Water Heater Wiring For Bonding

Bonding the plumbing attempts to keep the hot and cold plumbing at the same electrical potential.
Water heater wiring for bonding. It typically has two brass clamps with a thick copper wire strung between them. Without the jumper there is a break between the hot water and cold water pipes in the system which potentially disrupts the continuous grounding pathway of the. The reasoning is that the metal casing on the water heater itself is thought to be sufficient to complete the continuous grounding path between the cold water and hot water pipes in the home.
The water heater itself my have insulated joints to reduce electrolytic corrosion and the bonding jumper would provide a path to ground in case any hot water pipe got electrified accidentally. While a bonding wire is not always required by codes the part is only 10 and very easy to install so its not a huge investment to add one to your water heater. If this bond is not in place its possible for the hot and cold plumbing to be at different voltage potentials.
See Prop 65 WARNINGS. Because your water heater has dielectric unions so the hot and cold plumbing are isolated from each other. The transition from nonmetallic water pipe inside the walls to a plumbing fixture such as a sink toilet or a hose bibb is accomplished by using a copper 90-degree elbow and a short piece of copper tubing.
Occasionally you might see a jumper from the cold side to the hot side of the water heater and you may even see a jumper to the gas piping. Where hot and cold water pipes are electrically connected you need only one bonding jumper to either the cold- or hot-water pipe. A bonding wire is an external part that is attached to the water heater.
Houston Home Inspector discusses Bonding of Water heater. A conventional electric water heater will come with a black wire and a red wire which are connected to the wires of the same color as described above. One clamp is placed on the cold water pipe while the other goes on the hot water pipe.
The bonding connection is typically made at the hot-water side of the piping to ensure continuity of the required bonding for metallic piping within the structure. Attach Bond Wire From Pool Pump Here Access Content. The cold and hot copper water lines were isolated from each other at the water heater by dielectric unions an insulating bushing built into the union and then connected from the dielectric union into the tank using galvanized or black-steel nipples.