Stray voltages between concrete deck and pool

[kjcole]

Interesting thread. Glad to see that the source has been narrowed down. Sounds like a giant step forward in solving the problem. A shock everytime you use the pool! what kind of behavioral conditioning could that cause!?

Kelly

 

[JasonLion]

Remember that there are two problems, the electrical company problem and the incorrect bonding of the deck. The electrical company should not be causing any stray voltages. Presumably, they will fix that soon. But even if there are stray voltages, the deck should be bonded to prevent those voltages from being able to cause shocks. The way things stand right now, if a high voltage line came down nearby, or the electrical company made some kind of more serious error, there could be fatal voltages in the deck.

Sadly, bonding concrete after it has been poured is very difficult if not impossible. My understanding is that to meet NEC code you would need to tear the deck out and re-pour it with the required conductive mesh/rebar. Even if you are not required to meet NEC code, the pool was not built to current accepted safety standards and you have a strong case for making the builder replace the deck.

If you just want to ignore the code, there are various things you can do to mitigate the problem. But none of them will ever be as safe as a new deck with properly installed bonded mesh/rebar. The simplest of the "not up to code but better than nothing" solutions would be to drive grounding rods every couple of feet all around the deck and bond them all to the existing bonding system.

 

[PoolOwnerNumber9]

Thanks for the update. I am very glad that they found the cause. Please let us know what they do to fix the problem.

You might also ask an electrician if placing grounding rods around your entire property, connected by copper wire, essentially forming a "Faraday Cage" would cause the currents to go around your property instead of through it.

 

[oilengineer]

Interesting idea about the grounding rods around the concrete deck. An electrician told me that grounding rods need to be at least 6' apart to be effective. I could do this easily since I haven't moved topsoil, seeded and strawed around the pool yet. I could tie in to the existing grounding rod that grounds the pool light.