Pool water energized

[James S.]

I need some help. I normally dont mess with pools that much but a friend called me with a problem. It seems that when you put your hand near the light you can feel the tingling of voltage. Even with all the breakers and switch off.

Like I said I dont normally work on pools so my knowledge in this area is limited. Any suggestions?

 

[GoldDigger]

I need some help. I normally dont mess with pools that much but a friend called me with a problem. It seems that when you put your hand near the light you can feel the tingling of voltage. Even with all the breakers and switch off.

Like I said I dont normally work on pools so my knowledge in this area is limited. Any suggestions?

Start by using a probe on the end of a non-conducting stick instead of your hand, and measure to some common reference point like a screwdriver in the ground. You will be looking for differences in voltage rather than absolute voltages with this approach.

The tingling as your hand approaches the light could be that the light frame is not bonded to ground or to other pool metal and is energizing the water near it OR that the water is more or less uniformly energized and the light frame is providing an earth ground and so is creating a potential gradient in the water. Figure out which it is.

If it happens with all pool breakers and switches off but stops if you turn of the main CB for the service, then you have a current leakage or a ground/neutral voltage difference caused by house loads. If you have it still with the main open, you may have a ground/neutral offset caused by an open ground and/or neutral being energized by other services on the same transformer.

It may be that proper bonding of the fixture to other pool metal will get rid of the symptoms, but I would rather understand the underlying problem.
So start with the voltage measurements and use logic from there.

 

[Dennis Alwon]

I am betting it is stray voltage possibly from the power company. Are you shutting down all the breakers on the entire building? or just at the pool? If you shut the main off and there is still voltage then it is probably coming from the power company.

It may also be an energized water line in the ground