On May 20, 6:56*pm, "RBM" wrote:
"Ivan" wrote in message
...
On May 19, 6:48 pm, "
wrote:
On May 19, 4:51 pm, Ivan wrote:
I've had problems with the pump circuit at my pool. The electrician
fixed that by bypassing some other stuff up there and says he won't do
any more unless I agree to let him bring the old wiring up to code.
From what I've seen of what the prior electrician did, he's right.
But I'm not sure everything he wants to do is necessary:
1) Bonding filter pump and heater to "the bonding bar in the
electrical equipment trough". Sounds good to me, but I don;'t think we
have a bonding bar or a trough.
Per code all the metal around the pool and pool equipment
has to be bonded together. That includes metal pool ladders, pumps,
heaters, switch boxes, etc. Not sure what he means by
the bonding bar in the electrical eqpt trough, but it sounds
like he's proposing to tie the bonded parts to some bonding
point already there. Normally the pool ladder sockets
and the concrete surrounding the pool are bonded together
with a wire that then runs over to the pool eqpt. Then the
heater, pumps, etc are tied to it.
2) Supply and install a mounting board for the electrical
equipment. Needed? At the moment, it's all mounted to a structural
element of the pump house.
Depends on how whatever eqpt he's talking about is mounted
now. If it's securely fastened, then from what you've said,
I don't see the issue. If it's mounted half-assed, not secure,
no place to clamp wires, conduit, etc, then putting
it on a secure mounting is appropriate.
3) Install a twist-lock receptacle with in-use cover and a twist-
lock cord and plug for the pump? At the moment, the motor is hard-
wired to a switch. It is only disconnected when service is required.
Having it hard wired is how most of the ones I've seen are done.
There is no code reqt for a cord and plug, so I'd say that's
unnecessary and a waste of money.
Why are these items needed? The rest of his suggestions all make
obvious sense, so I have not listed them.
Did he include a GFCI for the pump? That is now required, as of
2008 NEC, I believe. Existing pumps are grandfathered, but
any time you're doing an improvement to the pump circuit
it would be required. And for the extra safety of having all
the pool eqpt on a GFCI I think it's well worth doing.
The pool ladder is about 15 or 20 feet from the pump -- does it still
need to be bonded?
EVERYTHING, metal that's associated with the pool must be bonded. The metal
sockets that the ladder sit in would (should) have been connected to a
bonding conductor when the pool was built- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -
Here's a diagram that shows how pool bonding should be done.
http://www.erico.com/public/library/fep/LT1242.pdf
This is inline with current code. Depending when the pool was
installed, the reqts may have been more lenient and what is
there is grandfathered as long as it met the code then and you
aren't changing/improving that part of the pool.
Bonding is important. The basic idea is that you want everything
that's conductive around the pool to be connected togther so
that it's at the same potential. That way if you're the path
between any of those things, there is no opportunity for
current to flow through you. In particular, note that the
concrete pool deck has a bonding conductor in it too. That
way the concrete you're standing on with wet feet is at the
same potential as the pool ladder, fence, conduits, etc.