Earthing of sink and oven? Ask questions and find answers to many subjects relating to electrics and electrical work

[prbaxter]

Hello,

We have a new kitchen and I have noticed that the stainless steel sink and electric oven are not earthed - there use to be a cable running from the underside of the old sink which connected to the cold water mains pipe in the old layout.

Do I need to earth the sink and the oven? and can I just run an earthing cable (from both oven and sink) down to the water mains pipe (using a circular clip to connect it, or something)?

Many thanks,
P

[sparx]

surely your oven is earthed by it's supply cable?
it used to be a requirement to earth bond metal sinks to pipes, called supplementary cross bonding, although not currently required it's still a good idea
Regards SPARX

[prbaxter]

Hi,

No the oven is not earthed, as it only has brown and blue wires and our sparky said we could just stick a 13A plug on it and plug it in to a normal socket because it's only a 900W oven (?). So, no earth wire, although there are points on the outer casing of the oven that have the earthing symbol carved in, so I was wondering if I should earth it. Can I just connect an earth cable from the outer casing to the earth pin on the plug, or should I connect it to the cold water pipe - along with the sink?

Thanks again,
P.

[sparx]

Rather unusual to have twin flex on metal cased equipment, particularly as it has earth symbols on!
If earth not required because it's class II item it will have 'box inside box' double insulated symbol near where flex enters oven. If not visible get connections checked inside oven for earth term. & if there get 3 core flexed before use. DO NOT connect to pipes/sink etc as a fault in oven to case would try to liven up sink/pipes untill fuse blows, not a good idea...regards Sparx