I don't believe that pipe dope prevents metal to metal contact.
In any event, the described fault was a broken neutral between the point of service and the transformer.
>If the person touches the higher potential side of a poor pipe joint and the other (low potential) side where the bonding to a gas line occurs you will have a possible safety problem.
The could be said if the person touched a water line, drain, vent, or structural steel. Shall we also not bond any of those?
I specified that everything had to be properly bonded, and that including the gas line in the bonding would not create a new hazard even if the neutral broke.
I would never try to suggest that any installation is safe unless everything is either bonded or insulated.
So of course as soon as you start with the premise that something isn't properly bonded, I will immediately concede that a hazard exists.
If everything else is properly bonded, then bonding the gas line also cannot create a new hazard that wouldn't exist if the gas line were not bonded...
even if the neutral is disconnected.
By the way, I saw an installation where the a panel of a duplex residence was grounded just to the bath tub in the adjoining unit. At one time there was a copper line between the units and one unit was grounded to that line. By and by, a water softener was installed and most of the water pipes were replaced with plastic. The only remaining copper ran to the upstairs bath room. No one ever complained of a problem with that and I would guess that it was that way for at least 10 years judging by the age of the softener.
Current has to be able to follow a path. There was nowhere to go from the bath tub.
This has been another true story backing up my belief that waterlines shouldn't count as required grounding electrodes.
[This message has been edited by Dspark (edited 07-27-2001).]
