Earthing & Bonding Wickford

TM Hughes & Son provides a range of Electrical services in Wickford, which includes Earthing & Bonding.

Understanding Earthing & Bonding

Earthing and Bonding ensure electrical safety within any residential or commercial building.

The process of Earthing provides a direct path for electrical current to the ground. 

Earthing is accomplished by connecting the non-live components of electrical devices (like the metal housing) to the earth wire within the circuit.

Bonding creates a conductive path that reduces the risk of electric shock by ensuring voltage potential is equalised throughout the system, particularly in the event of a fault.

Bonding is accomplished by linking items with wires, such as metal water pipes and electrical supply systems.

Bonding aims to ensure all metallic elements in your premises share the same electrical potential.

In simpler terms, Bonding protects against receiving a shock when you simultaneously touch two separately earthed items.

Earthing and Bonding operate collectively as a safety pair. They function together to prevent electrical current from using you or anyone else within the property as a path to the earth in the event of a fault.

Instead, the current harmlessly disperse into the ground, safeguarding your home and its occupants from electrical shock.

A licensed electrician should always install and examine earthing and Bonding.

When fitting a new electrical system or working on an existing one, an electrician will ensure that the earthing and Bonding are installed and work correctly.

They will inspect the continuity of the earthing and bonding conductors, confirm the connections, and test the earth connection’s resistance to ensure it falls within safe limits.

These checks are carried out again during work on an existing electrical system.

This is crucial as alterations to the system can interfere with the existing earthing and Bonding or create new installation sections that need to be included in the earthing and Bonding.

For instance, if a new circuit is incorporated into the electrical system, the electrician must ensure it’s appropriately earthed.

We include the installation and checking of Earthing and Bonding in all our new electrical installations and any work we perform on existing installations.

It’s a good practice to arrange an EICR (Electrical Installation Condition Report) periodically to confirm the safety of your electrical system and Earthing and Bonding.

• Homeowners should have an EICR every 10 years
• Landlords must have an EICR by law every 5 years or at the start of each new tenancy
• Commercial premises should have an EICR every 3 years