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Pool bonding DC

Vabch

Oct 22, 2020
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Should pool bonding protect from DC? My saltwater chlorinator is putting DC voltage in the pool water and I get shocked when touching the water from the surrounding patio. Turn off the chlorinator and no shock touching the pool. The pool company is replacing the chlorinator, but I was wondering if I have a pool bounding problem too since I get shocked? The chlorinator control (AC) is bonded. It powers the chlorinator cell (DC) which is not seperately bonded. Thanks for any thoughts!
 

Martaine2005

May 12, 2015
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Bonding is not earthing and vice versa. I'd wait for a resident sparky to fill you in with the technical info.
But it sounds like there is a difference in earth potential.
I too await, as this is interesting.

Martin
 

Bluejets

Oct 5, 2014
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I have doubts it is the DC BUT it will be a bad defect somewhere.
All pools should be earth bonded during installation to avoid any form of potential difference.
Bonding covers any metal in the pool including any reo steel, pool handles etc. and any metal within a given area.
This given area and bonding rulings are dependant on your local electricity authority rulings.

I would not be going within a mile of the pool if you know of ANY defect such as you mention.
As Martain says, get your local lecky or the supply authority to do some tests immediately.
No one from a distance can say exactly where the earthing problem lies.
 

Vabch

Oct 22, 2020
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Thanks for the responses. Sorry for the confusing question. I was more interested in what bonding protects you from in general - AC only or both AC and DC? Since bonding is providing an equal potential across devices, metal, water, and patio didn’t know if it helped for both AC and DC. The pros are already working the actual problem, so didn’t mean for that to seem like my question. The pool company and the electrician will replace the defective part. This question was because I was curious about bonding and DC and thought it might be a quick one for this community, but I’ll wait and ask the electrician who has full details. Thanks again for the quick replies!
 

Bluejets

Oct 5, 2014
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Thanks for the responses. Sorry for the confusing question. I was more interested in what bonding protects you from in general - AC only or both AC and DC? Since bonding is providing an equal potential across devices, metal, water, and patio didn’t know if it helped for both AC and DC. The pros are already working the actual problem, so didn’t mean for that to seem like my question. The pool company and the electrician will replace the defective part. This question was because I was curious about bonding and DC and thought it might be a quick one for this community, but I’ll wait and ask the electrician who has full details. Thanks again for the quick replies!

As I previously stated, it will not have anything to do with the dc,
The dc for the chlorinator is an isolated supply low voltage with no reference to ground.
Fault will be ac mains level related, most likely due to inadequate earth bonding and an earth leakage fault in one or more pieces of equipment.

Good to see you arranged for a lecky though.
 
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