How to Bond Pool Water

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D

Dilleo162

Bronze Supporter
Jan 16, 2020
11
North Carolina
Pool Size
20000
Surface
Vinyl
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Autopilot Digital Nano+ PPC2
Bought new house with a pool a year ago. Luckily found this site pretty early on, so we had no issues last year, closing or opening this year. Had to complete our first slam about a week ago because we had gotten lazy but everything is great with that now. Now, onto my concern. When we closed the pool last year, we had a metal ladder that looked to be on its last leg, so we threw it out and got a Sfatron ladder. Recently I had a few small cuts on my fingers, and now feel a slight tingle, and I am thinking the old metal ladder is what was used to bond the pool water. I am going to get some bare copper wire today to wrap around our step handle (still metal) and drop into the water and see if I still feel the tingle. Is that a good test? If that fixes the problem, what can I do as a permanent solution? Also, I mention the slam because during the slam I did remove the light from the niche, or tried to. I took the screw out and removed the light, but the wiring wasn't long at all, could only get it about 6" out of the niche, so I just had it sitting at the front of the niche for a day during the slam, then put it back into the niche. Could this also have caused an issue with the bonding? I have only noticed the tingle since the cuts on my finger, so I cannot be sure if this started before the light (but after the ladder change) or just started after I removed the light and put it back.
Thanks for any help anyone can provide!
 
Welcome to TFP.

The light niche is often used to bond the pool water. With the ladder and light removed you may have lost that.

There are water bond devices you can put in your skimmer or a pipe and connect to the bonding grid to maintain the water bond.

From Electrical Bonding - Further Reading

  • The pool water must be bonded to the bonding loop with a device like:
    • the Burndy BWB680AGRK Waterbug Pool Water Bonding Kit. You drill a hole through your skimmer and install it there.
    • the Perma-Cast PB2008 Water Bonding Fitting PB-2008 in the pipe going to the pump on a tee fitting
 
Thanks for the replies! The light is still there, I just pulled it out during the slam to make sure no algae was hiding behind it. I just took the screw out and left the light slightly pulled out from the niche since it's wiring wasn't long enough to get it all the way to the pool deck. After the slam was finished I put the light back into the niche and put the screw back. Could this have caused something to prevent it from bonding the water? The ladder however is gone, and replaced with Sfatron, so if the ladder was used to bond the water, I assume the Sfatron won't do that.
With the skimmer kit, I would need to have access to the backside of the skimmer?
Is the copper wire test a good way to see if the water isn't bonded, and then go from there to find a solution? Or could I just take the step handle, and put it into the anchors where the ladder was if it goes into the water and see if I still feel the tingle? If the new ladder broke the water bonding, may just be easiest to just go back to a metal ladder instead of the Sfatron one.
 
Hard to say what creates the water bond. Try the things you listed and see what you observe.
 
Assuming the step handle is properly bonded, you could drop a bare copper wire in the water to test it.
The NEC requires that an electrical bond of at least 9 sq inches in contact with the swimming pool water. Put a couple feet of the wire in the water and see what happens.
If you don’t know where or how the water is bonded, you should add a water bond regardless of the results of the test.
 
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Tried a few years:
Held on to the step railing and put cut finger in the pool- could feel the tingle.
Wrapped 8gauge bare copper around railing and put finger in water- no tingle.
Went back and forth between these 2 a few times, felt tingle with no copper in water, couldn't feel tingle with copper in water.
Then I went over to the pool ladder:
Touched the coping and stuck finger in pool- tingle.
Put copper in pool and touched it to the ladder anchor- no tingle.
Went back and forth between these a few times and always felt tingle without the copper in the pool and couldn't feel it when the copper was in the pool. At one point the copper was in the pool but I could feel a tingle, but then I looked and the other end wasn't touching the anchor.
With these results, it seems the ladder was what was used to bond the water, so I think the best thing to do is just get a new metal ladder and try to resell this new Sfatron ladder. Does everything think that is a good plan?
 
I just did another test, just to confirm. Had my wife slowly lower the copper into the pool while I wasn't looking and I could tell her right when it hit the water and when she took it back out. She wanted to feel it as well and could tell the exact moment also.

with that said, are these the only options:
-Burndy waterbug, would need access to the back of the skimmer? That would involve tearing up concrete, so not likely.
-Permacast fitting, my equipment pad is slightly above pool level. It is my understanding that this has to be installed below water level so it stay in contact even when equipment is shut down.
-just go back to a metal ladder.

Are there any other options?

Thanks for all of your help!
 
I think you should go back to a metal ladder.

Good job diagnosing the problem and fix. :goodjob:
 

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That's my thought as well. Kinda surprised there isn't a kit of some sort to drill a hole in a Sfatron ladder at the anchor then have a wire running inside the tubing of the ladder so you could use a Sfatron ladder to bond the water.

Either way, I'll just get a new ladder and see if we can sell this ladder.
 
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