fiberglass pools

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Hugh judge

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I was recently sent on a residential service call involving swimmers recieving (intermitently) a small 'tickle" from the hand rail when exiting the pool. I was unable to register any voltage between the rail and any of the related surfaces (water, screen room, etc.) nor did I find any device issues or installation mistakes. I observed this however: the nature of my question, there is no path to ground of any kind for the water. the pool is plastic as is the pipe, all the fittings the pump, the roof-top solar heater, etc. in the event of an electrical discharge being introduced to the water at any location it would have no alternative but to use the unlucky swimmer holding the well grounded hand rail. have I missed something or is there no currently required means of grounding the water? perhaps a brass fitting somewere in the water piping attached to our #8 bond?
 
There have been many threads on this issue-- you may want to do a search. I would like to add that many contractors have said that they found that the power company cable was leaking to ground and finding it's way to the pool. Good luck.
 
Hugh
I am curious, what method did you use to test for current/voltage at the pool?


There is a ton of info on the net about "stray"voltage and pools shocks. Try google and belt yourself in for the long ride. Not all of the info available is accurate either...
 
method

method

I used a digital v.o.m. and made a few different attempts to obtain a voltage reading, 1: a piece of copper wire in the water on one probe with the other pressed to the hand rail. 2: same piece of wire, this time on the rail with the other probe on the aluminum screen room frame. With the probe/wire combo in the water I tried various combinations of contact points and conductors (myself, mostly) while alternating the on/off status of the pool equip. and everything else electric in the immediate area.
I was not able to create any voltage nor was I able to recieve the small trickle reported by my customer. My time there was cut short by heavy rain but I will be there again Monday. Thanks
 
I have a customer's swimming pool now with a stray voltage problem. It is easy to read. One lead from the VOM gets stuck right in the earth and the other lead gets dangled in the water. I'm measuring 2.7 volts. I have seen this problem many times and it is always in areas with underground electric utilities. I have seen readings as high as 7 volts. Good luck clearing this problem.
 
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