Bonding
Connecting all the metal parts that could become energized (panels, pipes, pool equipment, gas lines) so they sit at the same voltage and faults trip breakers instead of waiting for a person.
Bonding and grounding travel together but answer different questions. Grounding connects the system to earth; bonding connects metal things to each other. A bonded metal water pipe that touches a frayed wire becomes a tripped breaker. An unbonded one becomes a 120-volt pipe. The principle: no two metal surfaces a person can touch simultaneously should ever be at different voltages.
The one place homeowners meet bonding by name is around water and gas: pool and hot tub equipment has strict bonding grids for obvious reasons, CSST gas lines require bonding against lightning damage, and the main water pipe bond near the panel is a standard inspection checkpoint.
Talking to a contractor about this?
Run the project past a licensed electrical pro first. Calls are answered around the clock and routed to a pro serving your area.
- Ungrounded (Two-Wire) Circuits : Pre-1960s circuits with only hot and neutral, no ground conductor.
- Bootleg Ground : A jumper from the neutral screw to the ground screw inside an outlet box, installed to fool testers into showing "grounded.
- Ground Fault : Current escaping its intended path and flowing to ground through something else: a damaged cord, water in a fixture, or a person.
- Arc Fault : Electricity jumping a gap at a loose or damaged connection, creating sparks at thousands of degrees inside walls.