Why Do You Need to Earth a Pool Fence?

When it comes to swimming pools and wiring, we often field a lot of questions around the topic of why do you need to earth a pool fence?

In this latest blog, we’re going to cover why it’s important to have earthing in place and what’s involved in the process.

To find out more keep reading below. For any questions or advice give Armitage Electrical a call on 1800 230 400 or submit an online enquiry here.

How Do You Earth a Pool Fence?

An earth cable is permanently attached and run back to either dedicated pool circuit or meter box.

To be able to do it, we need to know very specifically the position of the fence so we can have conduits in the correct position.

When an Electrician is Needed

It’s very important an electrician comes in before the fence is installed.

To reduce the risk of electric shock in swimming pools and spas, the AS/NZS3000 (the wiring rules) has very specific requirements for electrical bonding of concrete steel reinforcing and other conductive metal parts located near the pool (within 1.25m), such as metal fencing and/or metal spigots or poles supporting non-metal fencing.

We need to run conduit or earthing before concrete is laid as it becomes a much larger job to do so after.

Sign Off and Certification

All work is required to be done by a licenced electrician and a Certificate of Compliance must be issued.

A professional electrician is a must for this job. Some pool installers have tried to avoid the need to have an electrician attend before concreting commences by leaving a length of reinforcing out of the pool shell for the electrician to later connect the bonding conductor.

This practice is not safe, as it does not allow the electrician to carry out tests to ensure the pool shell itself is effectively bonded.