Unresolved support ticket open for more than six months - is this a record?

[#1]

Different thing.
The gas pipes are usually metal and the reason for the bonding is to reduce the possibility of an explosion caused by a failure in the appliance causing the pipes to become live and creating a spark. If they are earthed then the earth leakage circuit will trip.
In the case of water pipes most of them are plastic including the feed to the property and this is why using them as an earth was banned.

[#2]

Quote from: Oldjim

A point to note - earthing to the water pipe is no longer legal - you must have a proper earth connection Also when a new meter is fitted they should check the earth system in the property

Yes, the guy that I spoke to at EDF today said that I would be best advised to get an electrician to bring my earthing up to today's spec - I think he mentioned using staking instead of mains pipe bonding. The EDF engineer who visited in August did not mention anything about  earth tests - he was here for 15 minutes (max) and just whipped out the old meter and popped the new meter in place. Because of this, I think EDF should fix this for free, but a longer term solution would be to get a good electrician to install proper earthing throughout.

Quote from: dustofAbsoluteEvil

When I had a new gas boiler fitted they insisted that the gas pipes had to be bonded.

I had gas c/h installed early last year and they bonded the gas and water pipes as well.

[#3]

Quote from: Oldjim

Different thing. The gas pipes are usually metal

I'm no gas / corgi fitter, but I understood that gas pipes in the property were copper as far as the meter, and then yellow plastic pipe to the local distribution unit and yellow plastic thereafter.

[#4]

Neither am I but I know that bottled gas is done with copper and this http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html is fairly specific

Quote

b) Installing new gas pipework All of the following applies to above ground pipework only, and for DIY work this would normally be copper. This document should not be considered a primer for gas pipework fitting. It is assumed that the reader is already proficient at installing copper water pipes, and that the gas pipework is not currently connected to the gas supply. Refer also to the chapters on testing the pipework for soundness, and purging of air.     * Acceptable materials are copper pipe and steel pipe. Plastic pipe is forbidden.

I think that plastic pipe may be OK if in concrete but not if exposed.

[#5]

Quote from: mal0z

I'm no gas / corgi fitter, but I understood that gas pipes in the property were copper as far as the meter, and then yellow plastic pipe to the local distribution unit and yellow plastic thereafter.

Yes, you're right - I had gas laid on to my property in December 2007 and Southern Gas Networks laid plastic pipe to my meter. When I had the gas c/h installed (April 2008), copper pipe was used from the meter to the boiler. It was great to say goodbye to those ghastly electric storage heaters that I had before!

[#6]

Oh yes I understand that Jim

Quote from: Oldjim

All of the following applies to above ground pipework only,

But if the underground pipe is plastic as I believe ?  - the internal metal piping would not be earthed unless bonded to the mains earth.
And aren't water pipes these days blue plastic piping from the network intothe home, and that is why they too are bonded to the mains earth. ?

[#7]

We may be digressing too far.........
Catweazle still needs the earth sorting out professionally, though whether it's related to the problem we can only guess at this stage. 

[#8]

A lot of these problems would be solved if the building regs said that a completely seperate earth had to be installed at the premises, preferably a long thick copper pipe laid in the foundations. Then this would remain isolated from the mains earth which can be a long cable back to the substation, which can introduce a lot of noise.
For established properties, optionally a long spike about 1 to 2m driven into the ground etc.
. Then this earth could be used for things like telecomms cables. 

[#9]

So what is it about the earth connection that's going to be causing the problem here? I agree it needs to be sorted out, but I'm trying to understand why it *might* be a problem for the ADSL.
I can't see that the BT line, and the ADSL modem, are using the earth as a shield, so lack of an earth won't suddenly allow noise in.
So is the thinking that the lack of an earth is *causing* interference on the line? If that's the case, then aren't we suggesting that there's current on the earth circuit, which in turn means there's a fault in the house's electrical installation, on top of the missing earth?
Mike

[#10]

OK, here are some pics, as promised.
Firstly, inside the RFI filter box...

[#11]

Next, three pics of the distribution board (not pretty!) - left, centre, and right views....

[#12]

Lastly a pic of the gas pipe bonding (the boiler is in the roof) - the earth cable runs down into what used to be the airing cupboard where it is bonded to the water pipes (one of which is the mains supply). A pic of the water pipe bonding is also attached.

[#13]

Quote from: WWWombat

So what is it about the earth connection that's going to be causing the problem here? I agree it needs to be sorted out, but I'm trying to understand why it *might* be a problem for the ADSL.

I know, I'm still sceptical that this is the cause, but getting the earthing sorted out is a good idea (from a safety perspective) and we can at least eliminate it from the list of potential culprits if the ADSL performance is still poor after the earthing is fixed.

[#14]

I think that, in theory, the earthing shouldn't be an issue if everything else is working 100% correctly.
But something else might be generating interference and proper earthing may cure or reveal it.
As you say, it's just a known issue (of unknown significance) to eliminate.

[#15]

If there is a problem with one of the earth bonds, lets say a high resistance contact, that could cause noise - either being radiated or propagated up the mains supply lines.
believe me - a lifetime in telecomms has taught me that many problems are caused by poor earths.