Equipment Pad Bonding

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dw886

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Sep 19, 2016
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Some of my equipment wasn't hooked up last fall for the simple reason that I didn't want it outside over the winter. I have probably 20' of copper wire coiled up at the pad that's connected to the bonding grid of my pool. I know that everything metallic that's connected to the water in some form needs to be bonded, like my EasyTouch Panel, my heater, my pump, and my lighting transformer.

My question is around the *method* for bonding. Most of these pieces of equipment have a single bonding lug. They don't really look like they'd take two pieces of #8 wire. When bonding is done between equipment, do people try to use a continuous piece of bare copper wire? If so, it doesn't look like that part works on my EasyTouch, as there's a bend in the bracket that hangs down and makes it look like it needs to be cut there. There's two lugs on the EasyTouch, but they're not connected, so I'm assuming that you shouldn't use one for the pool connection, and one for the rest of the loop, right? I'm curious if anyone can share a picture of their equipment. I'm trying to figure out if this is more of a continuous loop, or a hub-and-spoke type of connection between these pieces of equipment?
 
We have a few folks here who can give you the right answer, and I am not one of them. This is crtically important, and I can't stress enough that you need someone knowledgeable and qualified to make sure whatever is done, is done right in the end. Sorry I am not more help, but I do want you to get this correct for your Family's and whomever's safety.
 
I probably should have also stated that the pool bonding grid was professionally installed and inspected my our local municipality.

I didn't have my ET panel or my lighting transformer outside over the winter, so now that those two things are mounted, I want to make sure that the bonding to those items is done correct.
 
You should reattach the bonding wires the way they were connected by the professional installer if you can. Look at the lugs do they look like they were used?

If your pad is a ways from the pool it is possible that the lighting transformer and the panel were not connected to the bonding grid. The pump (680.26 (B)(6))and the heater (680.26 (B)(6)(b)) must be bonded. The heater must be bonded per the instructions for the heater. Your transformer and automation panel do not have to be bonded if they are remote from the pool. 680.26 (A) (last sentence).

Before you disconnect again take a picture and use it when you reconnect. Generally you want to feed the bonding wire from one lug to the next in one string.
 
A continuous wire is best. However, you can use a copper split bolt to connect two wires if necessary.

The main thing is that the wire is #8 bare copper and goes to everything it's supposed to.

If you can post pictures, that would help.
 
gwegan said:
You should reattach the bonding wires the way they were connected by the professional installer if you can. Look at the lugs do they look like they were used?

If your pad is a ways from the pool it is possible that the lighting transformer and the panel were not connected to the bonding grid. The pump (680.26 (B)(6))and the heater (680.26 (B)(6)(b)) must be bonded. The heater must be bonded per the instructions for the heater. Your transformer and automation panel do not have to be bonded if they are remote from the pool. 680.26 (A) (last sentence).

Before you disconnect again take a picture and use it when you reconnect. Generally you want to feed the bonding wire from one lug to the next in one string.
Click to expand...

I probably should have mentioned that the pool was built last fall (November) and never started up. So there were quite a few pieces that I opted to keep inside over the winter. These items were never hooked up.

The confusing part of this is that when I think of "continuous", I think of a solid piece of wire with no breaks. With the lugs that are used, the side that accepts the wire meets a 90-degree bend just after the clamp on all of my pieces of equipment (Automation Panel, Heater, and Pump), making it seemingly "impossible" to feed a wire through the connection and then to the next piece of equipment. without using a c-tap crimp splice (or a split bolt, but it's my understanding that the connection is supposed to be "irreversible" so c-tap with crimp would be better?).

Here's a picture from the pump install page of inyopools - the lug on my pump looks just like this, and the picture kind of explains what I'm talking about. With the 90-degree bend in the lug, and the cable feeding into the side that has the bend, I don't see how you could get a continuous piece of wire through the connection on the lug, and past the bend onto the next piece of equipment without some type of splice.
dsc-0011.jpg
Am I missing something?
 
No you are not. It depends on what type of lugs are on the equipment. A split bolt is acceptable to attach two wires together. As long as the split bolt is UL listed. NEC 250.8 (A) sets forth acceptable means of connections for a bonding system.
 
