ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Non-US Electrical Systems & Trades Earth crimp connections

Comments?

http://www.earthcrimpconnectors.co.uk/earth_crimp_connector_range.html

The wires could quite easily fall out and it's extremely ugly looking.

Fall out? Not if the wire is crimped, can it?

The cable should be secure if the crimp is made properly. It seems these are being aimed mostly at plumbers for bonding around plastic pipe couplings.

You wouldn't want to use them at a main bonding point where you might want to disconnect to test.

Hmm, they look a bit iffy, but better than no bond at all. The big question is, how many plumbers would actually use them?

The $64,000 question! If my past experience is anything to go by, very few. Most of them have no idea about electrical bonding.

The ones I have run across here haven't got much idea about plumbing either! It seems all the bits now 'plug in' with little skill other than cutting plastic pipe to length and reaching for the pvc glue bottle. Hardly any soldering or pipe bending, just a remorseless quest to teararse through every job using proprietary parts to 'save time'. Even the WCs now come completely factory assembled!
And the finished product? Best hidden behind the sheetrock! It's just plain ugly. I have yet to see any modern plastic-pipe plumbing that pleased the eye, and this product can be described in 4 words:
Saves time, looks crap.

Alan

These devices look really cheap and shonky IMO.
Why do I get the feeling by looking at them, that they are supposed to be soldered and not crimped?
The joint between the pipe union and where the wire connector join looks really dodgy, like it's only been stuck on with glue.
I wouldn't use them, if they were the last connector on earth.

Mike:

I am not sure that I understand the purpose of doing it this way to begin with. I mean, installing them would involve cutting the pipe and soldering the coupling into the pipe run. Why not simply use a clamp-type connector?

I am with you on this one; they look risky and of little added value.

Ed,
I couldn't agree more, but perhaps, these are made for new work, as in installing it in a new line of pipe?
Most of the crimp gear I use gives a standard crimp every time.
When Mr Plumber comes along with his slip-joint pliers and attempts to do a decent crimp with them, I can't see how an effective connection can be made, especially one that could quite conceivably carry quite a bit of current under fault conditions.
One last question, is there a proper crimp tool offered for these devices?,some of the crimps on that page that Paul linked to, look really shocking.