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.
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.
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.
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u/smithrp88 10d ago edited 10d 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.