fiberglass pool

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domnic

Senior Member
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
How do you bond the fiberglass pool to the concrete deck around the pool?
 

Dennis Alwon

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Chapel Hill, NC
Occupation
Retired Electrical Contractor
If it is a non conductive pool you don't bond it. You do have to bond any equipment that is metal that is part of the pool. The water must be bonded also but that is done if there is a light in the pool or with special fittings at the pump
 

domnic

Senior Member
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
POOL

POOL

If I set on pool deck and I get a 4 volt shock when I put my foot in the water does mean the deck and water are not bonded?
 

GoldDigger

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Location
Placerville, CA, USA
Occupation
Retired PV System Designer
Either that or there is current flowing through the water to the bond point which is cresting a voltage gradient in the water.
If there is a metal drain fitting and pipe, it must be bonded too.

Tapatalk!
 

domnic

Senior Member
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
POOL

POOL

If the water and deck are bonded and drain hade voltage on it the water and deck are at the same potential how could I feel voltage?
 

GoldDigger

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Staff member
Location
Placerville, CA, USA
Occupation
Retired PV System Designer
The water will not have the same potential everywhere throughout its volume if current is flowing through it.
But if all metal parts are bonded to the pool deck and the pool does not leak, it is hard to see where the current would be coming from.
Just remember that there can also be potential differences within the earth if fault or neutral currents are flowing in it. And those differences could be transferred to the water by any penetration which is not metallically bonded.


Tapatalk!
 
Last edited:

augie47

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Tennessee
Occupation
State Electrical Inspector (Retired)
Can you provide nay more info about how the deck and water are bonded ?
 

domnic

Senior Member
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
Pool

Pool

I went to a service call. I did not wire the pool. the owner and a friend installed and wired the pool. owner told me he installed a #8 bare copper under the deck and bonded it to panel also bonded light and ladder to panel.
 

augie47

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Tennessee
Occupation
State Electrical Inspector (Retired)
The devil may lay in the details. His term "bonded to the panel" would certainly put some doubt into the pool/light, etc being properly bonded. (I have heard good arguments for not connecting the panel to the bond grid, but thats for a different thread)
There have been instances where stray currents, often associated with POCO equipment, have caused such problems. I would suggest turning off ALL house power and seeing if that has any effect.
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
... I did not wire the pool. the owner and a friend installed and wired the pool.

That could easily be the root of all problems right there. They may have had good intentions to try to do it right, but doesn't mean they still were not in over their heads and missed something. Was whatever they think they saved worth it if someone gets seriously injured or killed from their installation?:(

We can argue all we want about what is acceptable for DIY electrical work, but some areas like a swimming pool are not places where DIY belongs at all, but the average DIY doesn't understand how more sensitive the environment is a safety factor in such a place than most areas they are accustomed to doing such type of work. Non current carrying components are what gets them more than current carrying components in such installations.
 

growler

Senior Member
Location
Atlanta,GA
the owner and a friend installed and wired the pool. owner told me he installed a #8 bare copper under the deck and bonded it to panel also bonded light and ladder to panel.

That could easily be the root of all problems right there. They may have had good intentions to try to do it right, but doesn't mean they still were not in over their heads and missed something.


The first thing they normally miss is getting a permit so their work will be inspected. This will at least gets them a second opinion and make sure they are not cutting corners.
 

domnic

Senior Member
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
Pool

Pool

If a pool is installed PER nec this problem would not exist regardless of poco stray voltages ?
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
If a pool is installed PER nec this problem would not exist regardless of poco stray voltages ?
Stray voltages is what bonding everything imaginable together is all about. The idea is not to eliminate those stray voltages but rather shunt them around the users. If everything within a user's reach is all at same potential it can be thousands of volts above ground and the user still feels nothing, just like a bird on an overhead power line.
 
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