Hi guys, just moved house and it turns out that the gas pipe in the outside box doesn't have an earth cable the electric box is next to it and does have an earth cable, so my question is is it safe and legal to run a cable from one to the other? Common sense isn't very common.
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Hi the water and gas should have earth from the consumer

ring British Gas and/or Western Power and get them to come out and sort it. If you do it yourself and something goes wrong when doing it or in the future they will jump all over what ever is left of you.

There should be a bond as it comes in the house and before any T's - you may find it inside the house though (Although the necessity of such a bond when the incoming pipe is plastic can be debated)

IF you look at your consumer unit, there are (usually) 3 green and yellow cables going into it - main earth from the head, water bond, gas bond, although I tend to use an external block as a preference where there is space.

Do you have an electrical certificate/report from your purchase? - there is a box on there to confirm the bond presence and continuity.

WPD or BG won't help you as its post meter - a reputable spark is your best bet if you are concerned 2000 Xei 1.8 gone
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T he question is what are you earthing?, gas to the meter is in plastic, water also is now plastic to the connetion of the house mains isolator, the boiler is earthed through its mains plug which is in turn connected via the boiler casing to the pipes, the mains electricity is earthed via the armoured casing of the mains cable and all the house earths are connected to this earth at the meter and consumer unit. the only thing that makes sense is to have a earth stake driven into the ground and all metal piping connected to that stake along with the mains cable earth my PC is slightly to the right of Genghis
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Last edited by Dartman the one on 4th Dec 2021 9:46 am. Edited 1 time in total

axle wrote:

Hi guys, just moved house and it turns out that the gas pipe in the outside box doesn't have an earth cable the electric box is next to it and does have an earth cable, so my question is is it safe and legal to run a cable from one to the other?

I’d get a qualified sparky to have a look if you are new to the house and don’t know the history , or it isn’t clear on an Electrical report. It wouldn’t be the first time an earth or an equipotential bond had been removed or rendered useless by a bit of enthusiastic DIY plumbing or the insertion of some plastic pipe . We fitted a new kitchen for a mate in a house renovation . The bonding from the stainless sink we removed went to both hot and cold copper pipes then terminated with six inches of of Earth cable shoved through a floor board ! 2009 GS Auto Zermatt Silver - Sold June 21 after 10 years of ownership

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Axle, didn’t you have any sort of survey done prior to exchanging contracts?
That’s the sort of thing that usually shows up.

BS7671 18th edition = current electricians bible

411.3.1.2
In each installation main protective bonding conductors ..... shall connect to the main earthing terminal extraneous-conductive-parts including the following:
(i) water installation pipes.
(ii) gas installation pipes.
(iii) other installation pipework and ducting
(iv) central heating and air conditioning.
(v) exposed metallic structural parts of the building.

Metallic pipes entering the building having an insulating section at thier point of entry need not be connected to the protective equipotential bonding.

So any pipe should be earthed unless it has an insulating section, such as a plastic valve, which would be common on a water pipe - not seen one on a gas pipe.
Obviously if the feed is plastic then the gas / water pipe need not be earthed.

Here's the fun bit, current regulations only apply to installations installed (or modified) since 2018, prior to that the regulation in force at the time of install apply. So if you buy a house built in the 1920's it is legally acceptable to have old fashoined rewirable fuses and no RCDs.
Legally acceptable does not mean any electrician would touch it with a barge pole Tangiers Orange - gone, missing her
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