I want to finish my basement and want to reroute a few copper lines with PEX.Do I need to be concerned about un- grounding any applince or system?I know my hot water heater is grounded to a copper water line.Or any other issues?House was built in 1999.
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Replies
You should trace the pipes you're interrupting and figure out where they go. If they feed any electrically powered device (water heater, washing machine, etc) then you definitely should attach a substantial copper wire jumper between the ends of the pipe. But at least the house is too new to have any electrical outlets, etc, grounded to the pipe.
Beyond that, electrical code does require grounding any substantial amounts of metal in the house, but my vague recollection is that the requirement is equally vague. It's wise, though, to ground any relatively large chunk of the pipe, in case it should somehow "become energized" due to a wiring defect somewhere, etc.
Grounding
A lot depends on the age of your home. If it is less tha 20 years old it has a seperate EGC that does not need the copper water lines grounding clamp. The NEC only requires a seperate ground to be run to the water line where there are circuites in a wall that may be subject to getting wet, i.e. awet wall or plumbing chase wall. That doe not mean the a seperate ECG has to run from each wet wall. It only means that the EGC from the panel must be run to the nearest point of entry of the copper water line into the home.
Most of the water line grounding requirements have been changed as the results of new non metalic water lines both inside the home and outside, IIf the main water line entering the home is anything but copper, it make no sense to have a grounding clamp on any interior copper pipe. If the main is to be used as part of the homes grounding conductor, there must be at least 10" of copper line outside of the home and below the frost depth.
If your home is older and the only EGC is the connection at the water main, then yes you should use jumper across any runs where you interupt the ground path with PEX. If the older home was built to code even more than 20 years ago the grounding path from all circuites should go to the main electrical panel and then to the copper water main, There has never been a requirement that each individual appliance be grounded to a water line, only to the main service entrance panel.