Does hot water pipe need to be bonded?
A bonding wire is not required by the National Electric Code, although some local building codes call for the part to be installed. Around the country, some electricians and building inspectors recommend that a bonding cable be used when copper pipe fittings are connected to a water heater.
How do you bond a water line?
Where hot and cold water pipes are electrically connected, you need only one bonding jumper — to either the cold- or hot-water pipe. Otherwise, use a single bonding jumper sized per 250.104(A)(1) to bond the hot- and cold-water piping together. Building or structure supplied by a feeder.
Why do you bond water pipes?
The current will always take the easiest path to ground; the idea of Main Bonding (and Supplementary Bonding) is to create an alternative path for the current to flow that is an easier path than along one of your heating pipes, along your arm, through your body, down your legs to the wet kitchen floor and to ground.
Can PEX pipe be connected to hot water heater?
PEX tubing may be connected directly to residential electric tank or tankless (instantaneous) water heaters, if the local code and manufacturer’s instructions allow. When connecting PEX tube to gas tank or tankless water heaters, the tube must be kept at least 6 inches away from the exhaust vent of the heater.
Should copper water pipes be grounded?
It’s essential to ground copper pipes because if a short circuit did occur, the current would flow through the ground wire, causing a fuse to blow or trip a circuit breaker. Tripping a circuit breaker is preferable to the fatal shock if you do not ground the current.
What is a bonded pipe?
So, in simplest form, grounding or grounded means connecting to the earth, and bonding means connecting metallic parts together to establish continuity and conductivity between them. Both concepts have to be applied for safety in electrical installations and systems (see figure 3).
What is bonding vs grounding?
Bonding is the connection of non-current-carrying conductive elements like enclosures and structures. Grounding is the attachment of bonded systems to the earth. Both are necessary to safeguard people and property from electric hazards.
Is supplementary bonding still required?
Residual current devices (RCDs) – A sensitive switching device that trips a circuit when it finds an earth fault. You may need supplementary bonding for rooms containing a bath or shower, except where all circuits in the room are RCD protected and the main bonding is up to the required standard.
What is main protective bonding?
The purpose of main protective bonding is to create an earthed equipotential zone. All exposed and extraneous conductive parts within this zone are connected to the Main Earth Terminal (MET) by means of the circuit protective conductors or the main protective bonding conductors.
Do copper water pipes need to be grounded?
How are hot and cold water piping systems bonded?
The bonding jumper connection must be made at the same point on the separately derived system where the grounding-electrode conductor is connected. Each bonding jumper must be sized in accordance with Table 250.66. Again both the hot and the cold water pipe must be bonded to the separately derived system.
Do you have to bond hot and cold water lines?
Again both the hot and the cold water pipe must be bonded to the separately derived system. Next time you install an electrical system, be sure to check both the hot and cold water lines to ensure proper bonding of the water piping system to the service.
What kind of bonding wire do you need for a water heater?
The bonding wire is usually a heavy copper wire fastened with brass clamps at one end to the cold water pipe and at the other end to the hot water pipe. The parts cost only about $10 and can be installed in just minutes.
Do you need a bonding jumper for hot and cold water?
If there is no direct metal-to-metal connection between the hot and cold water pipes, the bonding jumper from the cold to the hot water line must still be installed, but the bonding jumper would be sized in accordance with Section 250.122.