# NEC 2020 change: 680.26(B)(2)(b) Pool Perimeter Surfaces bonding - "where structural reinforcing steel is not available"



## chuckd83 (Feb 15, 2019)

The subject heading used to say "Alternate means." It is now "Copper Ring."

A 8 AWG copper ring seems like a cheaper and easier alternative to a 3 ft rebar grid, but to me the code specifies that it is only allowed where rebar is not available. This is only an alternative if rebar cannot be sourced (when is that ever the case?). Am I reading that right?


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## SWDweller (Dec 9, 2020)

this is what I found. 
_During the first draft stage of the 2020 NEC code development process, a public input was rejected to delete the existing allowance of a #8 AWG bare solid copper conductor as an equipotential bonding means for the perimeter deck around a pool and replace it with a copper bonding grid. The substantiation was that a single bare solid copper conductor performed insufficiently for its intended purpose according to tests conducted by National Electric Energy Testing Research and Applications Center (NEETRAC), Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), and ENEREX.
Public comments received during the second draft stage of the 2020 NEC development process resulted in the code making panel allowing the previous #8 AWG solid bare copper conductor to remain and a new allowance to use a copper bonding grid for equipotential bonding of the perimeter surfaces.
One requirement is that the copper grid must comply with 680.26(B)(1)(b)(3) and be arranged in a 12 inch by 12 inch network of conductors in a uniformly spaced perpendicular grid pattern with a tolerance of 4 inches._

Most way over 95% of the pools near me are concrete with a rebar shell. I do know of two pools that are plastic/fiberglass and I do know that they had a copper grid installed under the decking. Not sure about everything else.


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## MotoGP1199 (Aug 11, 2014)

The only time i have seen the coper ring used (I've never seen the copper grid) was on residential pools that do not have a deck on one side. Then the coper ring would be buried in that portion.


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## Dennis Alwon (May 9, 2009)

chuckd83 said:


> The subject heading used to say "Alternate means." It is now "Copper Ring."
> 
> A 8 AWG copper ring seems like a cheaper and easier alternative to a 3 ft rebar grid, but to me the code specifies that it is only allowed where rebar is not available. This is only an alternative if rebar cannot be sourced (when is that ever the case?). Am I reading that right?



I think you are reading it incorrectly. According to 680.26(B) you choice is a, b or c

That is the way all pools are done here-- a #8 following the contour of the pool and if necessary attached to the 4 corners (most pools I saw were non conductive). 



> (2) Perimeter Surfaces.
> 
> The perimeter surface to be bonded shall be considered to extend for 1 m (3 ft) horizontally beyond the inside walls of the pool and shall include unpaved surfaces and other types of paving. Perimeter surfaces separated from the pool by a permanent wall or building 1.5 m (5 ft) in height or more shall require equipotential bonding only on the pool side of the permanent wall or building. *Bonding to perimeter surfaces shall be provided as specified in 680.26(B)(2)(a), (B)(2)(b), or (B)(2)(c) *and shall be attached to the pool reinforcing steel or copper conductor grid at a minimum of four points uniformly spaced around the perimeter of the pool. For nonconductive pool shells, bonding at four points shall not be required.
> 
> ...


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## SWDweller (Dec 9, 2020)

I have done a Natatorium, as a contractor. Ordered 5000 feet of bare #2 it went everywhere. Thankfully on a college campus and there were guards at night The other as the electrical inspector for another university and there was lots of copper in it. In the beginning no one but me had the attitude that it should be done correctly. After I won over the electrical engineer of record it was a lot easier. I kept telling my boss they are going to kill Olympic hopefuls if it does not change. I ended up having to shut off the electricity from the utility to get their attention. The construction people found out there were only two people that could get the meter reset and one was my boss. He was not going to over rule me. He read my daily reports and looked at the pictures I took. I used page and paragraph of the NEC and the building plans and specs. I felt like even the swim coach did not under stand how important this was.
I got a commendation when it was all over, they finally realized I just wanted it to be safe. 
Because it was a remodel on State property the City had no rights for inspection. MIght have been easer if they had.


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## HertzHound (Jan 22, 2019)

Dennis Alwon said:


> I think you are reading it incorrectly. According to 680.26(B) you choice is a, b or c
> 
> That is the way all pools are done here-- a #8 following the contour of the pool and if necessary attached to the 4 corners* (most pools I saw were non conductive).*


I'm curios, were they fiberglass pools, or were they concrete/rebar with liners.

There was discussion on here in the past about what makes a pool shell non-conductive. One guy had information from the state I live in, that if a concrete pool had a liner, it was a non-conductive pool shell? I guees what that would mean is that the pool rebar didn't need to be bonded to the ring? Or maybe just once, and not at four points/corners? Other metal surfaces around the pool and pool lights etc.. would still be bonded together. 

Has anybody ever heard this?


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## SWDweller (Dec 9, 2020)

The ones I am familiar with are true fiberglass. They dig a hole and lay sand in the bottom for a bed. stub up the pipes so that they can be gotten to. Then the crane sets it in the hole to grade and the sand back fill starts. Lots of fittings in the plumbing side. I never wired one, but they come with what looks like the standard wet niche fixture. Brass conduit going to the brass j box.
I know they did a grid in the cool deck around the pool and bonded it back to the service. 
The whole thing looks fine, but the water proof shell has always bothered me if the ground gets real wet. I have heard of the fiberglass pools popping out of the ground after a rain. Or flood depending on how you view water from the sky in the desert. 










this was after the fire on the mountain a year ago.


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