This is the second year with the in ground pool (20x40). We have spent thousands of dollars trying to figure out why we are getting an uncomfortable shock usually when someone has a cut on their hand and I'm at wits end. I've closed our pool for the moment and at this point I don't think it will ever be figured out. Maybe someone on here will have some ideas? We have called the energy company who had us replace the service coming into the house, all wiring and new panels in the house, and a number of ground rods around the property. We have had a dozen electricians to the house and most have no idea. The most common suggestion was the transforming on the telephone pole where the service comes into our house. In the past it has been spordiac and not consistent. For the past 24 hours the uncomfortable shock has been constant. We turned off all power to the house and it was still doing it. the energy company came out last night and replaced the transformer and it was still doing it when the transformer was disconnected and still with the new transformer connected. An engineer with the energy company is saying he thinks it is static from the overhead lines and because we haven't had rain in a long time, things are dry so it is worse than normal right now. This engineer is saying he "THINKS" the energy company needs to put ground rods in at the poles but seems his boss is disagreeing. The boss is telling us 3.2 to 3.5 is within normal range. I don't think so and that isn't an okay answer to me. The pool is bonded, grounded, and everything else. Anything around the pool has been eliminated. It is also doing this at the outside water faucets and the voltage meter has read as high as 5 volts at the water faucets. We have 4 water faucets with one being on the other side of the property on a different building. In fact, it actually started happening at the water faucets the summer before the pool went in the ground. I feel like I just spent 60k on a pool and I can't let my kids use it. I'm at wits end. My husband is saying if something happens, the energy company will be at fault but that isn't an okay answer either because if something happens, it will most likely be death. We did get a shock alarm on the pool but it doesn't go off until it hits 4 volts. That hasn't happened - YET! Anyone have any ideas?
voltage reading 3.2 to 3.5 all around the pool
- Thread starter huey72
- Start date
Welcome to TFP!
What you are seeing is the result of two issues. The first is easy and certain. Your pool wasn't properly bonded when it was installed. If it was bonded properly, you wouldn't have the voltage in and around the pool. The likely place it was skipped was either the shell if the pool is gunite or the concrete decking, though other areas can cause it. Many installer, electricians and inspectors don't understand the NEC sections regarding pool wiring and bonding. Tell us about your pool construction and equipment.
The source of the voltage is the mystery. The engineer suggesting more ground rods may be on the right track. Stray voltage is the term used on dairy farms where they have this problem, and it is very significant and common. You generally see it in more rural areas where there are fewer power customers per mile of lines. Infrequent grounding of the neutral can cause current to flow in the earth between poles, and cause a voltage difference to appear from some parts of the pool to others.
Other things that can cause it are defective well pumps (yours or the neighbors'), phone wiring, defective underground wiring, improperly wired outbuilding service.
The bonding is the most urgent issue. Not because the 3.2-3.5V is dangerous, but because if other more serious things happen you don't have protection. You also want to find the source of the stray voltage because it could indicate a larger problem. Finding and electrician or utility company worker who understands this can be difficult.
What you are seeing is the result of two issues. The first is easy and certain. Your pool wasn't properly bonded when it was installed. If it was bonded properly, you wouldn't have the voltage in and around the pool. The likely place it was skipped was either the shell if the pool is gunite or the concrete decking, though other areas can cause it. Many installer, electricians and inspectors don't understand the NEC sections regarding pool wiring and bonding. Tell us about your pool construction and equipment.
The source of the voltage is the mystery. The engineer suggesting more ground rods may be on the right track. Stray voltage is the term used on dairy farms where they have this problem, and it is very significant and common. You generally see it in more rural areas where there are fewer power customers per mile of lines. Infrequent grounding of the neutral can cause current to flow in the earth between poles, and cause a voltage difference to appear from some parts of the pool to others.
Other things that can cause it are defective well pumps (yours or the neighbors'), phone wiring, defective underground wiring, improperly wired outbuilding service.
The bonding is the most urgent issue. Not because the 3.2-3.5V is dangerous, but because if other more serious things happen you don't have protection. You also want to find the source of the stray voltage because it could indicate a larger problem. Finding and electrician or utility company worker who understands this can be difficult.
Hi Kris
Where are you putting the two leads of the volt meter when getting the reading? I'd like to check mine just for peace of mind. Hope this gets resolved soon.
Mike
Where are you putting the two leads of the volt meter when getting the reading? I'd like to check mine just for peace of mind. Hope this gets resolved soon.
Mike
It sounds like you have ground potential differences or it is also called a ground loop.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_loop_(electricity)
ePanorama.net - Circuits
Sometimes this is from using multiple ground rods that are not bonded together.
