Ah, but now imagine it is fed by that open wire single phase TT supply, with or without bird.Now it all floats up to near mains voltage, and sits there for quite a while until something trips. Now I think, if you are in the bathroom you'd like the taps bonded to the towel dryer and so on.
And personally, I'd not want to 'upgrade' to a PME like arrangement either lower Zs or not, as a stray tree branch could easily break just one line and leave you with a very hot earth indeed. Neither will the DNOs - round here they insist to convert to a sort of insulated twisted pair they call ABC (Aerial Bundled Cable) before PME is even an option.
As a historical note in that era that the bonding came in, the TT main cut out would probably open contacts based on CPC to electrode voltage rise, not current balance, so not as a modern RCD or GFCI. But from 1985 they were no longer accepted and the RCD type dominated . Between 1981 to 1985 RCDs were preferred but both methods were acceptable on new work where the earth electrode was not man enough to blow a fuse in a few seconds, and that would be most domestic with the then new style plastic water pipes to be honest.
Ah, but now imagine it is fed by that open wire single phase TT supply, with or without bird.Now it all floats up to near mains voltage, and sits there for quite a while until something trips. Now I think, if you are in the bathroom you'd like the taps bonded to the towel dryer and so on.
And personally, I'd not want to 'upgrade' to a PME like arrangement either lower Zs or not, as a stray tree branch could easily break just one line and leave you with a very hot earth indeed. Neither will the DNOs - round here they insist to convert to a sort of insulated twisted pair they call ABC (Aerial Bundled Cable) before PME is even an option.
As a historical note in that era that the bonding came in, the TT main cut out would probably open contacts based on CPC to electrode voltage rise, not current balance, so not as a modern RCD or GFCI. But from 1985 they were no longer accepted and the RCD type dominated . Between 1981 to 1985 RCDs were preferred but both methods were acceptable on new work where the earth electrode was not man enough to blow a fuse in a few seconds, and that would be most domestic with the then new style plastic water pipes to be honest.
