anti static wrist straps

[kia cat]

as our mains water supply is now via a plastic pipe, what do we use for grounding the strap to?

[ACtheTROLL]

you should always have been using a bonded earth
water pipe isn't reliable enough.

and it needs testing... regularly - just because it should be earth doesn't mean it is ... you could be plugging yourself into the mains.

I have seen cases where the electric feed was the only source of earth - bedrock is a poor conductor

[Hymie]

Maplin do a mains plug that is designed to provide an anti-static wrist connection point.

As can be seen from the spec � the wrist connection point is connected to the plug earth pin via a 1MΩ resistor. In terms of ensuring that no static is built-up, you do not have to be earthed � just connected to earth via virtually any impedance. Being directly connected to earth could cause problems if the item you first handle has a charge, and it is discharged too quickly (hence the 1MΩ resistance).

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=1 2712