Kitchen Sink Bonding

I have seen an electrician bond an acrylic sink with plastic pipes, taps and fittings. He got the plumber to insert short sections of copper pipe in the supply in order to have something to bond to and refused to rewire the kitchen until that had been done.

His argument was that the owners may change the sink at a later date to a metal one and he was going to be damn sure that no one could claim that he hadn't installed the electrics properly..

:o) But I guess that if you have a fault anywhere that connects with the cold water system where it is copper then in theory you could still get a shock even if you have a plastic sink and taps because water is a pretty good conductor ?

I have a stainless steel sink and chrome taps :o) should my sink be earthed according to the regs & is there any reason why it may not have to be ?

I live in rented, when i moved in the sink was not bonded, so I did it, recently the landlord has refited the kitchen and the sink as been left unbonded again. I'm guesing that some people may think it safer not to earth the sink with the view that if you have one hand on a faulty eletric cooker and the other on the sink you would stand a better chance of survival but if the cooker & its circuit are wired correctly the cooker circuit would trip before this situation could ever arise.

I guess I'm not allowed to bond the sink myself seeing as I don't have Part P :o) there is no justice in this counry.

Lonely

Which country?

In the UK, cross-bonding is not mandatory in the kitchen. However, although not required, many electricians will actually treat the area around the kitchen sink similarly to rooms containing a bath or shower, where cross bonding is required.

There are pros and cons in doing so. Generally, I do cross- bond the area around the sink if the pipework is all metal. If there's a 0.5m or more section of plastic pipe in all the pipes to the sink, this is regarded as an insulator, and in that case, it's probably better not to cross-bond the pipes and sink, but leave it isolated.

Yes u can do it yourself. Part P is only a section of the building regs. Its not something that you have or dont have.

J. A.W. Chewer.

I use plastic reinforced line sets for my sinks. There is no ground path. Bonding is usually considered for metal that "will become energized" not "may become energized". You failed to mention where you are located. I have done electrical work in the US for over 30 years and have never had to bond a sink. Other countries or specific requirement of the AHJ of your area are excluded.

Actually, tap water is a poor conductor. 0.5m of plastic pipe (with tap water in it) is regarded as an insulator for the purposes of the wiring regs.

See my other answer.

THAT is a real supise, honestly, so is your other reply but I'm still not going to use electrical equipment outside when its raining :o)

I really did think bonding was a very serious erea, especially in kitchens as well as bathrooms ?

Thanks, Lonely

The lack of bonding is not as serious as one would think if you have the required GFCI protection. As soon as you add a disposal or "insta hot" you will be bonding the sink via the ground in trhe appliance anyway.

All that being said my stainless sink and counter is bonded with a #8 copper. I like bonding stuff.

You are mixing up the conductivity of tap water with the conductivity of wet skin. Have a read of the following article...

It is a serious area. However, bonding something which is insulated from ground and supplies is not a good move. If you are touching something faulty which is live and then you also touch the earth bonded item, you will receive an electric shock. If the item is not bonded but insulated, then you won't.

Should the kitchen sink be porcelain, now gaining in popularity, I think you could forget about bonding.

I am aware that many tens of thousands of stainless steel sink benches have been installed with no bonding - generally due to the fact that builders & not electricians do the installation. To my knowledge genuine accidents resulting are practically unheard of. Make of that as you will. Pete