Section – Two Part – 21

Electrical Specification Earthing System

PART – 21

EARTHING SYSTEM

1.0 GENERAL

The Earthing system shall be in full compliance with the requirements of the IEE Wiring
Regulations, Local Authorities Practices and the Specifications.

Any modification required by Local authorities shall be done at no extra cost.

Unless otherwise specified all materials used for earthing shall be of copper or approved copper
alloys, and shall be specially manufactured for the purpose.

The complete earthing system shall be electrically and mechanically continuous to provide an
independent fault current return path to the earthing source.

Bolted connections shall be of the multiple bolt type. Bolts, washers and stop nuts shall be of
high copper alloy. Ferrous hardware will not be accepted.

Where earthing terminal connectors are brazed to equipment, the metal shall be thoroughly
cleaned prior to brazing and the impaired surfaces repainted to prevent corrosion.

The impedance of equipment (earth loop) at any point in the electrical wiring system shall be
sufficiently low to limit the voltage to earth and to facilitate the operation of the circuit protective
devices in the circuits, as required by the IEE Wiring Regulations. Otherwise earth leakage
circuit breakers shall be used.

2.0 EARTHING INSTALLATION

Two separate earthing installations shall be provided. One installation shall be the System earthing
and the other shall be the Authorities Service Equipment Earthing.

3.0 SYSTEM EARTHING

The System Earthing shall consist of earthing pits connected in parallel if practicable, or shall
consist of 95 mm2 ring (counterpoise) buried under ground at a depth of 1 meter minimum around
the periphery of the building or substation if the latter is a separate structure.

Resistance of this earthing installation to earth shall not exceed 2 ohm. To this installation shall be
connected:

a) The neutral of the transformer(s) at the local authorities Low tension pillar or at the
main distribution switchboard if the former is not provided.

b) All Equipment earthing of the Electrical Works through a removable link at the Main
Distribution Switchboard connecting the main earthing bus to the neutral bus. If no main
switchboard is included in the works, a peripheral earth bus shall be provided in the Meters Room
to which all the equipment earthing shall be bonded. The earthing bus shall in turn be bonded
to the Local Authorities Low Tension Pillar neutral.

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Electrical Specification Earthing System

The main earthing bus of the main switchboard(s) if any shall be connected to the system
earthing by a 95 mm2 bare copper cable via a 40 x 5 mm main earthing busbar fixed on the
wall in an approved location.

4.0 SERVICE EQUIPMENT EARTHING

The service equipment earthing shall be a separate earthing installation consisting of earthing
pits connected in parallel. These pits shall be at least 8 meters away from the system earthing if
practicable otherwise the service equipment earthing shall be bonded to the system earthing and
the combined resistance shall be less than 1 Ohm.

To this installation will be connected: the ring main unit earthing bar, the transformer(s) and HT
switchgear tanks, HT cable sheaths, all exposed structural metal works including metal cable trays
when the substation is situated above a basement.

Connection material and sizes shall be as approved by the Local Authorities.

5.0 EQUIPMENT EARTHING OF THE ELECTRICAL WORKS

Equipment earthing of the Electrical Works shall consist of bonding all non-current carrying metal
parts of the Electrical installation to the System earth (TN-S system as per IEE Wiring
Regulations, latest edition).

Non-current carrying metal parts of the electrical installation shall include such items as cabinets,
exposed metal parts of apparatus as well as enclosures, doors, grill, etc., protecting or shielding
electrical equipment from direct access to unauthorized personnel.

The series earthing of one piece of equipment to another will not be permitted. All equipment
earthing connections shall be tapped from the applicable earth source.

Unless otherwise specified or indicated on the Drawings, cable armour shall be accepted as
equipment earthing conductors, provided they comply with the requirements of the Regulations.

All socket outlets, power apparatus, lighting fixtures and switches shall be earthed.

No point on the neutral shall be connected to the earth system except as described under "System
Earthing".

Additional earthing pits may be shown on the drawings at different locations. These pits shall be
bonded to the earthing bus of the relevant switchboards or panelboards as applicable in order to
reduce the earthing resistance. Neutral at such points shall not be bonded to the earthing system.

Shells of all water heaters shall be connected to the neutral and earthing of the corresponding
circuit.

6.0 PROTECTIVE CONDUCTORS

Earthing wires (protective conductors) are not shown on the Drawings. All circuits running in
conduits or in flexible conduits shall have earthing insulated conductors of minimum sizes as
follows:

Current carrying conductor Earthing Wire

(protective conductor)
S SP

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Electrical Specification Earthing System

(mm2) (mm2)

S less than or equal to 16 S

S greater than or equal to 16 16

but less than or equal to 35

S greater than 35 0.5 S

If more than one circuit is included in a conduit, one protective conductor per neutral or per three
phase circuit with no neutral shall be provided.

7.0 EARTHING PIT

The earthing rod shall be constructed from copper clad steel rod. Copper sheath shall be 99.9%
pure electrolytic copper. The steel core shall be of carbon steel, with tensile strength min 97,000
psi yield strength at 0.2% offset 85,000 psi, proportional limit 57,000 psi, percent of elongation
13%. Rod shall be cold drawn.

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