main waterpipe sealed up should it fail e.i.c.r. ?

[cmp260]

we are moving for 2 years and i want to rent my house. electrician failed my house eicr for not having waterpipe earth bond. i belive it has one but the pipe is plastered in except for the stopcock so its not visible. i think he tried to take the p.. becaue he seemed surprised when i asked him what the resistance was, first he said no earth wire in breaker box, and was fishing for work running a new wire to stopcock, but when i enquired more he got a bit nervous, said he wanted to doble check the box znd lo and behold he found one. it measures zero ohms beteeen this wire and waterpipe close by but obviously cant see if it bonded close to stopcock due ton1940s house and pipe being boxed plasterd in.
so basically, should it have failed?

thanks in advance

 

[telectrix]

not necessarily a fail. if it's there but inaccessible, it's a deviation from BS7671, but a code C3 would be appropriate.

 

[kingeri]

The continuity and resistance between the pipe and the end of the bonding cable at the consumer unit needs verifying. Zero ohms? Not really possible...obviously the lower the better but zero ohms...hmmm. The earth clamp on the pipe should also be visible and accessible, but may not be on an older install.

 

[cmp260]

c3?, would that be a pass? or clasify as acceptable?
if the clamp is not visible on older install, should that be a fail or unacceptable?

 

[cmp260]

anyone?
many thanks

 

[telectrix]

a code C3 is not a fail, it's more like an "advise" on a car mot.

 

[MDJ]

we are moving for 2 years

Wow where are you going? are you walking to Peru lol

 

[Knobhead]

Just tell him to run an earth to the nearest accessable point on the water pipe.
Keep the existing earth connected.

Yet another work creation scheme.

 

[ayjay]

check the size of the earth cable, if its old it may be too small in csa
it should be 10mm
try chopping out the plaster around the stop cock to expose the clamp(it must be fitted on the outgoing side of the cock )
btw-if thats all he could find wrong he sounds like a good fella

 

[brman]

check the size of the earth cable, if its old it may be too small in csa
it should be 10mm
try chopping out the plaster around the stop cock to expose the clamp(it must be fitted on the outgoing side of the cock )
btw-if thats all he could find wrong he sounds like a good fella

The cable is visible in the CU so easy to check csa

EDIT: posted before finishing.......
I agree with Tel, C3 if it measures out ok.

 

[stratplus]

Whoops

 

[moose]

A simple test from stop cock to CU wandering lead would check for any good old ohms, if the cable size was ok at board, also agree remove plaster to expose clamp, you should be able to see this for good practice anyway. good luck.