220 Volt GFI ??

[danfu]

Hey Guys,
First of all, I have read this entire thread...very interesting...and I have some questions.
I have an above ground pool. It has always been a pain, but being in the lawn sprinkler business, I had a customer who wanted me to add sprinklers to the new grass area she acquired after filling in her old pool. She gave me the pump and filter.
Being a mechanical guy, and adept with piping, etc., I poured a concrete pad about 6 feet from the pool and installed the pump, filter and piping. I ran a wire from my back porch to the pool and plugged the pool into the GFI outlet. I set the pump to 110 and it has worked fine, except...until, the circuit becomes overloaded from too many lights, or the vaccuum, etc. Total pain in the rear.
Plus...the run is about 150 feet and I ran short of wire so I have a couple of splices in the ground. If it rains, or if for whatever reason the valve box where the wire connections are fills up with water..it kicks the GFI.

I have never really felt safe in the pool with the pump running...and my wife insists that it be turned off before anyone gets in the pool...but it doesn't take long for bugs and such to inundate a pool like this. (we live on 4 acres)

So, I want to hook up a 220 GFI circuit breaker in the breaker box in the garage and run new wire from there to the pool. I have the pump grounded to Earth...but...all I know about bonding is what I have read on this forum and in the Pool School blog.

Recommendations would be appreciated. I am not an electrician and would have a licensed electrician do all the work (except running the wire).

 

[danpik]

Hey Guys,
First of all, I have read this entire thread...very interesting...and I have some questions.
I have an above ground pool. It has always been a pain, but being in the lawn sprinkler business, I had a customer who wanted me to add sprinklers to the new grass area she acquired after filling in her old pool. She gave me the pump and filter.
Being a mechanical guy, and adept with piping, etc., I poured a concrete pad about 6 feet from the pool and installed the pump, filter and piping. I ran a wire from my back porch to the pool and plugged the pool into the GFI outlet. I set the pump to 110 and it has worked fine, except...until, the circuit becomes overloaded from too many lights, or the vaccuum, etc. Total pain in the rear.

If the cord for the filter is over 3' in length it is a code violation of NEC 680.7

Plus...the run is about 150 feet and I ran short of wire so I have a couple of splices in the ground. If it rains, or if for whatever reason the valve box where the wire connections are fills up with water..it kicks the GFI.

You can not have any connections like this. It has to be a continuous run of wire. If splices need to be made, they must be in a weather tight box above ground.

I have never really felt safe in the pool with the pump running...and my wife insists that it be turned off before anyone gets in the pool...but it doesn't take long for bugs and such to inundate a pool like this. (we live on 4 acres)

The pool should be fine to swim in IF it is wired properly

So, I want to hook up a 220 GFI circuit breaker in the breaker box in the garage and run new wire from there to the pool. I have the pump grounded to Earth...but...all I know about bonding is what I have read on this forum and in the Pool School blog.

Recommendations would be appreciated. I am not an electrician and would have a licensed electrician do all the work (except running the wire).

You are confusing bonding and grounding. Bonding is to bring all conductive objects into the same electrical potential. Grounding serves as a path back to source to clear any faults (trip breaker) Relying on a ground rod to trip a breaker simply will not work. A ground rod provides no clear, low resistive path back to the source. the source in this case is the secondary winding on the pole transformer out at the utility pole. One of the biggest dis-services we get from our education system is the myth that electricity seeks ground. It does not. It wants to get back to its derived source to complete the circuit. Ground rods serve as a discharge point for high voltage events such as a lightning strike.