A
axidentalist
Hi Folks. I joined the forum a couple of years back, knowing I'd probably end up here as I live in an old house with a non-earth supply running off one fuse supplying a maximum of 15 amps. Eventually I'd like to go off grid, but rebuilding the place has required machinery and hot water.
REcently I noticed some electrical charge on my water pipes the other day when one of them got wet while I was creating a new feed. I have a woodburnig stove which feeds 3 radiators and a standard copper hot water tank. These are controlled by a thermostat on the hot water out of the woodburner and a thermostat on the hot water tank, connected to a simple Danfos pump and Honeywell switching box. No control unit or timer, etc. The supply to the Honeywell unit feeds a Solus switching unit controlled by the thermostats: that's it.
The electrical supply to the switching box is not earthed, because the house supply has no earth circuit. I'm in the process of installing a new consumer unit and have installed a ground spike under the consumer unit. Replacing the wiring to the hot water system is going to take some time, and I've read elsewhere that I shouldn't feed an earth back to the consumer unit from the water pipes or tank, etc.
What's the safe and efficient way to proceed? I'm about to start installing a new bathroom too. I was thinking of installing a new ground spike just to earth the hot pipes in the bathroom AND the radiator/boiler system. Of course, I'll be upgrading the electrical supply to the hot water system soon, but right now I can't take it out of the circuit because the woodburner can't be run without producing hot water, and it's December. So anyway, will earthing the pipes back to the ground spike of the consumer unit be good, or what?
I'm reading lots of regs and advice, often contradictory, at the moment, and presently have no reading of the exact resistance of my ground spike anyway. I don't thing the installer took a resistance reading. Will ask him at the weekend.
Should I prioritise installing an earthed supply to the Honeywell from the new consumer unit? Or is that unlikely to make a difference to the conductivity of the pipes?
REcently I noticed some electrical charge on my water pipes the other day when one of them got wet while I was creating a new feed. I have a woodburnig stove which feeds 3 radiators and a standard copper hot water tank. These are controlled by a thermostat on the hot water out of the woodburner and a thermostat on the hot water tank, connected to a simple Danfos pump and Honeywell switching box. No control unit or timer, etc. The supply to the Honeywell unit feeds a Solus switching unit controlled by the thermostats: that's it.
The electrical supply to the switching box is not earthed, because the house supply has no earth circuit. I'm in the process of installing a new consumer unit and have installed a ground spike under the consumer unit. Replacing the wiring to the hot water system is going to take some time, and I've read elsewhere that I shouldn't feed an earth back to the consumer unit from the water pipes or tank, etc.
What's the safe and efficient way to proceed? I'm about to start installing a new bathroom too. I was thinking of installing a new ground spike just to earth the hot pipes in the bathroom AND the radiator/boiler system. Of course, I'll be upgrading the electrical supply to the hot water system soon, but right now I can't take it out of the circuit because the woodburner can't be run without producing hot water, and it's December. So anyway, will earthing the pipes back to the ground spike of the consumer unit be good, or what?
I'm reading lots of regs and advice, often contradictory, at the moment, and presently have no reading of the exact resistance of my ground spike anyway. I don't thing the installer took a resistance reading. Will ask him at the weekend.
Should I prioritise installing an earthed supply to the Honeywell from the new consumer unit? Or is that unlikely to make a difference to the conductivity of the pipes?
