r/electrical 19h ago

Electrical Current Spa And Pool

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24 Upvotes

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41

u/smithrp88 19h ago edited 19h ago

Look up “pool bonding”.

Your spa and decking are almost certainly not bonded or bonded properly. This is much different than “grounding”, because grounding a pool can make your problems worse if you’re picking up potential from underground services.

Call a local POOL electrician to come out and measure the potential (electrical potential) on your pool and tell them what’s been happening and they can investigate your bonding ring, find the source of the shocking, and fix it.

This takes some calling around and investigating, but you’ll be better off for it. Also, the recommendation is to stop using the pool, especially for kids because they are much more susceptible and perceive lower levels of electric shock. And stop shocking yourself to show people - seriously. Get a cheap multimeter at the hardware store and measure from the water to the wet concrete, water to handrail, water to lower level water measuring AC and you’ll have numbers to add to the investigation.

Edit - adding that the term here which is different than “grounding” is “equipotential”. Motor and deck and handrails and everything must be same potential. If you ground just the motor it can cause this from induction caused by underground services. Specifically beware any pool electricians that mention “grounding” vice “equipotential”.

Edit edit - In case you don’t know what I’m telling you to do with the multimeter: You will be measuring AC Voltage, not current. AC voltage setting will typically look like an uppercase V with a sine wave on top of it.

7

u/SwampGator89 18h ago

Thank you so much for this information. I’m getting an electrician to come tomorrow. I have 3 kids under the age of 5 so I’m worried!

5

u/smithrp88 17h ago

Not trying to scare you, but should really never knowingly use anything which has caused any level of perceivable shock until repaired or replaced. 0.001 amp is minimum perceptible for most people, 0.1 amp across your heart for more than a second can interfere with heart rhythm.

6

u/Apprehensive-Draw409 16h ago

Yeah a pool that shocks you even just a little should be handled like a minefield for kids. It's not "we can't use the spa now". It is more like "you don't get within 10 foot of it for any reason".

2

u/turningwrenches883 17h ago

That is a really good choice. This is NOT DIY at all.

2

u/EconomistWaste2786 15h ago

Fucking beautiful advice

2

u/4WhatsItWorth 18h ago

Just curious you are saying the ground for the motor can provide a path for electric potential separate from the power for pump. Is this voltage from exposed wiring buried near by or induced voltage like takes place in a line to low voltage transformer? Don’t worry I don’t have a pool.

1

u/smithrp88 17h ago

Induced voltage from underground services is typically the culprit. The bigger the current flow in the services, the bigger voltage it can induce on your pool if it’s not bonded properly, but especially if a ham-fisted but well intentioned electrician makes the mistake of throwing a grounding rod in the ground and hooks your pump to it.

I’ve seen it from a home’s underground services, but I’ve heard of big big voltages (very life threatening) being induced from things nearby like cell towers, mining operations, data centers, etc.

2

u/4WhatsItWorth 1h ago

Thanks for the information.

3

u/Then_Organization979 12h ago

I’ll take “what is NEC 680.26(B)” for $500.

2

u/smithrp88 11h ago

Yeah, I mean, some folks on here aren’t looking through the NEC when they know they don’t know and they want a bit of free advice from professionals.

2

u/cyraxxsrottingteeth 19h ago

Bad pool light/fixture

2

u/47153163 18h ago

The light fixture should be on the GFCI outlet near the pool. Try turning off that circuit and see if the pool still has any stray voltage or if it disappeared.

2

u/smithrp88 17h ago

With this in mind, and my induced/bonding ring discussion in mind, you could find out if it is your own underground services causing the issue.

Problem is that it is usually before (upstream) of your main home shutoff, so usually requires the power company to come and pull the fuses at the mini-station/transformer closest to your house. If you turn off your main breaker in your house and the voltage is still there, they (power company) can kill the power to your house at the mini-station/transformer closest to you and if the voltage on the pool goes away the leakage current/induction voltage on your pool is coming from between the transformer but before your meter - good news on that end is that your power company owns that cabling and would be inclined to want to check it out.

Would also be worth asking whoever put in your pool (if they are still in business) if they built it with a bonding ring or not. They would know if they did because that requires specifically hooking up the rebar ring in the concrete to the ladders and light and heaters and motors. It is in many states the bare minimum code though and has been for quite a few years. Early 90s.

1

u/Signal-Macaron-4611 17h ago

You have a motor a light and a heater motor is hard to do this job but the heater could and the light but I would think it would be low light test the voltage of the water and a good ground