Gas meter with no earth

loulou41

I honestly do not know what that means and forgot to ask what it is and whether it needs to be sorted out as soon as possible by electrician or gas man. My gas meter box needs replacing and I had the builder in to give some quotes of some work that needs to be doing. He checked the box and said there is no earth. Silly me, forgot to ask him whether I need to get somebody who sort this out. Thanks

robv_3

Its recommended all services coming into the house are connected back to the incoming electrical supply and earthed. Expect less than 5% of houses have this done as it is only been a requirement for a few years (16th addition? last 90's?). There is no requirement to upgrade existing installations to the latest regulations.

When the meter box is changed the gas people will put a sticker saying the box should be earthed, nothing more. When the house is re-wired or major work done it should addressed.

Its normally done by an electrician.

ormus

there was nowhere to earth my gas meter, in an outside white box. so i installed a copper earth rod into the ground. next to the supply pipe.

fluffpot

It is essential that your gas and water pipes are 'earthed' - actually main equipotentially bonded is the correct term - this has been in the regs for some time now and no new electrical work can be carried out until this is in place - the current size of cable is 10mm squared. The bonding is carried out using an earth clamp which is secured round the consumers side of the supply. Depending on where your gas meter/pipe is in relation to the fuse board it can be easy or a nightmare. Best to get a few electrician's round to give estimates.

Orums - I don't this your arrangement would comply because you have not actually clamped the the gas pipe - there must be some access to this surely?- and you are relying solely on the 'soil' between the pipe and the rod to provide the earth. This has to be 0.05 ohms in resistance or less. It might be worth getting it checked by a spark.

Hope this helps
Fluff (electrician)

AdrianW2

fluffpot wrote: »

It is essential that your gas and water pipes are 'earthed' - actually main equipotentially bonded is the correct term

It quite clearly isn't essential, since many installations don't have it.

fluffpot

Adrian - please don't mislead the OP - she has been advised correctly by the builder that it needs to be earthed and as robv says - the gas people will also attach a warning label to the same effect.

In analogy - just because some very old cars didn't have seat belts doesn't mean that new ones don't need them either! (this is the best I can think of!)

Pssst

ormus wrote: »

there was nowhere to earth my gas meter, in an outside white box. so i installed a copper earth rod into the ground. next to the supply pipe.

Mmm...probably not a good idea as you may have created a hazard rather than avoided one. There should only be one final earth connection for the whole household installation and that is usually provided by the power supplier via its supply cable.

RE the OPs query,it is quite possible that your installation is in fact earthed but builders and gas chaps who make visual inspections of meters are required to advise the customer re having earthing checked if the earth connection is not visible near the meter..within 600mm ISTR.

Inactive

fluffpot wrote: »

Adrian - please don't mislead the OP - she has been advised correctly by the builder that it needs to be earthed and as robv says - the gas people will also attach a warning label to the same effect.

In analogy - just because some very old cars didn't have seat belts doesn't mean that new ones don't need them either! (this is the best I can think of!)

But it still isn't " essential " it is advisable, using dramatic wording like " essential " is not helpful.

fluffpot

Hi

Sorry if you feel I misled the OP, although in my professional opinion it should be done as 1)the gas meter is being moved and the gas people will insist and 2) the OP mentioned a builder, implying that other work was involved and if this was electrical then it MUST be done.

If carrying out a Periodic Test and Inspection of an electrical installation it would FAIL if main bonding to gas, water and other metallic pipes is not in place, so I think it is sort of essential!

Of course I'm sure the OP can make up their own mind regarding safety and/or insurance invalidation....

Fluff

AdrianW2

fluffpot wrote: »

Of course I'm sure the OP can make up their own mind regarding safety and/or insurance invalidation....

Any reason why a perfectly legal electrical installation should invalidate insurance?