Alum pipe with plastic fittings-150 psi air line

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benaround

Senior Member
Location
Arizona
At the job I'm on they are installing an air line overhead for drops to equipment.

The air line pipe is Alum. with blue paint , the fittings are made of plastic and

the pipe snaps into them.

Question. Is this a metal piping system that requires bonding ?

Situation. The owner of this shop has hired a person to install the air line. We

had an Electrical inspection today and the EI looked over the air line while He

was there, He told the guy installing the air line that he was going to have to

jumper every fitting ( and there are 100's of them ) so that it would be bonded.

I would like to hear what the members think of this. Thanks,
 
don_resqcapt19 said:
The air pipe only requires bonding if it is "likely to become energized". 250.104(B)
Click to expand...


That was my initial thought. It's also possible that the pipe originates at a compressor that's already grounded via the EGC feeding it. SO the aluminum pipe may already be grounded.
 
Rob,

Each section of pipe is seperated by a plastic fitting , another words each

section is isolated electricly from section to section. The very first section of

pipe will be bonded by the EGC of the compressor circuit, as soon as it has to

be couplled or Tee'ed by a fitting then no more continuity.
 
If each section is separate than you don't have a metal piping system in the first place.
 
It is my opinion that metal parts of non-electric equipment are not "likely to become energized". To me it was a huge change when CMP 5 took out the words "may become energized" and replaced them with "likely to become energized". When the word "may" was used, the bonding requirement applied to most all conductive objects, the word "likely" applies to very few conductive object. Note that CMP 5 is on record as saying both terms mean exactly the same thing.
 
Don brings up a good point. When you apply the word "likely" to the phrase "to become energized", these short pieces of aluminum would not require any bonding solely based on the definition of the word likely.
 
Don,Rob,

I was asked my opinion and told them I did not think that the air line was a

metal piping system and that jumpers around each fitting should not have to

be installed. I did leave an escape clause by saying it needed further looking

into. So if CMP#5 is saying 'may' and 'likley' have the same exact meaning

then an Electrical Inspector could rightly make the call to bond the complete

' piping system ' !! Live and learn.
 
benaround said:
Don,Rob,

I was asked my opinion and told them I did not think that the air line was a

metal piping system and that jumpers around each fitting should not have to

be installed. I did leave an escape clause by saying it needed further looking

into. So if CMP#5 is saying 'may' and 'likley' have the same exact meaning

then an Electrical Inspector could rightly make the call to bond the complete

' piping system ' !! Live and learn.
Click to expand...

While you're at it you might as well bond all of the metal windows and metal window screens too. They're more likely to become energized than isolated pieces of pipe. :rolleyes:

IMO the inspector is dead wrong. This isn't a metal piping system and it isn't likely to become energized. Just my 2 cents.
 
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