Radiator pipes/earth straps - needed?

[Baldy881]

Hi,

Currently undergoing a bathroom refurb and interested to know if we need to keep the ugly earth wiring attached to the radiator pipes? Can these be reattached under the floor, or done away with completely? If they have to stay, is there a neater solution when reinstalling them?

Thanks!

[JoshSm]

https://electrical.theiet.org/media/1450/section-7...

701.415.2 is the relevant one I think?

Not sure there's ever been a need to bond every single leg of an all metal heating system anyway, and yes there are ways to do it that don't involve having lots of bonding clamps showing.

[Baldy881]

Owner. This is my consumer unit if that matters?

[Regbuser]

Josh has covered it

[JoshSm]

The basic summary is that if the circuits in the room are protected by a 30ma RCD, and there's already equipotential bonding on the plumbing somewhere - with no plastic pipe isolating the bit in the room - then you don't need any supplementary bonding.

Always best to test the bonding though - you'd do an earth bond test on the metalwork to confirm it's already OK and not unknowingly isolated/badly bonded for some reason. Only if it failed that test would you add an extra bond.

Still no idea why someone originally felt the need to bond both legs on a metal heating system, dont think that was ever necessary even before the changes to supplementary bonds.

Might be worth confirming if the three wires are the primary earth then a loop under the floor between the pipes, or if there's some other earth connection that is now floating.