiler,m that was copper.

The pipework was attached to a metal manifold plate, the boiler then attached to this,therefore the pipes are all electrically connected by this plate, gas is bonded at meter, and there is an earth connection at the electrical terminals in the boiler, it's earthed!

This clown said that his reg's stated  that all the pipes entering the boiler must be connected together with an earth cable, and if it wasn't he wasn't going to commision it!

I asked him who had connected the power to the boiler, he replied that he had, in that case, I replied, if you are bothered about cross bonding the pipes, then you can do that also.

 

[Andy™]

This clown said that his reg's stated  that all the pipes entering the boiler must be connected together with an earth cable

if it his regs that require it, then its his job to do it

 

[Doc Hudson]

Hi this is my first time posting of a forum so hope I am in the right place!

I recently had a problem with my boiler and whilst the engineer has resolved this problem he advised there is no earth bonding on the outside gas meter. He said this is not a problem just something he had to make me aware of. 

However,  I have woken up this morning and seem to be getting shocks of the taps and sink in my kitchen. Is this linked to the earth bonding?

The shocks are quite harsh and actually hurt!

Please advise as I am unsure of what to do.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Earthing and bonding are an essential part of the safety of every electrical installation. Wiring regulation 132.16 requires that earthing and bonding are checked before doing any electrical alterations temporary or permanent.  This is not a new regulation, in earlier issues of the wiring regulations (BS7671) they were part of regs; 131.80 / 130-70-01 / 130-09-01 etc..  Any electricians doing any work over the past 20+ years should have checked your bonding was all correct.  I would look for an independent electrician to come and carry out a few safety checks, Not the Gas company.

Doc H.

 

[phil d]

Earthing and bonding are an essential part of the safety of every electrical installation. Wiring regulation 132.16 requires that earthing and bonding are checked before doing any electrical alterations temporary or permanent.  This is not a new regulation, in earlier issues of the wiring regulations (BS7671) they were part of regs; 131.80 / 130-70-01 / 130-09-01 etc..  Any electricians doing any work over the past 20+ years should have checked your bonding was all correct.  I would look for an independent electrician to come and carry out a few safety checks, Not the Gas company.

Doc H.

Just picked up on your comment about electricians doing work over the last 20 years checking the bonding was correct.

It made me think about an incident a couple of years ago involving a family member, who for a change, didn't want everything for nothing! They'd rented a shop and were making some alterations, the landlord had said it was fine as long as everything was up to spec, they asked me to do the electrics because they knew I'd make sure they were correct. I did all the works, then came to connecting them into the original supply, and began my tests, at this point I discovered there was no main earth! The DNO had installed a new feed around 20 years ago, however it would seem that the link had not been connected inside the head, this was borne out when the chap from the DNO arrived to sort the problem. The worrying thing was the landlord had in his possession, a number of test certificates, which stated the installation was fine, and more worrying gave values for Ze, now if there is no main earth connected how can you have a value for Ze? It really makes you wonder how many people either, A) take testing seriously, or B) know how to do it properly, and this isn't the first time I've experienced problems with earths, only a few months back I discovered no main earth on a house, the DNO found a damaged cable outside, it had been like that for a number of years, yet according to the meter monkey who changed the meter fairly recently, the earthing was fine!