I need to sister (from below) a badly weakened joist under a bathtub ( several generations of plumbers, or non-plumbers, had holed and notched it to within inches of its life–right at mid-span!). In order to sister, I need to re-route the copper supply pipes and want to use PEX due to the tight quarters. The thing is, downstream of my proposed re-route, the electrician (it’s a spa tub) had attached a ground clamp with a wire running (presumably, can’t see where it goes) to the spa electrical box. Is he trying to get a ground from the pipes, which I think is illegal, or is he just making sure the pipes in this part of the house are grounded. Anyway, is it a good idea for me to “bridge” my PEX repair w/ a grounding conductor?
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Presumably it's just for "insurance" (and not a dumb idea).
Anyway, yes, it would be prudent to install a jumper wire around your patch.
Yeah, after refining my search, found a thread that said any length of metal pipe over 5' has to be grounded. I wonder why the electrician only clamped to one of the pipes--was he assuming a good electrical path thru the mixing valve? Just asking, I'll hook 'em all together.
He'd generally clamp to what he judged to be the cold water pipe. Sometimes the connection through a water heater isn't reliable. Though the mixing valve does bond the pipes together anyway.