Water bonding on concrete renovation

[Abraxos]

Hello! I'm looking into properly bonding an old gunite pool. No lights, no metal fixtures exist, the current deck is concrete and it nor the water show bond when tested. After some early research it looks like the best option for me, with no new metal fixtures planned for install, is waterbonding.

Since this will eventually get a new concrete poured deck somewhere down the line, the plan is to initially bond the new equipment with a waterbonding kit and then when the deck is poured, add #8awg to that rebar to bond the deck, water and equipment all together.

Wondering if waterbonding alone would be sufficient safety for the new equipment until the later resurface/deck? Any wisdom is appreciated!

 

[ajw22]

Any equipotential bonding is better then no bonding.

Areas required by the NEC to be bonded will present risks until such a time as they are bonded.

Electrical Bonding - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Abraxos]

Thank you for that clarity! How would you go about tying in old shotcrete where the rebar has been encapsulated over 40y? Is this a common enough situation on old gunite? How would you "grandfather" the pool shell and existing deck, it's all one piece, like a bowl with a rim, no exposed rebar, no lights, no drains, no metal parts of any kind?

Just curious how to include the shell? Would it just require tear out of the bond beam and replacement of everything above?

 

[Abraxos]

Would something (and bear with me here I'm fairly novice) drilling into the edges of the concrete to set rebar that is bonded? Protect the entire conductive surface of a concrete shell? Or would I have to essentially have been here for the build to have it done or no dice?

 

[ajw22]

There are some things where you cannot get there from where you are.

You cannot meet all the requirements for a new pool with your old pool and deck. And the code developers recognize that which is why they approve grandfathering.

Someday when you replace your deck you can put wire mesh under it and meet the perimeter bonding requirements.

Why are you so concerned? Do you have any electrical tingles around your pool area?

 

[Abraxos]

Thank you so much for the replies!

Haha no electrical tingles or concerns there, just want to do it right and right the first time. This is my first pool remodel and since I'm tiling there won't be any going back down to shell for hopefully a few decades, so I wanted to be doing anything demo/repair up front, not find out I missed a critical step after 800sf of glass is laid. I know there are so many gadgets and retrofit tricks I always like to get a second opinion before saying "good enough!" On something as priority as bonding/ electrical safety.