Developed and proven by industry professionals, the patented ECC Earth Crimp Connector enables the installer to satisfy the requirements of BS7671 (the IEE Wiring Regulations) for earthed equipotential bonding of central heating and H2O pipe work. Importantly, ECC’s offer valuable savings in both time and therefore money for all heating & plumbing engineers working within Part P of the Building Regulations, whilst at the same time ensuring that mandatory earth-bonding is satisfactorily completed
Revolutionary technology: ECC Earth Crimp Connectors have a fully integrated crimp port that is attached to the coupler by high temperature solder so to ensure that the crimping port stays fully integrated during installation.
Suitable for single or cross bonding.
Staffordshire University Electronic design Centre.
Has tested & approved EARTH CRIMP CONNECTORS
BS7671 Compliant
Currently the plumbing market has one main earth-bonding device for pipe work which is the screw strap. This is a widely used device but one which has proven to be barely acceptable to Installers in normal use, and has several serious technical weaknesses.
According to Staffordshire University Electronic design Centre:
It is quite common to see earth straps which were fitted loosely or have worked loose, compromising electrical safety.
The alternative solution is the new Earth Crimp Connector, which comprises a short copper side arm soldered onto a standard copper connector & NEW RETROSCREW. This side arm allows an earth wire to be pushed into the connector and simply
CRIMPED.
into a strong permanent attachment.
Due to its simplicity, the new earth crimp connector effectively replaces several essential earth bonding operations. In doing so the ECC removes the need for these irritating procedures and saves up to 60% of the time taken for traditional earthing during a typical installation.
More Technical Info
ECC Technical File | Technical Bonding | Hazardous Zones | What The DIY Dr Say’s
BONDING REQUIREMENTS
Most showers are installed in bathrooms and as an area of increased shock risk special precautions are required. Rooms containing baths and showers are split into zones.
Supplementary bonding is required within the zones. The bonding connects the earth terminal of each circuit
supplying equipment in the zones to extraneous-conductive parts. As an example these parts are-
Metal pipework, including waste pipework and central heating pipework
Metal baths and shower trays
Air conditioning and ducting systems
Accessible metal structural parts of the building, such as structural steel
The bonding can be carried out in the zones or within close proximity, for example in an adjacent airing cupboard.
Where plastic pipework has been installed the supplementary bonding requirements will be different.
The On Site Guide, section 4 gives further guidance.
Inspection and testing requirements
BS 7671 requires that every installation shall, during erection and on completion before being put into service be inspected and test to verify, so far as reasonably practicable, that the requirements
of the regulations have been met.
Inspection will precede testing and normally be done with the installation under inspection isolated from the supply.
The next stage is testing and certification of the electrical installation.
As this is a new circuit an electrical installation certificate, complete with a schedule of inspections and schedule of test results, would be required.
Finally, the shower unit needs to be commissioned in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions.