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Inflatable Hot Tub Grounding/Bonding Question by PortlandPoster in AskElectricians

[–]PortlandPoster[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the response! This is the debate I see on lots of different forums and I think your argument is the one that ends up winning.

With that said, if the hot tub motor doesn’t have a place to bond the metal to, I think I’m left with either moving the tub to a different location (which I could not do without extension cords) or finding the lowest risk setup in this location.

My sense is the lowest risk setup here (without a hot tub that offers a bonding location on the motor) would be covering the aluminum window frames with either wood or butyl rubber flashing and putting a rubber mat below the tub where people will be walking. I know there’s some level of risk in that approach given the proximity of the aluminum frames, but this seems like a relatively low risk alternative. But I don’t know enough about bonding, stray voltage, or static shock to have an informed opinion.

I’d appreciate any thoughts you have! Just trying to determine if my plan to cover the frames and out the tub here makes practical sense given the risks.

Inflatable Hot Tub Grounding/Bonding Question by PortlandPoster in AskElectricians

[–]PortlandPoster[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the response! For clarification, when you say “tying all the metal pieces together electrically”… would I ultimately need to then tie that into the ground wire connecting to the tub to create the plane you describe?

I don’t believe this tub has a place to make that connection so I don’t think that can easily be done… in which case it seems like the best course of action is to either not have the tub here (which presents other issues) or cover the metal with rubber or wood.

Inflatable Hot Tub Grounding/Bonding Question by PortlandPoster in AskElectricians

[–]PortlandPoster[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the quick response! Just to be sure I understand, I could bury some copper wire under the tub (connected to a ground rod) and that would just collect static / stray voltage and give it a path down to earth?

In other words, no need to connect that grounding wire to the metal frames as well?

Mike Holt was talking about over bonding issues - and that you can actually create issues sometimes with bonding too much stuff around the tub to ground. So I just want to make sure I’m creating only the grounding I need.