Water Bonds

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RampyElectric

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Liberty SC
MY company has recently had all of its service techs checking water pipes bonds.... our premise is that if its grounded in the wrong place and there is fault current the home owner could get shocked in the shower...I mean I understand the concept but has anyone actually ever heard of this happening?

I know,.... my boss informs me that Im an idiot daily
 
Shocked in the shower? I doubt it. Where is the "wrong place"? If the entire piping system is metallic where it's bonded won't matter.
 
If he's talking about the GEC connection location within 5' of the entrance, that's a pretty new requirement. I don't see the need to check everybody's water pipe GEC connection like there's some sort of emergency. A water bond can be anywhere at all.
 
mdshunk said:
A water bond can be anywhere at all.
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True, but if you wish the water pipe to do double duty as an electrode, the 5' rule applies, along with requiring at least 10 continuous feet in contact with earth.
 
LarryFine said:
... along with requiring at least 10 continuous feet in contact with earth.
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Yeah, I generally dig up water lines when I do service changes to double-check that. Hardly anyone else does that. ;)
 
Recently I got called out to fix a new dryer in a residence and found ground at 120V to neutral.
It turned out the Main had been moved 2' but in the process the feeder to the panel was changed from EMT to PVC without adding an EGC. Years before a water softener or filter had been installed (and removed) using PVC and at some point someone replacing an outlet in the garage stabbed in the back but forgot to tighten the screws one of which shorted to a metal box connected by romex. The customer later mentioned that they would feel a tingle when they touched the garage light switch or took a shower downstairs. I'm amazed no one was killed.

1. Had to remove main feeders to add EGC.
2. Found out they never glued the pvc so had to rip out a ceiling to glue it.
3. Cut out abandoned PVC softener loop and had plumber replace original copper line.
4. Ran PVC 70' to move GEC from near panel at back of house to water entry point at front.
5. Tighten receptacle terminal screws shorting to box in garage
6. Move dryer "ground" connection from ground bus to neutral bus.
7. Patch drywall ceiling (from step 2)
8. Install soffit to cover where new PVC w/GEC is run.
All to repair a brand new dryer I never even had to touch.
 
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(Runs out to the garage to measure voltage across the filter and softener loops that were cut when the filter and softener was installed in the house on account of I don't see anything that would have created continuity across said plumbing modification ...)
 
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tallgirl said:
(Runs out to the garage to measure voltage across the filter and softener loops that were cut when the filter and softener was installed in the house on account of I don't see anything that would have created continuity across said plumbing modification ...)
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Better get out some ground clamps and wire to bond all that plumbing to ground. ;)
Admittedly I could have left the PVC loop and just jumpered the 6" across. But it looked like crap and was in my way. :D
 
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mdshunk said:
Yeah, I generally dig up water lines when I do service changes to double-check that. Hardly anyone else does that. ;)
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That's why driving two ground rods is so popular.
 
infinity said:
Shocked in the shower? I doubt it. Where is the "wrong place"? If the entire piping system is metallic where it's bonded won't matter.
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In my earlier post I checked and measured 120v between the shower valve or showerhead and the drain. Like I said amazingly no one was ever killed... lucky there was a plastic valve handle I guess.

Which brings up a another question about likely to become energized... in this case it would never have been energized if it hadn't been bonded in the first place.
 
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ok.... so I AM doing my customers a favor, it will energize the drains and stuff in the event that a one in a million chance happens.....as long as there is 10 feet of continuos contact with the earth..... but what if the water pipe doesnt Ohm to 25?
 
I just had a Grounding class last week, one of the students was a POCO engineer, he had a house with 490 volts from the drain to ground. They had a bad insulator on a transformer nearby.
 
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