Poll for Inspectors

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J

Jljohnson

Senior Member
Location
Colorado
Section 680.74, 2005 NEC.
Here's the situation.... Jetted whirlpool tub, residential wood frame construction, PEX (plastic) water line from a manifold in basement near the incoming 3/4" copper water main from the street. do you require..........
a) a # 8 copper bond wire from the metal motor frame to the hot/cold faucet assemblies on the tub
or...........
b) a # 8 copper bond wire run to the incoming water main approx 100' away from the tub
or..........
c) some other option that I have not listed

I know how I would (and have) done this, how would this be enforced in your areas?
Thanks,
 
cowboyjwc

cowboyjwc

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Simi Valley, CA
If it's all plastic pipe I wouldn't worry about it, that is if we're talking about a bathtub type whirlpool.

Mine is fiberglass, all of the piping is plastic and the motor is the plastic case type that doesn't require bonding and the water pipe is already bonded.
 
raider1

raider1

Senior Member
Staff member
Location
Logan, Utah
I agree with Ryan and John,

If there is no metal piping system, then there is nothing to bond.

680.74 requires all metal piping systems and all grounded metal parts in contact with the circulating water to be bonded together.
 
wbalsam1

wbalsam1

Senior Member
Location
Upper Jay, NY
680.74

680.74

Hi: To answer the particulars of your poll... IMO, the idea of 680.74 is to establish an equipotential plane around the tub similar to swimming pool bonding grids and agricultural equipotential planes. The equipment grounding conductor of the pump motor takes care of ground-fault currents. No need to extend bonding conductor to panelboard or service equipment.
 
J

Jljohnson

Senior Member
Location
Colorado
Thanks for all the replys. I have always instructed my crews to bond the faucet assemblies to the pump motor in this situation. It was my understanding that the intent of this code section was to establish a 0 voltage potential between all metal parts in the area. I had to have a crew run 150' of #8 bare copper today so the job could progress without delay while I sort this out with the local AHJ. It wasn't worth delaying the project and having an unhappy customer but still didn't set very well with me.
 
electricmanscott

electricmanscott

Senior Member
Location
Boston, MA
Jljohnson said:
I had to have a crew run 150' of #8 bare copper today so the job could progress without delay while I sort this out with the local AHJ. It wasn't worth delaying the project and having an unhappy customer but still didn't set very well with me.
Click to expand...

If I were the customer I would be more unhappy with the fact that I had to shell out wasted money for the incompetence of the so called "inspector". :mad:

Only metal piping systems and grounded metallic parts in contact with the circulating water must be bonded. The faucet is not in contact with the circulating water.
 
Pierre C Belarge

Pierre C Belarge

Senior Member
Location
Westchester County, New York
wbalsam1 said:
Hi: To answer the particulars of your poll... IMO, the idea of 680.74 is to establish an equipotential plane around the tub similar to swimming pool bonding grids and agricultural equipotential planes. The equipment grounding conductor of the pump motor takes care of ground-fault currents. No need to extend bonding conductor to panelboard or service equipment.
Click to expand...


The two parts of Balsam's post that I highlighted are the reasons why any additional work would not be required. This is not grounding, the bonding is not to facilitate the opening of overcurrent devices either, so that leave what Balsam has posted as the reason and answer in one "fell swoop".
 
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