Water falls

[ryan_618]

Does a small water fall in someone's front yard meet this definition, and therefore is governed by part V of Article 680?

Permanently Installed Decorative Fountains and Reflection Pools. Those that are constructed in the ground, on the ground, or in a building in such a manner that the fountain cannot be readily disassembled for storage, whether or not served by electrical circuits of any nature. These units are primarily constructed for their aesthetic value and are not intended for swimming or wading.

 

[rcarroll]

Re: Water falls

OK, I'll bite. I'm gonna say yes, cuz the only difference that I see between a waterfall & a fountain is the direction of water flow.

 

[jwelectric]

Re: Water falls

680.2
Fountain. Fountains, ornamental pools, display pools, and reflection pools. The definition does not include drinking fountains.

Equipment, Portable. Equipment that is actually moved or can easily be moved from one place to another in normal use.

V. Fountains
680.50 General.
The provisions of Part I and Part V of this article shall apply to all permanently installed fountains as defined in 680.2. Fountains that have water common to a pool shall additionally comply with the requirements in Part II of this article. Part V does not cover self-contained, portable fountains not larger than 1.5 m (5 ft) in any dimension. Portable fountains shall comply with Parts II and III of Article 422.

Outlined above are the terms that would apply to your fountain (water fall).

This water fall would fall under the definition of fountain and by its very nature would not be portable. You made no mention of a swimming pool so that section would not apply. Unless, and that I will cover in a minute.

I bought some equipment and installed Koi fish ponds for a couple of summers to pay for the equipment. A couple of the ones I built was four foot deep and held around 6500 gallons of water. These were complete with pump, filter and lights. Although these were clearly fish fountains I had to treat them as swimming pools because of the confusion of the inspectors.

To see a Koi Pond click here

 

[steve66]

Re: Water falls

I think so. That makes it governed by parts I and V of 680 per 680.50.

The handbook is somewhat confusing:

" Part V does not cover installations in natural lakes, rivers, or ponds. However, it may be used in conjunction with the rest of the code where electrical equipement is installed in a natural body of water"

It doesn't cover installations in natural bodies of water, but you can use it for installations in natural bodies of water

 

[jwelectric]

Re: Water falls

Steve 66
ARTICLE 682 Natural and Artificially Made Bodies of Water

Here is where we find what you was talking about.

 

[ryan_618]

Re: Water falls

I need a 2002 answer for right now though.

 

[jwelectric]

Re: Water falls

The fact that this is a waterfall and, I think, not portable it would still be a fountain in the 2002 cycle. If this is a fountain that is falling from one bowl level to a bowl under it then I would think of it as a portable fountain.
If it is a water fall that has a rubber liner and rocks then it wouldn?t be portable and the same rules would apply.

[ June 06, 2005, 03:39 PM: Message edited by: jwelectric ]

 

[jwelectric]

Re: Water falls

trying to upload a picture of a waterfall

[ June 06, 2005, 03:46 PM: Message edited by: jwelectric ]

 

[steve66]

Re: Water falls

Or does it look more like this:



Then I think its probably permanent

 

[jwelectric]

Re: Water falls

DID YOU BUILD THAT ONE!!!!

Danm you good!!!

Didn't think I was ever going to get that little Koi pond to upload

 

[physis]

Re: Water falls

Are you asking if a water fall is a fountain?

I'd say yes.

Water is pumped up and falls back down in either case.

My dictionary says:

An artificial spring, jet, or flow of water.

2002 says the same thing you posted and that parts I and V apply to fountains.

 

[George Stolz]

Re: Water falls

Okay, Ryan, so spill it, what did you see now?

I'll try to get a picture of my parent's fountain in the backyard, they did one heck of a job on it.

Then I came in and timer-ed the pump, and photoeyed the light.

 

[ryan_618]

Re: Water falls

Originally posted by georgestolz:
Okay, Ryan, so spill it, what did you see now?

I just needed to get some opinions. I had a contractor call and ask me, and I told him that my opinion was that it would be a fountain, but I also told him that I would ask around.

Thaks

 

[physis]

Re: Water falls

If it matters, when I very first looked at the question I was thinking "no way, they shouldn't have limited the description so much". It took a little thought for me to decide it's easily a fountain.

 

[jwelectric]

Re: Water falls

So what do you think of the water fall that Steve built?

 

[ryan_618]

Re: Water falls

Looks like a fountain to me

The reason this was brought up was to determine if a hard wired pump would require GFCI protection, which it seems it does for fountains (but not for pools???).

 

[steve66]

Re: Water falls

jwelectric:

You should see the pump I had to use. I'm taking donations to help with the electric bill

Steve

 

[sandsnow]

Re: Water falls

Originally posted by jwelectric:
So what do you think of the water fall that Steve built?

Well, I think he has a bright future in the landscape business.