This is going to sound like bragging, but for the past 40 years, every home I’ve owned featured an in-ground swimming pool. I also had a custom-­built pool when I lived in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Since I was a licensed electrical contractor, I custom-wired my home and the swimming pool, saving quite a bit of money in the process. The Scottsdale pool had a motorized cover over a conventional rectangular pool built with rebar and gunite concrete. Since it was rectangular, it was easily fitted for a cover. Adding the cover made sense, since it saved energy and water evaporation.

Pool covers

At the time, Section 680.27(B), dealing with electrically operated swimming pool covers, was not yet in the National Electrical Code. I still ensured that the electrical pool cover motor, the cover controllers and the wiring were located at least 5 feet from the edge of the pool. 

The 5-foot rule for locating any electrical components from the pool edge is long-standing. This was a rule I have understood since I was a fairly new journeyman. As a journeyman, I worked for one of the largest swimming pool electrical contractors in Arizona and wired all the large commercial swimming pools we installed.

My swimming pool cover motor was not located below grade, but it was a totally enclosed weatherproof motor and was listed for the application. I also provided GFCI protection for the swimming pool motorized cover, even though it was not required at the time, since it was not a cord-and-plug-connected motor. The controller was located so the operator had a full view of the pool. These are all commonsense rules that ultimately have been incorporated into the NEC when dealing with specialty applications around swimming pools.

Corrosive environments

When I moved from Scottsdale to Hanover, Mass., the home we purchased had an in-ground fiberglass swimming pool. The equipment was located in a small storage building adjacent to the pool, with the actual equipment in a separate room. The pool panelboard, pump motors and controllers were all corroded and in bad shape. One of the first projects I had to do before winter ended was to replace all of the pumps, the controller and the panelboard.

This was a long time before we actually put 680.14, dealing with corrosive environments, into the NEC. Section 680.14 in the 2023 NEC requires that any wiring methods in a corrosive environment must be suitable for use in such an environment, including rigid metal conduit, intermediate metal conduit, rigid polyvinyl chloride (PVC) conduit, reinforced thermosetting resin conduit and liquidtight flexible nonmetallic conduit. 

Aluminum conduit and tubing cannot be used in a corrosive environment. Any other pool equipment in that area must also be suitable or installed in identified corrosion-­resistant enclosures. I was way ahead of my time in replacing all of that equipment, but the effects of the chlorine and other chemicals made the project a necessity.

Disconnecting means

One thing I did not anticipate with that swimming pool equipment room in Hanover was later inserted into the NEC. Section 680.13 now requires a swimming pool maintenance disconnecting means (one or more) to simultaneously disconnect all ungrounded conductors for all swimming pool utilization equipment, except lighting. The purpose of this disconnecting means is to ensure those doing pool maintenance can turn all of the power off to the pool equipment so they can work safely, even if the homeowner is not there.

The disconnecting means must be located in a readily accessible location within sight from the equipment, and be located not less than 5 feet horizontally from the inside walls of the pool, fountain, spa or hot tub. 

A permanently installed barrier wall that provides a 5-foot reach path or greater to the edge of the pool that separates the disconnecting means is also acceptable. 

The issue is to establish a horizontal distance of at least 5 feet measured from the water’s edge along the shortest path required to reach the maintenance disconnecting means. This is especially important since the maintenance person may be wet from working on the pool and would be at greater risk due to chemical-laden water on their person or saturated in their clothing.

Many other specialized pool equipment types are now covered in Article 680, such as underwater audio, electrically ignited gas torches and low-voltage decorative lighting. Reference all of the NEC, but especially Article 680, to ensure electrical safety around swimming pools.

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