I have a house that was built in the late 60's (San Diego) with a pool that was built sometime after the fact, probably not too long after the house was sold. I recently (year ago actually) had the pool re-surfaced, coping, tile, etc. After the work was done, I had an electrician come and install a new light and after an hour or so of trying to get the light to work he came and said there was an issue with it, that it kept tripping the GFCI; he disconnected it all and said that I should return the new light and to call him when I got the new one. Well I never did, because I don't use the light anyway. Anyway, was talking to a neighbor who does electrical and asked him about it and not even sure how we got to talking about bonding but we did, and I went over to the pump to check it out, and sure enough my pump is not bonded to anything. And looking at the light j-box, there isn't anything there. I poked around in the dirt to see if I could find something on the edge of the concrete pad, and nothing. So I've had multiple electricians out on this pool to install a new pump, when the pool was shutdown to get it re-surfaced, this last one for the light, and not a single one mentioned anything about pool bonding. After reading more about it (and then coming here) and watching Mike's videos on testing with a volt-meter I decided to try it myself. The numbers were all over the place from the deck to the water to light cover. So I'm going to assume that I don't have a bonding grid.
So, I will lead off with I am not looking to do anything myself. But I want to see exactly what my options are. The pool shell definitely has rebar in it as it was staining the pool bottom. The light and niche are definitely metal, and its a red brass conduit for the light. The old plumbing was copper pipe for the return, and PVC for the suction side; the copper was left in the ground but replaced with PVC. There was a bottom drain that might have had metal plumbing, but the drain was covered during the rebuild. The deck does not appear to have any re-bar in it as its cracked (and separated in multiple locations), and I actually cut out a 30 x 3 foot section and didn't hit rebar. The decking is honestly not in great condition, so removing it isn't something I am against because it's ugly. There is also 2 exposed and cut off bolts from a diving board that is long gone. But no metal handrail, skimmer is all plastic, no ladder.
Anyway, during the testing above I did some continuity testing and I get a chime if I test between the light shroud and the cut off bolts from the diving board, also between the bolts and the old copper return pipe (it's shaved off close to the deck), and between the shaved off bolts and the brass light conduit. With that said:
1. Does the continuity test at least imply that the pool shell and the original metal plumbing and such, are tied together?
2. Since the remote-earth to concrete pad voltage test gave inconsistent numbers all over the deck, would the voltage test show consistent numbers if there was no rebar in the deck but a grid or bonding wire underneath? I'm not sure how conductive non-reinforced concrete is.
3. How do you find an electrician that specializes in this work? I've talked to a couple of electricians since I've found all this and the answer is always "I don't do pools, but I can take a look". Which doesn't give me a good feeling.
4. I'm probably going to rip out most of the deck anyway, but I'm assuming that there isn't a way to get this taken care of without ripping it out, correct?
Thanks!
So, I will lead off with I am not looking to do anything myself. But I want to see exactly what my options are. The pool shell definitely has rebar in it as it was staining the pool bottom. The light and niche are definitely metal, and its a red brass conduit for the light. The old plumbing was copper pipe for the return, and PVC for the suction side; the copper was left in the ground but replaced with PVC. There was a bottom drain that might have had metal plumbing, but the drain was covered during the rebuild. The deck does not appear to have any re-bar in it as its cracked (and separated in multiple locations), and I actually cut out a 30 x 3 foot section and didn't hit rebar. The decking is honestly not in great condition, so removing it isn't something I am against because it's ugly. There is also 2 exposed and cut off bolts from a diving board that is long gone. But no metal handrail, skimmer is all plastic, no ladder.
Anyway, during the testing above I did some continuity testing and I get a chime if I test between the light shroud and the cut off bolts from the diving board, also between the bolts and the old copper return pipe (it's shaved off close to the deck), and between the shaved off bolts and the brass light conduit. With that said:
1. Does the continuity test at least imply that the pool shell and the original metal plumbing and such, are tied together?
2. Since the remote-earth to concrete pad voltage test gave inconsistent numbers all over the deck, would the voltage test show consistent numbers if there was no rebar in the deck but a grid or bonding wire underneath? I'm not sure how conductive non-reinforced concrete is.
3. How do you find an electrician that specializes in this work? I've talked to a couple of electricians since I've found all this and the answer is always "I don't do pools, but I can take a look". Which doesn't give me a good feeling.
4. I'm probably going to rip out most of the deck anyway, but I'm assuming that there isn't a way to get this taken care of without ripping it out, correct?
Thanks!
