My inground pool was built 2 years ago, with concrete decking. I'm looking to install a slide now. The concrete was plumbed for the water hookup, but I don't see a way to attach a slide to the bonding grid. How much do I need to worry about this? Do certain slides not require bonding? Maybe those without metal posts? Thanks.
Slide Bonding
- Thread starter steeltowncpa
- Start date
Only metal parts with any dimension over 4" need to be bonded. Some slides are all plastic.
since the only parts of the slide that are likely to be metal are the legs, I doubt there is much of a hazard to worry about. The electrical potential of each leg will be quite small so I doubt you would feel any electrical anomaly from them
Thanks for your responses. The slide I was looking at is the wild ride made by Interfab. It appears to have fairly thin metal posts. I assume I would be ok with it?
Page 3 of the Assembly and Installation Instructions for the Interfab has a large block of text that says "ALL SLIDES SHOULD BE GROUNDED Check your local electrical code requirements".
I think their use of the word grounded is incorrect; it should read bonded, but that's a very common word substitution.
Of course it's all up to the code enforcement folks to decide but the code clearly requires all conductive items greater than 4" in any dimension to be bonded. There is no exception granted for "I don't think it's necessary" or thinking it's just too hard to do. The rules are meant to protect current owners and future occupants from death.
I think their use of the word grounded is incorrect; it should read bonded, but that's a very common word substitution.
Of course it's all up to the code enforcement folks to decide but the code clearly requires all conductive items greater than 4" in any dimension to be bonded. There is no exception granted for "I don't think it's necessary" or thinking it's just too hard to do. The rules are meant to protect current owners and future occupants from death.
Interesting. If you read through the rest of the manual you will see that they make no provision for bonding and the various metal parts are not even connected together. And assuming the hand rails are not metal (which is far from clear) I don't see anything metal that is 4" or more. If you look at some of their other slides you will see several where the metal parts are all connected together and bonding lugs are provided.
Then maybe it doesn't apply to that model and it's a general warning they put on all their manuals.
Would it be even possible to bond a slide after a concrete pour without tearing up the existing concrete?
Yes, but not at all easily. Typically you use a circular saw to cut slots which then have a bonding wire pressed in. The slots are then filled back with concrete. They invariably show, but aren't too bad.
Another option is if the water line feeding it is metal, you can hook to that and them bond the other end of the water line to the grid