avoiding electric shock

[michaedt]

Half of my indoor plumbing system is galvanized steel and the other half is copper. I want to replace the steel with copper (it’s very clogged...especially the hot water). The whole system runs through my basement and staight up to the fixtures.
I notice that the ground from my electrical box is wired to the copper tubes in my laundry room (on the opposite side of the house from the hotwater tank), and the power from my living room (knob and tube) is also connected to the water lines below. Am I putting myself in danger when I disconnect the steel pipes--thereby unhooking my ground? I was originally going to install a PEX system, but I don't know what to do with the ground wires, so I'll work my way through the copper installation. In short, do I need to do anything to protect myself (and my house) while I'm replacing the pipes?
Thank you!

 

[Finnegan]

It sounds like you may want to have an electrician come in and make sure your systems are properly grounded. Though, you can find some good information on grounding and bonding online. You can certainly use pex in your plumbing system while not interfering with your electrical system. However, you do have to make sure that your electrical system is properly grounded. Even in all-copper systems, you should bond your hot water heater. Since there may not be a good copper to copper connection through your water heater, you should use a length of copper wire secured to the in and out water lines to ensure a continuous ground path. This is called bonding. As for your knob and tube, someone may have provided a ground to that system by running a ground wire to the nearest copper water pipe. This used to be acceptable, but not under most modern codes. Now you are required to run a ground wire back to your load center. If you are running one wire back to your load center, you might as well just run an entirely new cable. Anyway, grounding and bonding has become a little complicated and if you are moving things around, you might want to get someone in to check it out.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[michaedt]

thank you

Thank you, that makes perfect sense. I was planning on tackling the electric anyway, so I'll just take care of that problem first. I have an unrelated question that I'll start in a new thread. Thanks again.

 

[Toolaholic]

install ground rods

install 1 or 2 ,8 or 10 ft. ground rods into the earth near service, these are connected togeather ,then connect to the large ground lug in service panel.

 

[hj]

ground

install 1 or 2 ,8 or 10 ft. ground rods into the earth near service, these are connected togeather ,then connect to the large ground lug in service panel.

That will not do anything for any circuits grounded to the water system.

 

[Toolaholic]

well, I best spell this out

existing grounds need to be tied into service ground terminal, after ground rod or rods are installed.

 

[Jimbo]

It sounds like a previous owner may have tried to upgrade to "grounded" outlets by connecting to water pipes. This is not proper. You do need to have an electrician evaluate your system.

 

[hj]

grounds

It is not "proper" now, but was common years ago. In fact the telephone company always grounded their equipment to the closest water pipe, not always checking whether it was a hot or cold pipe.

 

[Toolaholic]

i agree

my guess some outlets on the knob and tube have ground clamps on the copper or galvey

 

[michaedt]

main box

I opened up my main service panel to make sure the ground was bonded to the box (it was). I'm going to run a #6 solid copper wire off the neutral bus, around to the other side of the house, and connect it directly to the steel pipe at the entry point to the house. I'll have an electrician install the grounding rod.
Then I'm going to rewire the older portions of my home to make sure my ground returns to the panel (instead of to the water lines).
Finally, I can then replace the steel with copper.
Sound good?
Thanks