What do GAS reg say on bonding?

[Sidewinder]

The bit I have highlighted is what the gas man will expect then.

So do I cable tie my wire all the way round the house so it can be clamped 600mm from the meter, or do I bond it where our regs say, and expect to get called back to the job next time the boiler is serviced and the gas man says I have done it wrong?

It really is a shambles that Gas Safe and the IET cannot bang their heads together and agree a set of common standards that both trades work to.

Bonding must be done in accordance with BS7671.

I have educated a few gas fitters niw, and none have a clue.

GasSafe requires compliance with BS7671.

In this case PD, the requirement will be for two bonds, at each point of entry, within 600mm of that location.

 

[binky]

What I am trying to avoid is the stupid notion of cable tying an earth wire about 10 metres along the gas pipe and r

 Not suppossed to cable tie to the pipe in case pipe gets altered and bonding  affected / detached / cut.  It's buried deep in the regs somewhere, not that anyone takes much notice.. :^O

 

[Doc Hudson]

 Not suppossed to cable tie to the pipe in case pipe gets altered and bonding  affected / detached / cut.  It's buried deep in the regs somewhere, not that anyone takes much notice.. :^O

528.3.3  Which basically says any foreseeable work on other services will not damage electrical service or vice-versa. a noted solution includes suitable spacing. Its not that buried, just follow Selection and erection then,  Proximity to non-electrical services. So which is the worse crime, putting your clamp >600mm away or cable ties your bonding wire to the gas pipe? Discuss.

Doc H.

 

[Blue Duck]

Just make them steel cable ties tango'd wetpants won't be able to work out how to cut them off.

As to future modifications to pipe work.. courgette that, some **** has tied some massive green and yellow cable to the pipe outside my neighbours house,  it looks like one of them poisonus catapilars! 

tango'd horrendous!!! 

 

[Stoker 58]

The bit I have highlighted is what the gas man will expect then.

So do I cable tie my wire all the way round the house so it can be clamped 600mm from the meter, or do I bond it where our regs say, and expect to get called back to the job next time the boiler is serviced and the gas man says I have done it wrong?

It really is a shambles that Gas Safe and the IET cannot bang their heads together and agree a set of common standards that both trades work to.

Hi Guys

a gasman of 40 yrs who decided to join this site to get some brilliant answers to this issue. ProDave is bang on, but what people have to remember, is that this 600mm thing is what we are being told. We are heavily audited on the gas network part of the industry, the cross bonding is something that starts a few arguments, with the safety people from the networks.

A classic example - the service pipe to the meter, gets renewed. This is usually by inserting new PE pipe through the old steel pipe back to the meter. We are told that if the cross bonding is not visible at the meter, the old steel pipe (now acting as a sleeve to PE) does not need an insulation joint fitted. When the gas safe engineer comes to refit meter, he will leave an advisory card with customer to get the earthing checked by an electrician. So the electrician corrects any earthing wire issues.. Job done..Not quiete, now that an earth bond is visible at the meter, the fact that the inlet carrier has no insulation joint, is creating a potential hazard

The example proDave has used is something that was done by a fitter this week, are you saying this was not necessary and the earth would have been ok to stay where it was.

lastly, thanks for your opinions, it’s great to get advice from people that know their stuff, rather than take opinions from “safety people”

 

[Sidewinder]

@Stoker 58

The requirements from the British Standard for gas installations, and the HSE guidance on gas installations both defer to BS 7671.

Therefore, the “gas” people who are auditing need to either learn the rules or keep their beak out.

The requirement in BS 7671 is to establish and maintain an equipotential zone within the premises by bonding all exposed- & extraneous-conductive-parts together and in turn connecting these bonds to the means of earthing for the electrical installation.

Therefore, ALL bonds MUST be within the premises, I don’t care what anyone in the gas industry suggests, unless they require the bonds within the premises, they are simply wrong.

The next requirement is that ALL extraneous-conductive-parts require bonding.

Thus if a metallic gas pipe enters the premises then it must be bonded, and that needs to be within 600mm of entry before any branches where practicable.

Next, should that pipe then exit the equipotential zone via a wall and re-enter, or go below finished floor level into a substrate which is in itself “earthy”, e.g. a concrete screed, then it MUST be bonded again on re-entry to the equipotential zone, i.e. the interior of the premises.

Again the 600mm rule applies here.

Also, cross bonding is now an obsolete term, we now have main or supplementary equipotential bonding.

The bond to an incoming gas pipe which is also an extraneous-conductive-part is a main equipotential bond.

Any bonding between for example pipework in a bathroom, or at the base of a boiler which used to be known as cross bonding is now known as supplementary equipotential bonding.

Oh, and bonding across the pipework below a modern combi-boiler is no longer required, as the requirement is that the boiler pipework manifold must provide the equivalent bonding function.

It would be down to the plumber or gas fitter to ensure that they do not compromise the electrical integrity of the manifold to pipework connections when making off pipework to the manifold.

These are the facts of the scenario.

 

[kerching]

cable tying an earth wire about 10 metres along the gas pipe and round 2

Can't do that anyway as the gas pipe isn't designed to have something cable tied to it

Just saying

:coat

 

[phil d]

Gas fitters really boil my pee at times! I had one who'd moved a combi boiler into a loft at a customers house, I was doing some work there at the time, he comes down and tells me he has done the boiler, including connecting to the fused spur, but won't commision it until I have 'bonded all the pipes underneath it' as he put it.

I refused as it was not required, he then refused to comission the boiler, his regs said it needed bonding fitting, mine didn't, stalemate, He was trying to put the blame for the problem on me, I for my part handed my regs book to the client and showed him. That put an end to the argument, he wanted it bonding, he could do it.