Electrician Advise Please

itisme

Hello There,

Have just had back a survey of a house I'm thinking of buying and the only
thing that was of concern is:

"The earth bonding is not to current standard"

Could someone please explain exactly what this means
many thanks

helping_hubby

Earth bonding is where items are earthed, like a gas meter, exposed pipes, bath - and probably other stuff (I only know these because we're having this done next week!) It's basically to stop you from getting an electric shock.

itisme

Many thanks for your reply,

Would you have any idea how much it would cost to get someone in to fix this
I don't fancy the idea of getting electric shocks, I get enough of them from my car.

helping_hubby

No idea I'm afraid. We're having virtually a full rewire next week, so it's bundled in that.

Pssst

Not to current standard could mean anything. It may well be perfectly functional but standards change with time. It may well have met the standard of the day when it was wired but does not meet the current standard. That is not to say it is defective. It may just be that the wire is not of the cross sectional area as is required now. If it was dangerous or hazardous,i suspect much stronger wording would have been used. Did an electrician inspect it or was it just a visual inspection? either way,it seems trivial.

itisme

It was a Home Condition Survey done on the house by a surveyor,

he stated that the earth bonding repair is not considered serious or urgent

but I just wanted confirmation that all was ok
many thanks

27col

If you read what a Home Condition Report says you will see that for the most part it simply describes the house that is being reported on. These so called surveyors have no qualifications to comment on electrics or any other services. These people are Inspectors, not surveyors.In any event, what they do, is known as a non invasive report, so basically all they are doing is looking. They tell you almost nothing that you could not see for yourself. Basically, its just a Government make work scheme.
In any event the electrical regulations are not retrospective. If you are worried then you need to get a second opinion.
Have a look here and see if it gives you any confidence.
http://www.home-inspectiongroup.co.uk/home-condition-reports.html

nicfatbelly

Earth bonding relates to Gas and Water service pipes needing to be connected to the "Min Earth Terminal" at the consumer unit or meter point. This is not major work by any means and in most cases will take only 1/2 a day or less. For a proper assessment of the installation get an electrician to complete a full PIR (periodic inspection) On the face of it not a major issue.

Debt_Free_Chick

I rather suspect that the vast majority of homes are not earth bonded "to current standards".

Doesn't automatically mean that there is any cause for alarms and it doesn't mean that you should expect "electric shocks".

By the way, the shocks you get from your car are static - not electric