Bonding

[Paul W. Abernathy]

Dang you bob...thehehe...Could have saved me all the typing.

[Paul W. Abernathy]

It gets pretty involved as to why but to keep it short the Other Metal Piping only needs a bond wire equal to the EGC of the equipment that may energize it.

lol..Translation : If the sprinkler system is run to a manafold that has lets say a 30A circuit ( being hypothetical here I have no idea what size feeds the fire protection device relays...hmmmm did I spell that right..? ) then you could directly bond the pipe at that location with a # 10 AWG CU wire and meet the requirements of 250.104(b)

[Dale Duffy]

Doing commercial inspections without a licensed electrician is like............

There are wayyyyyyy to many what if could be's. As we all know.

But I do find your posts very interesting.......

Thanks, Guys

[Russel Ray]

I'd like to go back to the one-liner to explain what bonding is.

Any more ideas?

What does bonding do?

Does it prevent one from getting shocked to death if there is a short in an appliance?
Does it prevent one from getting shocked to death if there is a short in the wiring?
Does it prevent fires?

I think if we can answer what it does without using the technical terms, then we can create a one-liner stating what it is.

I have a two-liner in my report:

The water heater and metal water pipes typically serve as part of the continuous grounding of the electrical system. The hot and cold water supply pipes above the water heater should be connected by a properly-sized wire to continue to provide such electrical grounding in the event the water heater must be removed.

Quite frankly, I wrote that four years ago when my knowledge of bonding was much less than it is now, so I don't know if it is technically correct. However, along with the attached picture, and my use of the words "electrical grounding," I've never had a Client not understand (perhaps not technically, though) what was going on or what needed to be done.

And the plumber and/or electrician also has always understood. And I've gotten no derogatory calls from anyone.

[Bob Badger]

Russel Your two-liner might have be little off the mark to an electrician but to the average home owner is IMO fine.

[Paul W. Abernathy]

Bump....Man I MISS Bob Badger !