Bond wire connection to pump motor..where is it?

borjis · Feb 16, 2015

I have a bond wire coming out of the concrete floor in the pool pump room next to the return pvc pipe.

It's not attached to the pump motor.

Does anyone know where on the motor I should attach the bond wire?

jblizzle · Feb 16, 2015

There should be a lug on the outside of the motor case to attach the bond wire.

danpik · Feb 17, 2015

Some motors do not have them. Check to see if it is a double insulated motor. It should say it on the data plate. If it is, then it does not get bonded.

borjis · Feb 17, 2015

If I don't see a bond wire lug and or it's double insulated, then does that mean there is no potential shock risk?

JamesW · Feb 17, 2015

The SuperPump usually has a bonding lug on the motor. Can you post a picture?

danpik · Feb 18, 2015

borjis said:
If I don't see a bond wire lug and or it's double insulated, then does that mean there is no potential shock risk?

It is not that simple.

Bonding is the act of connecting all metal items around the pool and the ground it is built on/in together to bring them all into the same electrical potential. This reduces/eliminates shock potential from differing voltage gradients. This has nothing to do with the electrical supply system to the pool equipment.

Grounding is a completely different science from bonding. Grounding is the act of bringing any fault voltage back to the source that the electricity was derived from. A properly connected ground wire back to the panel box and ultimately back to the center tap on the street transformer is what will clear a fault (trip the breaker) and protect you from a shock. Unfortunately, this may be a slow process or not happen at all if the Amp draw is not high enough to trip the breaker. This is where GFCI protection comes into play. This is what will ultimately protect you as the trip threshold for a GFCI is purposely set to be below the threshold determined to cause death.

A double insulated motor under normal circumstances will not carry a voltage potential on the case, thus not needing to be bonded

JohnT · Feb 18, 2015

Typically on a Superpump, the bonding lug is on the motor flange that is on the top left as you look at the pump from the wet end. Closest to the R in Hayward. This flange is a little bigger than the rest and has two holes in it. The smaller hole is the one the bonding lug mounts in.

borjis · Mar 2, 2015

Found it. It was at 12 o'clock on the pump motor, near where it mounts to the pump housing.

copper square thing with a grub screw.

I cleaned that inside and out as well as the bonding wire to a shiny copper finish
then attached it to the bonding lug.

thanks!