Grounding Rod?

[drober30]

When the owner of the electrical company came out to bid the job his estimate states he would be installing a grounding rod.

A employee of that company came out and did the job and did not install a grounding rod and said I did not need one.

I know the best thing is to check my local codes but I wanted to know if anybody else had info on this.

Does your installation have a grounding rod?

[drewstar]

Who's Rod? What did he do wrong? Why are you grounding him?

Never heard of having a grounding rod for my spa,  nor my pool.

[nicker]

no rod here either.

I don't see why that is why you have  GFI and a breaker on your main.  I guess it couldn't hurt but I have never heard of this.  I mean they have been installing pools for years and I have yet to see a pool with a grounding rod.

[drober30]

Who's Rod? What did he do wrong? Why are you grounding him?

Never heard of having a grounding rod for my spa,  nor my pool.

My in-laws had a spa installed about 6 years ago. A family member who is an electrician wired the tub. He installed a grounding rod.

It was said he never wired a tub before so his research lead him to install one. I was not surprised to see it on my estimate for that reason alone.

[SerjicalStrike]

If your electrician does add a ground rod, make sure he uses a bonding wire with NO jacket.  If the wire does have a jacket, water could get into the jacket and could act like a battery.  It could cause intermittent GFCI tripping.  

[Vinny]

My friend who's my electrician did put a grounding rod in. He has all the motors bonded and I believe going to this grounding rod. The tub is also grounded to the service panel.

He felt that the bonding lugs were there, the unit has a heater so the grounding rod is there "just in case". I haven't had the unit  inspected yet but he assures me it is installed way above code. I do trust his work!

[r100rs]

So your estimate included a ground rod, but it was never installed.  Thus you might have overpaid.

If I remember right, you have AC hot, AC nuetral, Electrical Ground and Earth Ground.  Alot of times electrical ground and earth ground are wired together.

The ground rod should have the least resistance.  Not the electrical ground or electrical nuetral.  So if you have any electical short or a lightning strike it "should" go to earth ground not somewhere in the house wiring.

One thing you might want to verify is - if you have a grnd rod installed - insure it is bonded to the house some how.  Otherwise you could have a difference of potential (i.e. a voltage difference) and you could feel it.
Also have them test it.  I dont remember the name of the test equipment that is required (I want to say it is a Meg Ohm meter but not sure).  It takes about 15-20min to do the test.  Also have the check the electrical ground.  It should read less than the earths ground. Keep a record of the readings and have it checked every couple of years.  The readings will change over time due to moisture in the ground.

r100rs

[Dr. Spa™ Ret.]

IF, you have a separate ground rod for your spa I recommend IMMEDIATELY disconnecting it as it IS an electrocution hazard!

People for some reason make the assumption that a "grounding rod" is a perfect ground. This is in fact FAR from true. Soil and rock has electrical resistance and the dryer the ground (earth/soil) is the more resistance there can be. There exists the possibility for a grounding short to occur and electricity to travel from the grounding rod back to the "proper" ground at the main electrical panel at the house. The electricity can also travel to ANY other area that has a more "solid" ground.

Additionally there are documented cases of a fish hatchery that periodically lost all their "inmates" due to the improper use of a grounding rod, as well as well as know cases of cattle being electrocuted.

[leesweet]

The Sundance manual talks about a 'bonding point' on the spa to be connected to any metal that's within 5' of the spa.  I suspect this is so that there can't be any live metal where anyone can touch it and be in the water.  But most places want everything hot to be at least 5' away (like the disconnect, etc.).

It's true that having differing ground rods around the house can set up a potential, creating ground currents, and making a mess, never mind a dangerous situation.

I'd not ground the spa to a local (to the spa) rod unless you have hot items close enough that your *licensed electrician* deems it necessary.  

(Setting up ground differentials can cause problems with phone/satellite/anything else that is grounded to the common ground system... no place for the amateur to save a few bucks by 'improving' things!)

[Cola]

No ground rod is required.  Any electrical system should have one main ground point.  If you ground your tub to a ground rod, then you will create a ground loop between your house groung and you ground rod.  There will then be a small current on the ground wire.  My only concern would be that a metal post in the vicinity of the tub could have a different potential difference and you might feel it if you touch the spa water and the post at the same time.  Bottom line, forget the ground rod, there is more of a chance of damaging your spa pak with the ground rod also.  I'll look into this more and post some time next week with links.
Steve

[samhunter]

My SD maxxus owners manual states " a copper clad grounding rod buried within 5 feet of the tub" & also states this is a most important safety assurance feature.

[PGA]

Hey Cola and all...what about grounding the cement pad to a grounding rod. I think I read that here and it was a good idea. Ant thoughts on this???

[drober30]

Thanks to everyone!  

I will not worry about the grounding rod. I would be more concerned if I did the electrical myself but sense a licensed electrician did it I will go with what he did.

[leesweet]

I don't think that's what the SD Max manual actually intended to say.  Here's the text.  It says 'to permit...', not that 'you should' install a rod.

<quote>
Proper grounding is extremely important. Sundance hot tubs are equipped with a current collector system. A pressure wire connector is provided on the surface of the control box, located inside the equipment door (Figure-C, Page 11) to permit connection of a bonding wire between this point and any ground metal equipment, metal water pipe or conduit within 5 feet (1.5m) of the hot tub, or copper clad grounding rod buried within 5 feet (1.5m) of the hot tub. Bonding wire must be at least No. 8 AWG (8.4 mm2) solid copper wire. This is a most important safety assurance feature.

Before installing this hot tub, check with the local building department to insure installation conforms to local building codes.
</quote>

Again, that is if you want to connect any nearby metal to the ground.  And as I said and others said, you don't usually want more than one ground rod for your house.  Be extremely careful when trying to 'improve' or 'perfect' grounding systems by adding things.  You can easily make it worse, useless, and dangerous.  Local codes and local experienced electricians are the best resources when dealing with 220V power, water, and grounds!