Undersized Bonding Wire

[MinerJason]

During my pool remodel I uncovered what I'm fairly certain is a bonding wire, which was hiding in the dirt next to the equipment pad (which was tiny and broken into pieces). The problem is that it's only 10 ga wire, instead of the standard 8 ga. While cutting a portion of the deck out for a water feature wall I took out a metal volleyball pole sleeve, which was bonded to the adjacent rebar with 2 pieces of 10 ga wire. This leads me to think that all of the bonding wire is likely undersized.

When I cut the deck and dug a trench for the new skimmer plumbing I exposed a portion of the conduit for the pool light. I had a 30ft section of 6 ga copper wire in my shed, and my thought was to use a ground clamp to secure the 6 ga wire to the brass pool light conduit, connect it to the rebar for the equipment pad, to the rebar I installed around the new skimmer, and to the existing 10 ga bond wire.

Does this seem like a reasonable thing to do? What else can I do to maximize the effectiveness of my bonding grid after the fact?

Any thoughts or ideas are greatly appreciated.

 

[PoolguyinCT]

Get your town inspector involved if you can, that way the own it after the inspection.

When was the pool built?

 

[MinerJason]

Get your town inspector involved if you can, that way the own it after the inspection.

When was the pool built?

That's a good idea, I'll look into it. Around here they're hesitant to get involved unless there's a permit for work or a complaint filed about non-permitted work being done, and what I'm doing doesn't require a permit here, so it might be a bit of a challenge.

Hard to say when the pool went in. It wasn't there in Jan 1973 when the building permits were finalized, but had already been there a while when a tax assessor came out in 1982, so mid 1970's is my best guess.

 

[PoolguyinCT]

Play the family safety card, that should get them out.

 

[CJadamec]

For a 70s pool be happy you at least have a bonding wire to begin with. There may not have been a requirement for the wire to be #8 back then.

You have a bond wire running to your equipment pad as well yes?

If you can easily add new copper to bond what was is already bonded it's not a bad thing and would insure there would be no issues with old and corroded wires. I would leave all the existing bond wire in place.

 

[MinerJason]

Thanks all.

Yes, there's a 10 ga bonding wire going to the equipment pad. I just poured a new equipment pad yesterday, and tied the existing bonding wire to the rebar in the new pad, along with the new 6 ga wire I ran from the brass light conduit. I sanded the corrosion off of a section of the conduit and used a brass grounding clamp to secure the new 6 ga wire. So I know for sure my light niche, water, and equipment pad are bonded together, and am hopeful that the existing 10 ga wire is properly bonded to the rebar in the shell. Was mostly wondering of people thought this was sufficient, or if there was anything else I could to ensure things are well bonded.

 

[CJadamec]

That all sounds and looks good the only other thing I would think to check would be a metal ladder or handrail. But if the anchors are embedded in concrete you won't be able to tell if they are tied in.

 

[PoolguyinCT]

A continuity test may put your mind at ease , light should be tied to shell steel & bond and ring everything together (that’s the whole point)

I’m curious, given your day job - did you cook that slab from scratch on a piece of plywood old school style? Or bagged mix from Home Cheapo?

 

[MinerJason]

A continuity test may put your mind at ease , light should be tied to shell steel & bond and ring everything together (that’s the whole point)

I’m curious, given your day job - did you cook that slab from scratch on a piece of plywood old school style? Or bagged mix from Home Cheapo?

Was thinking about that. I exposed some rebar on the opposite side of the pool from the light, when tapping into plumbing for the sheer descent, so I could test continuity between that and the light niche and the bond wire.

I'll attach a photo hint on the slab. You can probably guess how the Baja shelf extension, footer for the water feature wall, and deck patches will be mixed too.

 

[PoolguyinCT]

Looks like a delicious recipe.

1-2-1 mix?

How are you going to place it? Elbow grease velocity or chute & gravity?

Are you actually doing this all by yourself?

 

[MinerJason]

Looks like a delicious recipe.

1-2-1 mix?

How are you going to place it? Elbow grease velocity or chute & gravity?

Are you actually doing this all by yourself?

Went with a weaker M20 mix for the equipment slab, 1:3:1.5, and a stronger M30 mix (1:1.5:0.75) around the skimmer. Planning to use M20 for the footer and either M25 or M30 for the Baja shelf and patching the holes I cut in the decking.

Placement will be a combination of elbow grease and gravity.

Had two friends come over and help for half a day during the chip out, but otherwise it's been just me. My 5 yo son and 2 yo daughter try to help, but they often provide equal parts help and damage.

And thanks for the link on continuity testing! Much appreciated.

 

[PoolguyinCT]

It’s amazing what a man with a plan can knock out solo.