Earthing needed for my house

chukwe

Hi All,

A British Gas technician visited my house and reported that there is no earthing in my house.

I called EDF (my electricity supplier) to enquire about the earth and the lady connected me to their contractors who quoted £300 for the basic earthing and £1000+ for full earthing.

I don't know anything about earthing.

My question is should I go with EDF or contact a local electrician?

What other options do I have?

Cardew

It is highly unlikely there is no earthing in your house:eek:

Presumably it is not to the required standard for BG. A local electrical contractor would probably give a quote well below £300.

macman

Either way, you should get it inspected by a competent electrician as a priority.
If there really is no earth, a tester plug should reveal that.
The earthing is not the responsibility of your supplier or DNO-it's down to you.

chukwe

Thanks,

I was surprised when the engineer said that, but I'm no expert. What's the best way finding a good electrician? I'm wary of these Rogue Traders on BBC.

Or can somebody in my area recommend one? I'm Bexley area, Kent, DA16. And what kind of earthing will you recommend?

chukwe

I spoke to an Electrician now from Yell.com and he said that the British Gas Engineer meant bonding not earthing.

macman

That makes more sense now...
Any competent electrician can sort that out for you.
PS: who's Roger Traders?

chukwe

macman wrote: »

That makes more sense now...
Any competent electrician can sort that out for you.
PS: who's Roger Traders?

Sorry, I meant Rogue Traders :rotfl:

SYNERGY

chukwe wrote: »

Hi All,

A British Gas technician visited my house and reported that there is no earthing in my house.

I called EDF (my electricity supplier) to enquire about the earth and the lady connected me to their contractors who quoted £300 for the basic earthing and £1000+ for full earthing.

I don't know anything about earthing.

My question is should I go with EDF or contact a local electrician?

What other options do I have?

As noted above ^ the chances of your property, depending on age, not having an earth at all is remote.

If you look at where your electric meter is you will see the meter itself, two cables will go to the consumer unit (fuse box), two cables will go to the company fuse, these cables could be black and red or both grey.

Within this area can you see a cable coloured red and green, if you can this will be the earth.

Is your fuse box a modern one, ie with what looks like a row of switches for each circuit, or has it got fuses you have to remove and re-wire ?

1) If the property was extremely old and still had the rubber/cotton/lead wiring :eek: , yes there are some still about, it won't have an earth.
2) If it is an older property and hasn't been rewired in the last 20-30 years, again it may not have an earth.

3) A rare one, but still happens, if your property earth is via an earth rod buried in the garden etc, (rather than via the incoming) if the rod is corroded, or more usually the rod to earth cable is corroded agsin you will have no earth.

What the gas fitter may have referred to, but not explained correctly is that all gas, water, pipes, and individual radiators etc, when plastic pipe is used to serve them, must all now be earthed, known as cross bonding.

The best option would be to get a good local electrician in to give you an estimate.

The first thing he would do is test the original earth ( presuming it has one), ensure any earth cables are of the correct dimensions, then determine which items actually need bonding.

Presuming that you do actually have a good earth at the consumer unit then work would only be required to supply and route the earth cable to those items requiring it, the greater majority of the time being in routing the cable.

If you have no earth at all, this will obviously add to the cost, either by adding an earth rod or a connection to the incoming.

One thing to bear in mind though, is that if the wiring is very old, 25-30+ years, he may suggest a full re-wire.

Edit. I see it was bonding, took a me a while typing

JohalaReewi

Cardew wrote: »

It is highly unlikely there is no earthing in your house:eek:

Presumably it is not to the required standard for BG. A local electrical contractor would probably give a quote well below £300.

But if the installation is fairly old there maybe other associated works required to bring it up to date which can add to the cost. Best to get a few quotes.

energysavingexp

SYNERGY wrote: »

Within this area can you see a cable coloured red and green, if you can this will be the earth.

red and green dont think so don't you mean green and yellow
if its the old earth it would just be green or a bare twisted wire.

jalexa

SYNERGY wrote: »

What the gas fitter may have referred to, but not explained correctly is that all gas, water, pipes, and individual radiators etc, when plastic pipe is used to serve them, must all now be earthed, known as cross bonding.

I think the regs have moved on. Radiators connected with plastic pipe do not require supplementary equipotential bonding even in a room containing a bath.