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Grounding to the water heater? Isn’t acceptable practice to bond the ground wire to the cold water pipe?
by xattt 4y ago
Grounding to the water heater? Isn’t acceptable practice to bond the ground wire to the cold water pipe?
- jbverschoor 4y agoWith all the plastic pipes these days?
- MonkeyMalarky 4y agoThat would be not-so-fun surprise when doing a renovation. I know lots of DIYers who like to cut out the copper segments and redo with plastic since it's easier to work with.
- MertsA 4y agoThis has killed a few plumbers before. Not due to using it as a ground which is honestly completely safe but due to a faulty water heater that was inadvertently using the copper pipe as the neutral. The plumber turns off the water and cuts the pipe, then grabs both ends and pulls them apart and now he's got wet hands on both sides of the circuit he just cut.
- jbverschoor 4y agoDIY? The whole industry uses it and many cities use plastic pipes to deliver water as well. Simply put, you're not supposed to use water pipes for ground. That was done many years ago (prior to 1980 here).
- hulitu 4y agoMay be accepted by some people but it carries a risk of electrocution.
- dugmartin 4y agoPlumbing (at least here in Massachusetts, maybe it’s national code?) is usually grounded back to the panel which also grounds to external driven ground rods. I believe that is in case the plumbing is accidentally energized due to a loose wire it has a route to ground.
- adrianmonk 4y agoPerhaps it is, but it's the cold water pipe which connects to the water heater, and they either slightly misunderstood or didn't want to explain in detail.