The answer is easy, is sad, 'NO' - most law makers do not understand electricity, and sometimes I wonder if this extends to some who work with it too.

Mike

I do not know which is more absurd: (a) inserting a length of copper pipe and bonding it; or (b) just putting the bonding clamp around the plastic pipe.

Even better would be splitting a piece of plastic pipe and putting it around a copper (+/- lead) supply; and then putting the bonding clamp around both.

I may be mistaken, but on initial verification, should you not test for continuity between the pipe and the MET. That will not work well with a plastic pipe!

So in Northern Ireland if you want to connect your house to the power grid, NIE (the power company) requires main protective bonding on water service pipe for main protective bonding; even if that pipe is made out of fancy blue plastic they still want a copper insert so they can clamp it down! Why does NIE make this such a big deal - is this only in Northern Ireland or is this something similar happening everywhere else too?

kfh said:

easier to do than to argue.

I hear the same thing from contractors here and I think that is the reason this daft situation has persisted. No one has made a serious challenge and as far as the NIE operatives are concerned, bonding not in place….no supply mate! And so it will contine.

I thought my answer would be useless(

Well, if you can see how connecting a conducting wire to an insulating  plastic pipe filled with drinking water of resistivity perhaps tens of k ohms across the faces of a cm cube is in any way making things safer, let us know;-)

I think the technical consensus here is that it is nugatory, but sadly required because rues are written for  blind obedience, rather than to guide and educate.

Mike

PS water much more conductive than that is undrinkably brackish.

In which case Andy, it begs the question as to why hundreds of metres of 10mm singles are thrown into installations across the land with each rewire carried out. Why bother when you can just utilise the 1.0mm/1.5mm cpc from an appliance metallic pipework to the incoming gas & water supplies!

With the extensive use of plastic pipes internally these days for hot/cold water, and central heating systems, it's a wonder that there is still a requirement to bond at all these days.

Indeed Mike, the science has been thrown out in pursuit of commercial gain these days - You no longer have to PROVE, you just have to BELIEVE!

AFDDs are a good recent example of this.

In which case Andy, it begs the question as to why hundreds of metres of 10mm singles are thrown into installations across the land with each rewire carried out. Why bother when you can just utilise the 1.0mm/1.5mm cpc from an appliance metallic pipework to the incoming gas & water supplies!

it certainly make a difference when when pipework is truly extraneous - (either at the incoming position, or dives out underground somewhere to say an outside tap or  another building) - you really don't want large fault currents from elsewhere or diverted neutral currents on PME systems being forced down a 0.75mm² c.p.c..  But in many cases these days (with plastic plumbing) that simply can't happen - and to be fair BS 7671 definitions have supported that stance for very many years (if something doesn't meet the definition of an extraneous-conductive-part you don't have to bond it).

   - Andy.