Bonding later add-ons?

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smforte

smforte

0
Sep 12, 2013
667
Montgomery,Al
Split from HERE. jblizzle

Not meaning to hijack the OP....but could the same occur if you added an aluminum patio cover 5" from the pool and the cover wasn't bonded ? Would we need to bond anything of metal we add at a later date?

Apparently I hikacked another post and got in trouble once again. Anyway, they were asking about feeling a tingle in their pool and bonding.
 
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Failing to bond the aluminum frame of an automatic pool cover would create a dangerous situation, but would not necessarily cause you to feel any tingling. It takes at least two things wrong at the same time to feel tingling.
 
Thanks for responding Jason. My post may have got lost in translation....I'm referring to an aluminum patio cover 5' from pool edge. Last year, i think but can't swear by it, I felt a slight tingle once or twice when I was in the pool and we have a new patio cover. Was reading a link from the prev thread and it mentioned bonding everything.
 
The NEC requirement for bonding is anything metallic or conductive within 5' of the inside edge of the pool wall. Outside of the 5' distance there is no code requirement. However, a wet concrete deck (conductive surface) bonded to the pool will be at one voltage potential and the aluminum frame of the canopy can/will be at a different voltage potential. Bonding these is not a bad idea.
 
Because your structure is aluminum, you cannot connect a copper bonding wire directly to it. If these 2 metals come in contact with each other, corrosion is guaranteed to set in because of electrolysis. Essentially, a battery is created when you connect them together which "eats" up the aluminum. You need to use fittings that are designed for such purposes (they will be marked Al/Cu).

p.s. This problem is why aluminum wire is no longer used in house construction. It caused many houses to burn to the ground.
 
Ok, so this is a little over my head. Pool is 12 + yrs old house was a foreclosure. I know there is a copper wire coming from the pump motor going into the ground but that's all I know. I had the cover build when I bought the house. Great pool, everything is perfect and no major problems but for some reason I'm still Leary..how one one go about bonding this patio cover?
 
Ideally, you would purchase a CU/AL bonding lug. Any well stocked electrical supply house should have them. Connect the #8 solid bonding wire from that to the closest available point of the existing bond grid/wire such as the bond wire from the pump.
 
If you cannot find an al/cu bonding lug, you can use a cu bonding lug provided you coat it well with a conductive grease. NoAlOx is a product that is available at Lowes:

http://www.lowes.com/pd_24280-12704-30-026___?Ntt=noalox&UserSearch=noalox&productId=3128351

If you use it, wire brush the aluminum to remove any corrosion that is there. Quickly bolt the lug in place that has a good coating of it the face of the lug and the fastener that will touch the structure. I would also coat the wire before connecting it then, put a thin film on the lug after everything is connected. When adjusting the final run of the wire, do not allow it to touch the aluminum anywhere unless it has an insulation jacket.

Bare aluminum starts to corrode very quickly so, you need to have everything ready to go before you wire brush it.

Unlike greasing a car, there is no need to reapply this grease once the connection is complete.
 

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