Bonding under the kitchen sink

[Luc V. L.]

A bonding wire is attached to this metal fitting beneath this sink. You can see that the connections to the fitting are CPVC and PEX. My understanding of the point of bonding is to provide a ground for electrically conductive pipes should they become energized. Am I missing some theory or is this bond wire effectively useless? Thanks.

20604

[Ted Menelly]

Pretty much useless. I guess one can argue that water conducts electricity and if there is metal of any kind at any point exposed then it could become energized.

Anyway, bonding from the water lines back to the panel is to send any juice going into the pipes back to the panel and then to ground. That's the way I look at it. Using pipes for a ground for the electric system is never the way to go. Anyone at any time could pull up the main line in and replace it with a non metallic line....unless your area calls for a metal line from the meter but it still should not be considered a ground but a bond from the water line back to ground.

[Jerry Peck]

Looks like an old house - is it?

If so, were the circuits ungrounded? If so, that may have been one person's idea of, and attempt at, grounding the receptacles for the counter. Their idea (if that was the case) did no good in the grounding department.

Looks like you have an 'S' trap there too, I suspect you already wrote that up.