Electric Shock!

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T

TheRick33

0
Jul 3, 2016
8
Minford, OH
Hello, everyone. We're experiencing an electrical shock in our inground pool. It's a 16 x 32 salt water pool with a propane heater and an automatic pool cover. The cover motor has a ground rod driven next to it with a copper wire to the exposed metal on the cover structure.

I'm testing 1.5vac from the water to any ground outside of the pool including ladder couplings and metal slide legs but not to the exposed metal on the automatic pool cover. There is a bond wire from the pump to a driven ground rod away from the pool and another bond wire that runs from the ground rod to the other end of the pool. It appears to go into the concrete to a light in the pool. I cannot find another bond wire on the other side of the pool. The voltage disappears once I disconnect the pump cord from the gfci. I used an analog multimeter and tested resistance from the exposed bond wire at the pump to all of the metal parts around the pool, including exposed coping where the paint had chipped. I'm showing zero resistance to these objects.

Due to the pump being part of the bonding loop, is it possible that the pool is bonded correctly yet still get stray voltage in the pool because its actually part of the loop? I've had the POCO out twice and their positive its not on their end.

Thanks for your help!
 
First off there should be no rods driven in a bond loop. Your pool ladder, water, pump, heater, light, pool deck and and anything over 4 square inches of metal within 5 feet of the pool should be bonded. The bonding should never touch the equipment grounding wires (the insulated green wires). If you have voltage from the water to the deck around your pool the the first thing you need to check is your water bonding point.
 
The wire from the pump is connected to it by an external lug on the case. It's an 8 guage wire that connects to a ground rod via an acorn clamp approximately 5 ft behind the pump. Another 8 guage wire connects from there and travels half way around the pool underground.
 
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Cjadmec above is correct. I would first make sure your water is bonded. Is there a water bond in the light niche. Do you understand what a water bond is?

You have two problems. You have some stray voltage or a short to ground near your pool and your pool is not properly bonded.

First make sure you have a water bond. Then unless the entire pool structure is metal, make sure each support piece and all metal attached to the pool is bonded. Water bonds look here: Amazon.com: Burndy Waterbug Pool Water Bonding Kit Ul: Kitchen Dining or here Amazon.com : Perma-Cast PB2008 Water Bonding Fitting : Patio, Lawn Garden

I like the second one.

Take your pump to a shop and have them bench test it to see why it is causing a bonding problem.

If you so all this and it doesn't work call an electrician. My normal response is to call an electrician .To test your pool bonding the video below describes a test for electricians to test pool bonding: Swimming Pool Equipotential Bonding [Part 3 of 3, Testing], (28min:39sec) - YouTube

Ground rods attached to the bonding loop do nothing. Ground rods attached to equipment grounding conductors should never be placed near pools. The equipment grounding conductor (the ground wire) should never be attached to the bonding circuit.
 
1. Hayward Superflow Pump 1.5hp and Hayward sand filter.

2. One pump, which plugs into a dedicated circuit with a GFCI receptacle. The voltage leak disappears when I unplug the pump from the GFCI. The SWG is wired into a separate circuit. No changes in voltage with that circuit breaker on or off. Both GFCI's tested good. The voltage only disappears when the pump/motor is disconnected from the power source.
 
To add, I've tested all the metal structures around the pool and I'm showing less than 1 ohm resistance between the bond wire at the pump and the metal objects around the pool, except for two objects (basketball goal and metal slide legs).

Another thing to note, the pool light would trip the GFCI after about 10 minutes of being on. I completely unwired it from the circuit because I figured water was getting into it. I replaced the GFCI as well.
 
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I don't remember seeing any fittings for a water bond, at least nothing that's visible in any of the exposed plumbing.

Even if the pump motor is the source of the voltage leak, I should see 0 volts in a completely bonded pool, correct? The reason I ask is that If my problem is indeed a missing water bond, then I should be able to attach a wire from the bond wire and submerge it into the pool water and erase the voltage in the water even if the pump continues to leak voltage.
 
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Code us minimum 9 inches square of surface in contact with the water that's a lot of wire in the pool. My guess is when you unwired your lite niche you inadvertently removed your water bond. A lot of in ground pools use the lite as the water bond. Either that or a metal ladder.
 
Update: There isn't a single pool store in 50 miles of me that has a clue what water bonding is. So to test if it was a water bonding issue, I submerged a 12in crescent wrench that was wired back to the exposed bond wire at the pump. I had no changes on the voltage in the water.

After I tried that, I connected an extension wire from the bond wire at the pump to my known (or so I think) bonded points around the pool (ladder sockets, coping, etc). Low and behold, the voltage disappears. All of these spots showed <1 ohm when I measured them back to the same point. Can anyone explain what I have going on here?

On a side note, the light in the pool has neither continuity to the bond wire nor voltage when measured from the outside casing back to ground. It is completely unwired from any circuit. This is the only metal object in the pool. The ladders are external due to the pool cover.
 
You may end up needing to either:

Get a bond to the light to bond the water.

buy one of those ul listed, skimmer water bug bond add ons (amazon has them) to bond the water.

I have not had any shock/voltage issues but my ladder that goes in the water had no bonding and I connected
that with 8 gauge bare copper wire to the pump bond lug to feel safer about it.

But it sounds like you just have rails on the deck so that wouldn't help your situation.
 
Update:

I purchased the a water bond kit and connected it to the water. Here's what's going on now...

1) The voltage disappears from the water to the bonded points around the pool when I connect the other end of the water bond to any one of the other bonded points (ladders, heater, etc. but not the pump)

2) When I connect the water bond kit to the bond wire at the pump, the voltage remains. It only goes away when I diconnect the bond wire totally from the pump. With that in mind, I figured the pump bonding wire wasn't attached to any of the other bonding points (ladders, etc) so I jumped an additional wire from the pump back to the heater (which is now the connection point for the water bond as well) and the voltage still remains...

The voltage does not disappear if the pump is connected to any of the other bonding points. It only goes away when the water bond is connected to the other bonded points.

What's your take on this?
 
I'm concerned about the pump.

First the water bond should be installed as close to the pool as possible. While some folks say the heater is ok, the closer to the pool the better.

When the bonding system is all connected where do you get voltage, from where to where?

cover to deck? cover motor to deck

deck to water

water to heater

pump to heater

When you kill the subpanel or main does it go way, what circuit does it originate from if it is even from your house.
 
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