I am running into a lot of cunfusion with local electrical inspectors concerning swimming pool bonding. I would like to get an expert explanation for exactly what is required for the following specific application. Please quote articles, passages, training seminars or other methods of how your interpretation was developed.
Application:
Permanent inground, vinyl lined, metal wall swimming pool. (Metal walls consist of galvanized steel sections bolted together with zinc 3/8" bolts.)
One metal niche light fixture with factory installed bonding lug.
Interpretations:
Prior to the acceptance of the 2005 code, I would drill a 1/4" hole in the outer edge of a pool wall near the light niche, install a copper grounding lug to this hole with a 1/4" zinc screw, fasten the end of a #8 bare copper wire to this lug, run the wire through the lug on the light niche, and then run the wire back to the pool equipment. This was my interpretation of the code and always passed inspections.
After acceptance of the 2005 code, I am being told that each and every metal pool panel must be bonded individually, citing that if the bolts were to come loose or get separated somehow, the entire pool would remain bonded. In addition, I have read and am being told that the bolts securing the bonding lugs to the metal walls must be copper, brass, or stainless steel and the lugs must be listed as direct burial.
References:
The only reference I can find in the 2005 code is Article 680.26 (C)(2) that says the wall of a bolted or welded metal pool shall be permitted as part of the equipotential bonding grid. I cannot find another reference to bolted metal pools anywhere else.
Quustion:
Do the bolted metal walls of the swimming pool not constitute one continuous piece of metal? (Just as the tie wires do on a rebar constructed pool shell.)
(The direct burial, all copper lugs with stainless steel fastening hardware are nearly $5.00 each. If every panel were to be bonded separately, there would be nearly 40 lugs on one pool. The cost of bonding the pool would be more than 25 times what it was and this isn't even close to counting the new 3' equipotential grid.)
Application:
Permanent inground, vinyl lined, metal wall swimming pool. (Metal walls consist of galvanized steel sections bolted together with zinc 3/8" bolts.)
One metal niche light fixture with factory installed bonding lug.
Interpretations:
Prior to the acceptance of the 2005 code, I would drill a 1/4" hole in the outer edge of a pool wall near the light niche, install a copper grounding lug to this hole with a 1/4" zinc screw, fasten the end of a #8 bare copper wire to this lug, run the wire through the lug on the light niche, and then run the wire back to the pool equipment. This was my interpretation of the code and always passed inspections.
After acceptance of the 2005 code, I am being told that each and every metal pool panel must be bonded individually, citing that if the bolts were to come loose or get separated somehow, the entire pool would remain bonded. In addition, I have read and am being told that the bolts securing the bonding lugs to the metal walls must be copper, brass, or stainless steel and the lugs must be listed as direct burial.
References:
The only reference I can find in the 2005 code is Article 680.26 (C)(2) that says the wall of a bolted or welded metal pool shall be permitted as part of the equipotential bonding grid. I cannot find another reference to bolted metal pools anywhere else.
Quustion:
Do the bolted metal walls of the swimming pool not constitute one continuous piece of metal? (Just as the tie wires do on a rebar constructed pool shell.)
(The direct burial, all copper lugs with stainless steel fastening hardware are nearly $5.00 each. If every panel were to be bonded separately, there would be nearly 40 lugs on one pool. The cost of bonding the pool would be more than 25 times what it was and this isn't even close to counting the new 3' equipotential grid.)
