I am working out all the final electrical details and in regards to bonding I have a good handle on how to handle the pool (above ground, so the stainless panel will be bonded at a nut/bolt fastener with a copper lug, then 3 other places around the pool at the uprights with a nut/bolt fastener and copper lug and all the sections tied together with 8-gauge bare copper bonding wire connected between sections via copper split bolts and finally with a Burndy in-skimmer bonding plate), then the 8-gauge wire will run to the equipment pad where it will connect to the pool pump.

Well, since I added a pool heater to the mix, it is a toss-up if it needs to be bonded, since it is a millivolt heater. Per section 680 it "needs" to be bonded, but per electrical code it does not. Regardless I figure I would bond it just to be safe.

The question I have is, for bonding purposes can you use a self-drilling screw and a copper lug to the case (it is a Jandy Lite 2 old-school unit), or do I have to drill a hole and use a nut/bolt combo like I do with the uprights on the pool?

The heater is constructed almost entirely of self-drilling screws, and from what I can tell on the non-millivolt units that *HAVE* to be bonded, it looks like they just use a self-drilling screw from the factory to a tinned copper bonding lug. I figured I would use the same point on my millivolt heater to bond to, but it just has a stamped hole on the outside of the heater with the internal welded bracing being intact. I am concerned that if I drill it out I won't be able to get at the backside of that location to get a nut on since it is in an inaccessible area of the heater internally.

Honestly, from an electrical sense, the whole bonding aspect is redundent and stupid considering the entire thing is plumbed with black iron pipe all the way to the meter and in the house and I know that pipe is bonded in the house between the electrical panels and the pipe. So it is all "bonded" already, but ideally I am just trying to make sure there isn't any issues during an inspection.