Earth bonding on copper pipes joined with plastic push fit

[KPaul]

Hi all.

Last week we had our central heating converted from a standard system to a combi. The piping is copper throughout our house. As part of this the gas engineer used plastic push fit on 3 or 4 joints as he'd ran out of copper fittings. A couple of these plastic fitting were T's above the boiler and I think he used a connector somewhere else that wasn't very accessible. We are RCD protected (done in 2010) but do these plastic fittings compromise the earthing on the pipework? Or should I just stop worrying about nothing?

Thanks,
Paul.

 

[opps]

I am not an electrician... but I believe that that pipes under the combi do not need to be bonded.

The water mains needs to be bonded, back to the consumer unit though.

 

[KPaul]

Sorry, I might be getting my terms mixed up. I know when our consumer unit was replaced in 2010 a big earth cable was run from the consumer unit to the rising water mains. I thought this earthed all the copper pipework so that if it went live via a fault it would trip out the RCD? I was just wondering if these plastic fittings compromised this in any way? Can't be certain if the pieces were used on the cold water feed to the boiler, the hot water feed from the boiler to the taps, or the pipes to/from the radiators.

 

[EFLImpudence]

Sorry, I might be getting my terms mixed up. I know when our consumer unit was replaced in 2010 a big earth cable was run from the consumer unit to the rising water mains. I thought this earthed all the copper pipework so that if it went live via a fault it would trip out the RCD?

No, it is not earthing but bonding(joining electrically) to ensure the pipe which comes out of the ground(THE earth) is at the same potential (Voltage) as your electrical installation earth.

I was just wondering if these plastic fittings compromised this in any way?

It would be better if NO pipes were earthed so if some pipes have been disconnected from any earth connection by the joints then that is a good thing.
It is just unfortunate that some pipes are earthed by the ground and electrical appliances like the boiler.

They have to be bonded because they are earthed.

Can't be certain if the pieces were used on the cold water feed to the boiler, the hot water feed from the boiler to the taps, or the pipes to/from the radiators.

It doesn't matter.

 

[KPaul]

Thank you so much. So I can stop fretting over nothing then. Much appreciated

 

[EFLImpudence]

Yes.