Donald Farrell
05-11-2011, 12:05 PM
Yesterday, while I was dismantling the electrical system for an above ground pool I ran into two strange things. The was no ground or grid attached anywhere around the metal frame.
But the scary part was the above deck receptacles. They were installed on a 20 amp circuit. 12/2 UF fed the first receptacle and then 14 AWG conductors were back-stabbed to feed the second receptacle at the outlet.
One of the 14 AWG hot conductors insulation had melted completely off of the conductor and was a ground fault. They fixed this failure by running an indoor extension cord under the deck to the opposite side of the pool and connected it to the 14 AWG side of another receptacle outlet.
If I did not know better, I'd swear this was DIY work!
To make matters worse, I saw the approved permit for the pool electrical work. It was dated fifteen years ago, there have been several homeowners since then. So there is no way to know when the failure occured and who fixed it.
Fortunately, The inspector has retired. So obviously we can blame him/her because he/she cannot defend themselves. :) The current owner complained of getting shocks but no one could find the problem, so he decided to pull the pool out.
But the scary part was the above deck receptacles. They were installed on a 20 amp circuit. 12/2 UF fed the first receptacle and then 14 AWG conductors were back-stabbed to feed the second receptacle at the outlet.
One of the 14 AWG hot conductors insulation had melted completely off of the conductor and was a ground fault. They fixed this failure by running an indoor extension cord under the deck to the opposite side of the pool and connected it to the 14 AWG side of another receptacle outlet.
If I did not know better, I'd swear this was DIY work!
To make matters worse, I saw the approved permit for the pool electrical work. It was dated fifteen years ago, there have been several homeowners since then. So there is no way to know when the failure occured and who fixed it.
Fortunately, The inspector has retired. So obviously we can blame him/her because he/she cannot defend themselves. :) The current owner complained of getting shocks but no one could find the problem, so he decided to pull the pool out.