Most lugs allow the wire to pass through. In most cases, the wire can be installed in a continuous piece. The lugs are not the best design and it can be difficult to maneuver the wire through in one piece. If you have pictures of a specific lug, we can better advise.

The lug in the picture will allow the wire to pass through. You have to put the wire through the hole but over the bottom piece so that the screw makes contact with the wire. The picture shows the wire installed below the bottom piece, but it goes over.

Any equipment that comes with a lug should be bonded.
 

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JamesW said:
Most lugs allow the wire to pass through. In most cases, the wire can be installed in a continuous piece. The lugs are not the best design and it can be difficult to maneuver the wire through in one piece. If you have pictures of a specific lug, we can better advise.

The lug in the picture will allow the wire to pass through. You have to put the wire through the hole but over the bottom piece so that the screw makes contact with the wire. The picture shows the wire installed below the bottom piece, but it goes over.

Any equipment that comes with a lug should be bonded.
Click to expand...

I'm probably overthinking this, but with all of the emphasis that I've read on bonding, the effects that it can have on people and equipment, and the amount of code around it, I just want to make sure that it's right. James, I think that you hit on where my confusion is. I was under the impression that the wire goes into Hole #1 in the picture below, mostly because it would have more contact area due to the triangular bend of that part of the lug, as well as the little barbs that are on both pieces that would seemingly hold the wire from going anywhere. If it's supposed to be on the bottom side where the screw is, then that's where I messed up.

Bonding.jpg
 
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pooldv said:
How about removing it and turning it over? Whatever that thing is called. :)
Click to expand...
Ha - I went down that same line of thinking. The problem is that the screw to tighten down on the wire ends up against whatever your piece of equipment is, so there's no way to tighten it unless you completely remove the bonding lug from the device, tighten down the screw, and then reattach the lug to the device. :eek:
 
OK, one last dumb bonding question:
I have a PS300 transformer that has a Pentair label (Part # 619963), and came with 2 globrite lights as a part of a kit (Part # 620081). There's no bonding lug on the outside of the transformer. There was a single sheet of paper in the box with it, and it has no mention of bonding.

If I dig up the GloBrite installation manual online, this is in there - I can't find any manual for the PS300 transformer itself:
INSTALLERS AND INSPECTORS THE GLOBRITE™ LED LIGHT AND PLASTIC NICHE FORM A COMPLETE NONMETALLIC LOW VOLTAGE LIGHTING SYSTEM. THIS CONFIGURATION DOES NOT REQUIRE BONDING OR GROUNDING WHEN POWERED BY A LISTED 100 WATT OR 300 WATT TRANSFORMER (LISTED ON PAGE 19) AND INSTALLED IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE CURRENT NATIONAL ELECTRIC CODE (NEC). UNBONDED LIGHTING NEC PROVISIONS: When the UL listed non-metallic GloBrite LED Light low voltage lights are used with the GloBrite light approved niches (as listed on page 19), the current NEC provides an exception to luminaire bonding and grounding in Article 680.6 and 680.23 POOL WATER BONDING NEC PROVISIONS : For Pool Water Bonding required by NEC Article 680.26C, concrete pools are considered conductive (refer to 680.26 (b)(1) due to the porosity of concrete and the bonding of rebar. No additional bonding is required.


This transformer is right at the pad with the rest of my equipment (about 20' from the pool). It's a metal enclosure. Is there a reason that this wouldn't get bonded while the rest of my equipment would?
 
This is probably a timely reminder for those that install a SWG with a power center, such as the Pentair Intellichlor systems. Be sure to add bonding wire to the power center.
 
A remote power center or transformer does not need to be bonded. 680.26(A) (Last sentence) "remote panelboards . . . ." do not require bonding. The NEC does not require bonding of these items and indeed explicitly states these items do not requre bonding. Pumps, SWCGs andmost heaters are required to be bonded as are electrical parts of the pool water circulating system no matter where they are located.

You may bond panelboards etc. The code does not prohibit it. But it does not require it.

Some of these items have bonding lugs on them because there are situations where you must bond them.
 
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