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Homeowners who look closely at a water heater or a gas meter sometimes notice a bare copper conductor clamped to the pipe, running off toward the electrical panel. It looks like an afterthought. It is not.

What is bonding and how is it different from grounding?

Grounding connects an electrical system to earth. Bonding connects metal parts of a building to each other and to the electrical system, so that everything a person can touch sits at the same electrical potential.

The distinction matters because voltage is a difference. Current flows through a body when two things it is touching are at different potentials. If they are bonded together, there is no difference, and therefore no path.

Why does metal piping need it?

Because piping runs through the entire structure and people touch it constantly.

If a hot conductor ever contacts a metal pipe, whether through a damaged cable stapled against it, a failed appliance, or a nail driven in the wrong place, that pipe becomes energized. Bonded, the fault current has a low-resistance path back to the source, the breaker opens, and the condition ends in a fraction of a second. Unbonded, the pipe stays energized and waits.

What specifically has to be bonded?

Metal water piping. Metal gas piping. Structural metal framing where present. And the metal parts of any equipment likely to become energized.

The water piping bond has historically served two roles, because in older construction the buried metal supply line also acted as a grounding electrode. That secondary role is why the connection is often found near where the supply enters the building.

What is CSST and why does it get special attention?

Corrugated stainless steel tubing is a flexible gas piping product widely used since the 1990s. It is thin-walled compared with black iron pipe.

That thinness is the issue. A nearby lightning strike can induce enough current in a gas piping system to puncture CSST, and a puncture in a gas line is a very bad outcome.

Manufacturers therefore specify a direct bond, sized larger than a general equipment bond, connected to the electrical service grounding. Some newer jacketed products have different requirements. Which product is installed determines what is required, and that information is printed on the jacket.

Houses built or re-piped in the metro from the late 1990s onward frequently have CSST, and the bond is one of the more commonly missed items.

What goes wrong with existing bonds?

Corrosion at the clamp is the most common. A clamp on a pipe in a damp Wichita basement or crawlspace corrodes at the joint until it no longer conducts, while looking entirely present.

Interruption by repairs is the second. A section of metal supply pipe replaced with plastic during a repair breaks continuity, leaving the bond connected to a length of pipe that goes nowhere. This is extremely common in older housing across Delano, Riverside and College Hill where partial repiping has happened over decades.

Removal during appliance work is the third. A bonding jumper across a water heater gets disconnected when the heater is replaced and never reconnected.

How would I know if mine is wrong?

You largely would not, from observation. A bond that has corroded through looks identical to one that works.

What you can do is look for whether one exists at all. A conductor clamped to the water piping near the service entrance, and for houses with CSST, a conductor clamped to the gas piping. Absence is informative even if presence is not conclusive.

The measurement that settles it is continuity and resistance testing, which is a short job.

Does this apply to my older house?

Bonding requirements have been in the code for a long time, so most houses have something. Whether it meets current requirements and whether it still functions are separate questions.

Sedgwick County inspects against the 2023 National Electrical Code, in force locally since the beginning of 2025, and that edition sets the sizing and connection requirements. Existing installations are not required to be upgraded absent other work, but a panel replacement or service upgrade brings the grounding and bonding arrangement into scope.

Permits for that work go through the Metro Area Building and Construction Department on (316) 660-1840.

What does correcting it involve?

Usually very little. A properly sized conductor, listed clamps rated for the pipe material, and a route back to the grounding electrode system or the service.

The cost is almost entirely access and labour rather than materials, which is why it makes sense to have electrical contractor in Wichita KS check and correct bonding during any other electrical work rather than as its own call-out.

Is there anything I should not do?

Do not use a plumbing clamp or a hose clamp. Bonding clamps are listed for the purpose and for the pipe material.

Do not assume a ground wire attached to a pipe is doing the job. Attached and conducting are different states, and the whole failure mode of this system is that it looks fine while doing nothing.