New here. Slight shock when touching pool water, etc. Any suggestions? Things to look for?

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Barry321

Well-known member
May 8, 2022
119
Elgin, SC
in-ground pool. Approx 16 x 32. Vinyl, chlorine pool.

noticed this last summer a few times. Replicated today.

stuck my finger into pool water. Have a small cut on finger. Noticed a slight tingling sensation. My toddler aged nephew indicated he felt same last summer a few times when grabbing one of the rails at end of pool upon exiting pool.

I turned off the breaker for my pool light. placed finger on water again, made no difference as I still felt sensation.

I traced the bond wire from where it attaches to the pump motor to where it goes under the concrete at edge of pool deck. Wire was intact. I did hand tighten up the wire on the nut at the pump as tight as I could - already seemed quite tight but I tightened it a small bit more.

stuck finger in water again. No tingling sensation. But I really don’t trust that this solved anything given this is electricity we are talking about.

I should mention last summer I had a guy here to look at another pool issue and he checked the pool light and told me everything seemed to be wired properly at the light. He was not an electrrician but did work on pools. He tested the conenction at the light and said it was fine.

any thoughts?
 
update

just touched water while one hand was placed on one of the metal hand-rails at end of my pool and felt same tingling sensation on my finger. Touched the other handrail same way and stuck finger in water on other side of pool, didn't feel anything.

then tried same thing with one hand on pool ladder and finger in water and felt nothing.
 
You may have voltage building up in the ground from something other than your electrical service. All of the instances I’ve heard of this are all on vinyl pools. Kinda curious if anyone experienced it on a gunite pool.
 
Update

electrician stopped by today. GFCI on receptacle that is wired into pool light wasn't working. The receptacle was still providing power. He said the receptacle was cracked and damaged as well. Thinks it could have been responsible for the problem.

we could not replicate the slight shock sensation afterwards. He did look at my bonding wire and thinks it was fine. Of course he couldnt see inside the concrete but thinks its unlikely the wire became damaged inside the pool circumference unless some excavation work had taken place near the pool after it was built which isn't the case.

i am also in a lot of sand and he said sometimes the ground rod newr the pool pump does not have offer a good ground in a lot of sand and i could also try to use another ground rod.

time will tell.
 
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Just for the heck of it, you might undo the bond wire, then thoroughly clean both the wire end and bondlug so both are shiny copper. The wire and inside the lug in particular. Then re fasten them together.

I do this every couple of years for piece of mind.
 
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Update- No change. Still feeling shock even with the GFCI replacement (which needed to be done anyway).

(The GFCI was on a receptacle next to my pool light switch near my pump. I plug into that receptacle to power my leaf blower and my automatic pool cleaner.)

Anyway, I bought a multi-meter and tested my one handrail where I feel the electrical sensation and it came back at about 4 volts. I tested my other handrail (on the opposite side of the steps) and it was about 0.25 volts. I don't feel anything sensation if I touch that handrail and touch the water with my finger.

(I did turn off the breakers to my pool light and my pool pump and there was no change)

I also tested my ladder rails by sticking one lead on the rail and the other in the pool water and it was also 0.25 volts or less. I don't feel any electrical sensation if I touch the ladder and put a finger in the water.

I also tested the small metal anchor points on the side of my coping where you hook a pool rope across dividing the shallow from the deep end (I don't use my rope). The metal pieces on each side test between 2 and 4 volts. The coping itself tests around 0.25 volts or less.

So I am at a total loss. This makes no sense to me and I am not sure I will be able to solve it.

I am not sure what an acceptable voltage rating should be on those other points of my pool. I just know I don't feel any sensation at those other points except my one handrail and at the metal anchor point for the rope on one side of my pool.

Finding a qualified pool electrician that troubleshoots such issues is providing to be impossible.

I have emailed a professional engineer I know who designs pools (on the side) for commercial pool builders to get his thoughts. I haven't heard back yet. My guess is he's going to say the same thing- this is something that a qualified POOL electrician will have to investigate one step at a time.

Very, Very frustrated at this point. My neighbors just put in a pool- no issues. Another neighbor has a pool in their backyard- no issues at all. Their pools are the same distance away from their power panels as mine.

Asked a few other people I know who have pools about this and they have no idea as they have never experienced this before.

I am not going to spend $5,000 trying to fix this. Even though my pool is only about 4 years old, I will fill it in before I do that.
 
Barry321 said:
Update- No change. Still feeling shock even with the GFCI replacement (which needed to be done anyway).

(The GFCI was on a receptacle next to my pool light switch near my pump. I plug into that receptacle to power my leaf blower and my automatic pool cleaner.)

Anyway, I bought a multi-meter and tested my one handrail where I feel the electrical sensation and it came back at about 4 volts. I tested my other handrail (on the opposite side of the steps) and it was about 0.25 volts. I don't feel anything sensation if I touch that handrail and touch the water with my finger.

(I did turn off the breakers to my pool light and my pool pump and there was no change)

I also tested my ladder rails by sticking one lead on the rail and the other in the pool water and it was also 0.25 volts or less. I don't feel any electrical sensation if I touch the ladder and put a finger in the water.

I also tested the small metal anchor points on the side of my coping where you hook a pool rope across dividing the shallow from the deep end (I don't use my rope). The metal pieces on each side test between 2 and 4 volts. The coping itself tests around 0.25 volts or less.

