Gas Bonding

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

I'll try and keep this short

My house (old coal board house) had no gas supply. When I moved in I paid national grid to lay the pipework, and British gas installed the gas meter.

Fast forward, had boiler serviced and have been told it needs / should be bonded.

National grid say not their responsibility, it's British gas

British gas said it doesn't 'need' to be done and would only be applicable to a new house, or a house with a new supply (which mine was/is) and that it's my responsibility

Or me - who had no idea what bonding was until recently lol

Thanks!

southcoastrgi

Yes it should be bonded, electrician job

Risteard

If it is an extraneous conductive part then it must be bonded. Main protective bonding is what is applicable here. This must be done regardless of the age of the property or the installation, so British Gas are talking nonsense. It is fundamental to the safety of the entire electrical installation.

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

But who should be liable for the costs of this?

I would have thought that after the new pipes were laid, and British gas came out to put the meter in (there wasn't an existing one) that they would have bonded it. I've spoken to British gas and they are offering to give me a small amount towards the cost of the bonding but I'm trying to see whether they should have done it originally in the first place (so they should pay full cost) I know it's not much to do (over £100) but they installed the original meter 3 years ago, have since had 2 smart meters fitted (first was faulty) and not once has any engineer mentioned it until the boiler man did this year (not British gas)

missile

For £100 is it worth the aggro. Take whatever they are offering you and move on.
If they had done it three years ago, then presumably you would have to pay extra?

bridgedino

How do you know it's not bonded? The engineer will have informed you that he couldn't see any sign of earth bonding at the meter. It may well be bonded under the floor / out of sight

Mr.Generous

The bonding has to be visible, cross bond between water pipe inlet, gas pipe and close to the mains board earth point. Use 10mm sleeved earth. If you can wire a plug you can do this, its only the routing of the wire that may be tricky. It can go under floors, behind kitchen plinths etc - the clamping points have to be visible rather than the entire cable run. Don't try and fool anyone with a cable leading nowhere (I'm sure you wouldn't its advice for anyone reading) it's a safety feature and a quick check with any kind of tester will reveal the fault.

DavidFx

First thing is to check whether the new gas service pipe is metallic (conductive) or plastic (non-conductive). If it is non-conductive then it doesn't need to be bonded.

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

It's definitely not bonded, 2 people have looked (Boiler man and an electrician) It isn't £100, it's over that (I've had 3 quotes) plus (Seeing as we are on a money saving forum after all....) if the bonding was meant to be done by BG/boiler company, and they haven't done it, then they should rectify their error surely?

The pipework from the street to the meter is plastic, but the pipe from the meter into the house is copper.

The boiler was put in after the pipework - its the same company who have told me it needs to be bonded (This is the second boiler service, they didn't mention it in the first)

Risteard

bridgedino wrote: »

any sign of earth bonding

There is no such thing as "earth bonding".

Risteard

Mr.Generous wrote: »

cross bond between

There is no such thing as "cross bonding".