How can I avoid corrosion on my bonding wire this time.

[wxman18]

I've been working on my pool for over a month. It started due to a bad brick coping job. My pool was installed six years ago. Steel wall, vinyl liner, steel steps. There was no footer under the coping. I have taken all the decking out and in this process found that the initial copper bonding connectors have corroded. Probably due to the lack of sealing behind the coping and the salt water. Anyway, the purpose of this post is to find something I can cover the new bonding connections with so I can avoid this in the future and for piece of mind. I'll try to post some pictures.

 

[wxman18]

This is what the pool looked like before I tore into the project.

 

[borjis]

Difficult to say, but I will say that you should clean both the wire and the mount points first, so
that it is clean/shiny metal to metal contact. It doesn't look that way in the photo.

maybe put some grease over it once the connections are tight and fully fastened?
I know you should do that after and not before the connections are made so
grease is not interfering with the metal contacting well.

or maybe spray it with some lithium grease or wd 40?

just an idea.

Awesome pool by the way. Love the major depth!

 

[JamesW]

I suspect that the bond lug was aluminum, which was a bad choice.

 

[ajw22]

You may have enough dissimilar metals to benefit from installing a zinc sacrificial anode.

PoolTool Home- Manufacturer of specialty pool and spa tools

 

[JohnT]

There are lugs that are not rated for direct burial, and that's what you want. They tend to be way beefier looking than what you have.

Like this one Blackburn 2-Count Copper Lugs at Lowes.com

 

[wxman18]

There are lugs that are not rated for direct burial, and that's what you want. They tend to be way beefier looking than what you have.

Like this one Blackburn 2-Count Copper Lugs at Lowes.com

Thank you very much.

 

[wxman18]

Looks like I better dig all the way down to the pool light. I'm now more concerned that they didn't properly bond the casing. Peace of mind.

 

[Edc1911]

Adding a little dielectric grease on the lug could help with the corrosion.

https://www.amazon.com/Permatex-22058-Dielectric-Tune-Up-Grease/dp/B000AL8VD2

 

[JamesW]

The original lug was probably aluminum.

Aluminum on a bond wire is a bad idea because it becomes a sacrificial anode to everything else on the bond wire.

Copper doesn't usually corrode.

The main problem with the copper lugs is the steel screw which will corrode.

If anything, I would replace the screw with a stainless steel screw.

 

[Cincicobra]

If you are concerned salt water is getting to the lug through the coping you could cover each lug with potting compound, which may seal it up from exterior moisture as best as possible.

 

[wxman18]

The installer used Aluminum Lugs. That was the main problem. We are good to go now. I got some Noalox corrosion inhibitor to cover them just to add piece of mind. I also think he used a grounding rod for the pump and heater so I ran a new wire to make sure it was all bonded together.

 

[borjis]

Excellent. And good on you for making sure that safety feature is functioning properly.

 

[jatkinson]

Silicone the snot out of it. Corrosion requires oxygen, this will help seal it up.