Home Inspector Electrical Report

[jtedesco1]

The Bonding Jumper is missing. It is supposed to be installed to bond the water pipes when the water meter is removed for repair or replacement to protect the water company personnel from an electric shock hazard.

[Brian A. MacNeish]

Originally Posted by jtedesco1

Please send me one of your worst electrical defects so that I can include it in my new NACHI book, pictures will be helpful.

joetedesco@comcast.net

The Bonding Jumper is missing. It is supposed to be installed to bond the water pipes when the water meter is removed for repair or replacement to protect the water company personnel from an electric shock hazard.

What if the grounding wire clamp is: (1) on copper tubing, (2) on the street side of the meter and (3) on the street side of the house water shut-off? Does it still need a bonding jumper then?

[Mike Whitt]

Could it be installed up high out of the scope of the picture?

Could the Grounding Electrode Conductor be installed at the point of entry and the interior pipe then be bonded elsewhere in the building to satisfy 250.104?

In this picture say that the 250.52(A)(1) GEC was already installed at the point of entry of the building could not the 250,104 bond be installed as pictured?

In other words the bonding jumper is not necessarily required to be right there at the meter.

[jtedesco1]

Originally Posted by Brian A. MacNeish

What if the grounding wire clamp is: (1) on copper tubing, (2) on the street side of the meter and (3) on the street side of the house water shut-off? Does it still need a bonding jumper then?

Effective Grounding Path The connection of a grounding electrode conductor or bonding jumper to a grounding electrode must be made in a manner that will ensure a permanent and effective grounding path. Where necessary to ensure the grounding path for a metal piping system used as a grounding electrode, effective bonding must be provided around insulated joints and around any equipment likely to be disconnected for repairs or replacement. Bonding conductors shall be of sufficient length to permit removal of such equipment while retaining the integrity of the bond.

Examples of equipment likely to be disconnected for repairs or replacement are water meters and water filter systems.

[Joe Farsetta]

Is it really required to protect water company personnel in the event they remove the meter, or is it installed to help ensure that the metallic piping throughoput the structure is grounded , regardless of presence of the weater meter, in the event that thie piping should somehow become energized.

[jtedesco1]

Originally Posted by jfarsetta

Is it really required to protect water company personnel in the event they remove the meter, or is it installed to help ensure that the metallic piping throughoput the structure is grounded , regardless of presence of the weater meter, in the event that thie piping should somehow become energized.

Joe, the substantiation for this requirement included the scenario described.

Also the bonding jumper will be required around unions, etc., too when the GEC is connected to a water pipe on the load side of the water meter.

[Ben J. Gromicko]

I have met several (4 or 5) plumbers on home inspections that have said that they received an electrical shock when removing a water meter. They did this because 1) a bonding jumper was not installed over the meter, and 2) they worked too hastily without thinking of the need for one. I understand the exceptions to the rule (code) as Mike points out. But for me personally, I recommend a bonding jumper to be installed in a manner stated by Joe Tedesco on every water meter that I inspect. Every one. Sounds silly, right?

Someone once told me that my recommendation for a water jumper around the meter was not necessary. And I replied, "Well, did you write your recommendation down on paper and sign it - just as we home inspectors have to in our inspection reports? And write also that you will guarantee that no one will ever get hurt because of the absent jumper at the meter that you suggest is OK today." No plumber ever did take that responsibility.

It's one thing to quote code; it's another thing to take responsibility.

[Mike Whitt]

Ben

Let’s think about this for just a minute. If an interior metal water pipe is bonded from any point on that pipe back to the panel would not the metal of the water pipe conduct any current imposed on it to the bonding jumper?

If the bonding jumper on an interior metal water pipe is bonded from the nearest point from the water meter or filter back to the grounding electrode wouldn’t the metal of the pipe carry any current imposed on it from the end of the pipe back to the bonding jumper?

The bonding jumper that goes across the meter is doing nothing more than bonding the interior metal pipe to the grounding electrode as the metal water pipe that is in contact with earth is just that, a grounding electrode.

There is no more danger in someone getting shocked from one than the other. This has nothing to do with code requirements but on the simple principles of electricity.