Bonding of aluminum sheet metal during retrofit

[mts37]

Hi all,

I have an old pool built in 1975 by a construction company called "Hunterdon General Contractors". Their design consists of an 8" think concrete shell (and I think concrete floor but it's not physically connected to the wall pour?). The liner right now is in a top mount trakc which is screwed into a piece of wood sitting on top of the concrete wall. On top of that is another piece of wood and then a layer of mortar with chicken wire is on top of that with the coping sitting on top.

Liner needs to be replaced and a popular NJ liner company who deal with this style pool all the time has their typical fix which includes running an 8" aluminum strip along the inner surface of the concrete shell and then installing an aluminum side mount track onto the aluminum sheet metal.

In the process of all this, i'll be ripping off the old coping and all the old rotten wood and then putting new coping back after the liner is installed. Question came up about who is doing the bonding of the sheet metal. Liner company says the aluminum sheet metal and the liner track they are installing do not need to be bonded. I asked for further clarification and they simply just said again that it does not need to be bonded.

Any thoughts on if this is correct or not?

Thanks,
Matt

 

[kimkats]

I am not sure about this but know someone that may. @ajw22 do you have any links handy to address this?

 

[Newdude]

Liner company says the aluminum sheet metal and the liner track they are installing do not need to be bonded.

It became code by me a couple years ago to bond the liner track, and/or any metal trim. You need to talk to the town elecric inspector to find out. If yours is recent too and the electrician you speak with hasn't done many new installs to fail inspection for it, they'll say no because it previous wasn't a requirement the last time they did one. Each section needed a bond on either side in case one failed. They also had to slather them with Skotch coat which is like a liquid rubber for protection.




The liner company doesn't get inspected on liner replacements and is long gone when the electric inspection happens on new pools. Heck. Even electricians are questionable if they know because many shy away from pools, or don't do them often to know every code detail.

 

[ajw22]

Are you trying to be safe or legal?

If you are trying to be legal then ask your local inspector what code applies in your jurisdiction.

If you are trying to be safe the bond it regardless of what the liner company says.

All metal with 5’ of the pool water should be bonded. If aluminum ladders on the side of the pool must be bonded then the aluminum strip and track minutes should be handled the same way.

 

[colonelkirby]

@ajw22, The 5' rule would also apply to buried gas lines from meter to pool heater? Or does bonding the heater cover that? I apologize in advance for the thread tangent....

 

[ajw22]

@ajw22, The 5' rule would also apply to buried gas lines from meter to pool heater? Or does bonding the heater cover that? I apologize in advance for the thread tangent....

You cannot touch a buried gas line while in the water.

 

[mts37]

Are you trying to be safe or legal?

If you are trying to be legal then ask your local inspector what code applies in your jurisdiction.

If you are trying to be safe the bond it regardless of what the liner company says.

All metal with 5’ of the pool water should be bonded. If aluminum ladders on the side of the pool must be bonded then the aluminum strip and track minutes should be handled the same way.

Most important for me: to be safe!

I have already contacted my electrician who will come and make sure everything is bonded when the liner replacement happens. I just thought it was odd that they were insisting the sheet metal does not have to be bonded.

I am a little concerned with "how" it will be bonded though. Coping is going to come off, but pool is surrounded by a concrete deck. Is this something that an electrician should be able to handle easily?

Pics for reference showing general pool area and also one piece of coping removed. Under the mortar is some wood and under that is the 8" thick shell. Pool equipment is behind that shrub int he corner where the motor is bonded to the main bonding wire which goes underground and runs towards the pool.

 

[ajw22]

You typical electrician who wires Romex in houses is not familiar with the details of NEC 680.26.

Meeting all the bonding requirements of 680.26 can be straightforward with new construction. But it can be difficult meeting current codes with existing structures the were built when the codes were different. That is where the electrician must understand the principals of equipotential bonding to create a safe environment working with existing construction that is grandfathered under the codes.