Other causes could be coming from your plumbing pipes especially if it is copper or other metal as it enters the home. Metallic water pipes should be bonded to the ground of your electrical service panel. Also if there is a water meter involved (inside or outside) the inlet metallic pipe should be bonded to the outbound pipe feeding the home. If you home is fed by a metallic pipe but also has sections of PVC and then back to metalic, you should bond the different sections of metallic pipe to each other. Last, anything that may interrupt the piping, such as a hot water heater should have the cold water pipe bonded to the hot water pipe. This insures that all piping is properly grounded. The fact that you are getting this "voltage" at the water bibs is reason to suspect metallic water piping is not properly bonded to ground throughout.
Bonding Water Piping | EC Mag
http://iaeimagazine.org/magazine/2005/11/16/bonding-metal-piping-systems/
Last ditch is also metallic piping for gas..... though more unusual... just a thought
BTW the power company most likely is not the source of your issue, very easy to prove, just shut off all the power to your home and I will bet you will still have ground potential differences.
Typically in your service panel the neutral is bonded to the ground at that point and only that point.
Neutral-to-Ground Connections
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_loop_(electricity)
ePanorama.net - Circuits
Sometimes this is from using multiple ground rods that are not bonded together.
Other causes could be coming from your plumbing pipes especially if it is copper or other metal as it enters the home. Metallic water pipes should be bonded to the ground of your electrical service panel. Also if there is a water meter involved (inside or outside) the inlet metallic pipe should be bonded to the outbound pipe feeding the home. If you home is fed by a metallic pipe but also has sections of PVC and then back to metalic, you should bond the different sections of metallic pipe to each other. Last, anything that may interrupt the piping, such as a hot water heater should have the cold water pipe bonded to the hot water pipe. This insures that all piping is properly grounded. The fact that you are getting this "voltage" at the water bibs is reason to suspect metallic water piping is not properly bonded to ground throughout.
Bonding Water Piping | EC Mag
http://iaeimagazine.org/magazine/2005/11/16/bonding-metal-piping-systems/
Last ditch is also metallic piping for gas..... though more unusual... just a thought
BTW the power company most likely is not the source of your issue, very easy to prove, just shut off all the power to your home and I will bet you will still have ground potential differences.
Typically in your service panel the neutral is bonded to the ground at that point and only that point.
Neutral-to-Ground Connections
There was a guy on this forum, I think he was an electrician/pool installer, who claimed that this was occasionally caused by a naturally occurring electrical field in the earth. Said he measured a case he couldn't figure out in the power outage in 2003, right in the affected area (here in the NE), and the multimeter still showed a current.
Anyway bonding took care of it.
Anyway bonding took care of it.
Well, actually I am not full of it. I focused a part of my schooling on bonding and grounding.
My guess is there is a concrete deck around the pool and this is where the touch potential is coming from. If so, the deck needs to be bonded to the pool shell an the water.
or maybe I am full of it
My guess is there is a concrete deck around the pool and this is where the touch potential is coming from. If so, the deck needs to be bonded to the pool shell an the water.
or maybe I am full of it
Shutting off service to your own home doesn't exonerate the power company by any means. In the overwhelming majority of cases the source of the stray voltage is the power distribution network and poor grounding practice.
A ground loop is not the source of the problem. If grounds are at multiple potentials then it is a symptom of the stray current, not the source.
A ground loop is not the source of the problem. If grounds are at multiple potentials then it is a symptom of the stray current, not the source.
I bow to the electrical engineer.
Sorry if I mis-stated about the ground loop, I was not trying to say it was the source to the problem just in helping to identify the problem such as poor grounding practices that you also pointed out.
I would be interested in your thoughts on the other things I proposed to be checked for the differences in (ground) potentials as a possible cause of the stray voltages that the OP was reporting on.
You are correct in almost all cases. The things you mention are certainly issues, but for the most part they are symptoms of the larger issue which is that there is current flowing through the earth creating different ground potentials around the property. Those things, including the pool not being bonded, would never be noticed if not for the current.
I too am having similar problems. With all the power off to the entire subdivision, there are still readings of 3.5-3.7 volts thruought the entire neighborhood. A home on another street that has several acres between my home and theirs has a hot tub and the owners are getting shocked when they get out of hot tub. The voltage reads on as many as 20 power poles outside our subdivision as well. Our subdivision has underground utilities. Outside the subdivision are poles that all read voltage in various levels. HELP
- Jun 7, 2017
- 9,187
- Pool Size
- 29000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Jandy Aquapure 1400
Swimming Pool Equipotential Bonding 1 of 3 Stray Voltage, (1hr:34min:27sec) - YouTube, really extensive knowledge of bonding and grounding. If you can get through his videos