electrics

[kia cat]

My son has a metal bunk bed. Should this be cross bonded to the radiators to prevent probs ie a lightning strike? and Our water pipe has been replaced with a plastic one [prev. was metal] will this affect the earthing?

[thundercrack]

I think earthing the bed to a radiator would be not a good idea. the latest regs in new builds require radiators to be earthed back to the electricity boards supplied earth at the consumer unit unless the rads are fed by plastic pipes.so if yours are fed by copper pipe and they are not earthed and a cable has bare wires touching the copper( chewed by a mouse for instance ) then the rad would become live and so would the bed. if the main water feed pipe has been replaced with a polythene/plastic one this will make no difference to the earthing potential. there should be a large earth wire leaving your consumer unit and probably earth wires under your kitchen sink bonding hot and cold water pipes together.if you are concerned about the earthing on your property then it may be worth getting an electrician to check it out.

[buildersmate]

Earth bonding of pipes in the house and supplementary bonding of metal components in bathrooms is for reasons of electric shock. It is nothing to do with minimising effects of lightening strikes and it is not a job to be undertaken by a non-qualified person.
There is no reason to earth a metal bunk to anywhere.

[kia cat]

Thanks to you both, my query arose from the fact a girl nearly got electrocuted when the TV aerial on her house was hit by lightning, and it travelled down the co-ax lead and shorted out thru her bed frame. Is there no way of preventing that?