So I am at a total loss. This makes no sense to me and I am not sure I will be able to solve it.

I am not sure what an acceptable voltage rating should be on those other points of my pool. I just know I don't feel any sensation at those other points except my one handrail and at the metal anchor point for the rope on one side of my pool.

Finding a qualified pool electrician that troubleshoots such issues is providing to be impossible.

I have emailed a professional engineer I know who designs pools (on the side) for commercial pool builders to get his thoughts. I haven't heard back yet. My guess is he's going to say the same thing- this is something that a qualified POOL electrician will have to investigate one step at a time.

Very, Very frustrated at this point. My neighbors just put in a pool- no issues. Another neighbor has a pool in their backyard- no issues at all. Their pools are the same distance away from their power panels as mine.

Asked a few other people I know who have pools about this and they have no idea as they have never experienced this before.

I am not going to spend $5,000 trying to fix this. Even though my pool is only about 4 years old, I will fill it in before I do that.
Click to expand...
We have a friend who has a similar issue, and a vinyl pool as well. I suspect vinyl pools are more susceptible (maybe harder to bond well). It may have nothing to do with your electrical panel.

One thing to try is bond the “good” and “bad” handrails together with a wire temporarily. Then check for shocks and voltages. It may be that one hand rail is grounded (or bonded) better than the other. At least it would give you a potential solution.
 

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Finding stray voltage sources take a lot of detective work. Here are two threads to give you ideas of what you are looking for:

Here is a thread that has been going on for 6 years trying to find the source of a tingle - A Slight Shock.

Here the voltage source was a streetlight connected to the house power line Bonding Issue In A Pool.
 
ajw22 said:
Finding stray voltage sources take a lot of detective work. Here are two threads to give you ideas of what you are looking for:

Here is a thread that has been going on for 6 years trying to find the source of a tingle - A Slight Shock.

Here the voltage source was a streetlight connected to the house power line Bonding Issue In A Pool.
Click to expand...

Thanks.
The pool companies I have contacted so far do not want to mess with it- - or say their electricians aren't able to help me.

Reading the other posts about this, it appears I don't have any good options here. Already had to cancel a high school graduation party at my house for my son for this next weekend because we can't use the pool.

I just don't understand at this point. It makes no sense. There is nothing in my backyard or near my yard that would involve stray voltage- and my neighbor right next to me says his pool has no such issues.

I am seriously considering just filling it in.
 
Barry321 said:
Thanks.
The pool companies I have contacted so far do not want to mess with it- - or say their electricians aren't able to help me.

Reading the other posts about this, it appears I don't have any good options here. Already had to cancel a high school graduation party at my house for my son for this next weekend because we can't use the pool.

I just don't understand at this point. It makes no sense. There is nothing in my backyard or near my yard that would involve stray voltage- and my neighbor right next to me says his pool has no such issues.

I am seriously considering just filling it in.
Click to expand...
Moisture in the ground can help induce a small voltage differentials. Did you try bonding the handrails together like I suggested? That’s a cheap way to check and a potential fix.
 
PoolStored said:
Turn off the entire service panel to your house and retest. May confirm if internal or external.
Click to expand...
I did. No change

power company guy stopped by today. Took a quick look at panel. Doesn't think it has anything to do with them after i told him i turned off main house breaker and has no change.

I mentioned stray voltage and he said it was possible.

i did remember that when they built my pool the excavation guy cut what he called an old phone cable. He said the phone company didnt use that type anymore. He pulled some of it up but might have left some in my back yard.

power company guy said that would be low voltage and it might be possible it still had some voltage on it. He wasn't sure. I told him that I believe most of the line was taken up when they put in my pool but they could have left the end of it partly in my backyard but I didn’t think it was near the pool.
 
Stray voltages are a fact of life around our properties.

Proper bonding allows people to be safe around stray voltages. As long as everything you touch around the pool is at the same voltage then no current flows through your body. Bonding ensures everything is equi-potential.

This is how birds can sit on high voltage electrical wires without getting electrocuted.

Your focus should be on improving the bonding and getting everything around your pool at the same potential.
 
ok- Here is what I did. I need some feedback.

I bought some bonding wire (8 gauge) and ran it from one handrail to the other (one handrail was reading about 4 volts, the other was reading less than 1/2 volt. If I touch the one handrail and put my finger in the water, I could feel the electrical charge on my finger).

I just wrapped it around the one handrail and strung it across to the other handrail - this was just to try it out- it's not buried in the ground or anything.

When I tried my multi meter- the voltage on the handrail that was reading 4 volts is now reading 0.28 volts - big difference. It's essentially the same as the other handrail.

Is less than 1 volt acceptable?

if I test the coping around the pool, it's near that same voltage- under .50 volts.

Would that be ok?

(The only issue now is that one of the chrome looking anchors attached to the thin metal coping on the pool edge in the shallow end where you'd hook a pool rope across the shallow end is still reading 2 volts. The other one directly across from it is reading under .50 volts. I might just remove those two anchor points because I don't use the pool rope anymore. The metal edge coping in those spots reads about 0.2 volts.
 
You are doing geat.

Less then 1 volt is acceptable and you are finding it way less then 1.
 

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