Pauluk,
Some of those requirements may be Supply Authority ones.
I'm not sure what the UK is like, but over here we run off the SAA and local Supply Authority rules ( sometimes known as "Service and Installation" rules).
The bonding of service brackets or raisers may possibly be a requirement in Queensland, but is not required in Victoria or Western Australia to my knowledge. Unless of course double insulation cannot be maintained at the point of attachment, in which case they must be earthed. Exposed metal....earth or double insulate.
Similarly when I came over to Western Australia I noticed that over here that all metal sinks, troughs and basins must be earthed, yet in Victoria that is not considered necessary.
With regard to outbuildings, the rule of thumb is either take the earth with you or make one. I still see this botched up a lot (as little as two weeks ago......."you want me to do what with that earth".......gggggrrrrr). I'm not sure about soldering up the neutrals as I have never had to do that for the multiple type installations .....but that may be a requirement in Queensland.
The reporting of electrical shocks is mandatory in WA & Victoria and I would assume the same for other States.
In your earlier post you were talking about the size of the main earth. Our main earth size is determined by the size of the installations largest active conductor ( generally the consumer mains ). This is taken from a table directly out of our SAA Wiring Rules. ie a 16mm mains ( typically 80A service ) would require a 6mm main earth. The equipotential bond I think is still set at 4mm, regardless of the main earth size.
What I am interested in knowing is does anybody have a minimum earth stake to ground resistance that has to be met by regulation? Typically all earthing runs have to comply with meeting low resistance/impedance requirements but I have never come across a ground resistance spec other than for HV installations. I have just spent the better part of the last two years installing / upgrading our signaling system earths ( <5 ohms ) and was just wondering about this. I have been told that a typical 1200mm stake should be somewhere between 30 and 70 ohms...seems a little high to me, but I suppose that as we really rely on the supply authority earth at the nearest sub or tranny that it possibly doesn't matter???
Dapo, I downloaded that document at work yesterday...I intend to show it around a bit as we have quite a lot of very young and inexperienced sparkies here ( only because they never seem to get the exposure to the work ). Thanks for posting that, it really is quite informative. You mentioned that it was part of a licence renewal package. Do the guys in the *sunshine state* have to retest on licence renewal?
ciao
