Replacment of shower unit earthing of pipes. All aspects of plumbing questions and answers, help, tips and information

[patricia Finnegan]

Could you pleae help I have replaced a thermstatic shower connected up all the pipe work an reinstated the old earth to the cold water pipe in doing so my taps in the upstairs bathroom are live what could be causung this to happen.

[ericmark]

Not quite as easy as it first seems. With earths it could be a fault in the road outside is causing the perceived live pipe. Normally all metal work in the bathroom is connected together so you can not get a shock inside the bathroom but it does not always go back to the main incoming earth. If something goes wrong then everything should be at the same voltage so no shocks like the sparrow on power line though that does not mean everything at earth potential just the same potential.
So to start with this bonding must have some bits missing but also there is likely something wrong as well. Although this may be within your house it could be something else completely and getting it wrong could cause death so I think we should be just telling you to get someone in to check it. If you insist I will list all the tests, and, you could if you have the meters required, you could find the fault, but I would never forgive myself if someone died because something was missed, and I would feel happier if you got someone in to do the job. Not sure of value assigned to a life now, but I am sure it’s a lot more than it will cost you to get it fixed correctly.

[patricia Finnegan]

Thank you very much for your response I will get a spark to give the install the once over. I thought this would have been a quick fix but nothing is that simple.
Cheers anyway.