Bonding Wire

[Eric C]

I am in the middle of installing a pool timer and adding a salt water generator (Compupool) to update my inground pool. Originally the pump was operated with an on/off switch box mounted to the wall. Looking at the wiring inside the switch I noticed that the bonding wire entered the box and was connected to the ground wires via lug. Also the pump has no bonding wire connected to it at all. Tomorrow I will be mounting the pool timer to the wall in place of the switch and my thought was I should add another electrical box to house the bonding wire that comes out of the ground. In this new electrical box I was going to connect a new 8 AWG copper wire that ran to the pump and salt water generator. Is this the proper way to do it? If so do I need to run a "loop" of the new copper wire that starts at the electrical box and ends at the electrical box or in a line that ends at the SWG?

Thanks for your help!

Eric

 

[257WbyMag]

Welcome to TFP! We've got several people with experience in this type of thing. Sit tight and we will get your question answered.

 

[JasonLion]

The bonding wire is not typically connected to ground, though that is allowed these days. Nor is it typically installed in an electrical box. You don't want the bonding wire running next to live conductors if you can help it.

There are rules about what kinds of connections you can use to connect two pieces of bonding wire together. Standard wire nuts are not sufficient. It is usually fairly easy to find listed bonding clamps for clamping two wires together at any good electrical parts store or most of the big box hardware stores.

It doesn't have to be a loop.

 

[Eric C]

Thanks so much for your help! The bonding wire coming out of the ground is currently encased in PVC so I figured to run it into a small PVC box and inside connect the two wires via bonding clamp. Good point about having the bonding wire away from a live wire. I can't believe the pool inspector didn't catch this two years ago when I bought the house.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Interesting. The bonding wire shouldn't be in any type of conduit. It should be buried directly in the ground. They may have just stuck a sweep on the end coming out of the ground. I can't believe the inspector didn't catch it either unless he's the one that approved it in the first place??

The connectors you'll need have to be installed/removed using a tool. This usually means a screwdriver or wrench.

 

[gtojohn]

A "split bolt connector" is common connector for securing 2 wires together, easy to find at big hardware stores, $2-$4.