AG Pool wiring and other headaches

[The Raddish]

I really appreciate your input, JohnT. Between you and 680, I think I mostly have everything figured out.

Yesterday I dug up the old UF-B and started digging my trench to the pump. Today, I completely ripped out the old wiring with the exception of the auxiliary outlet and the area lighting circuit (which turned out to be on the same circuit after all). I also started fabricating the conduit in large pieces, and tomorrow I'll complete the wiring and conduit, with the exception of the bonding which I'll finish up during the week, weather permitting.

What I have done is put in 3/4" conduit from the breaker box to a T-junction under the deck. The conduit is buried about 14" or so, which is deeper than the 12" required by 680. Since I have GFI outlets at the breaker I didn't have to go 18". Out of each end of the T-junction I have reduced down to 1/2" conduit.

Out of one end of the T-junction will be the Aqualuminator branch circuit, wired with 12AWG THHN to a simplex outlet. It's a straight run without any breaks. The outlet is about 12' away from the edge of the pool, about 4' off the ground.

Out of the other end of the T-junction are both the pump circuit and the auxiliary outlet/area lighting circuit. The axillary outlet is also 12AWG THHN, and the pump I went with 10AWG THHN. The 10AWG is probably overkill, but it wasn't much more expensive than 12AWG, so I figured I'd step it up a bit.

Both circuits terminate at the pump outlet box, which is 8' from the edge of the pool and about 24" off the ground. Technically, this outlet should be a twist-lock but my timer is not twist lock and I'm not buying a new one at this point. If/when the timer goes out, I'll replace the simplex with a twist-lock simplex outlet later. I also have a switch for the pump run out of this box to a closer location on the deck for easy access to shut down the pump circuit.

In the same junction box as the pump simplex (but not connected to the pump circuit) is the axillary outlet circuit, which I am changing over to the existing UF-B that is already run to the axillary outlet and the area lights. The axillary outlet itself is just over 10' from the edge of the pool and the lights are all much further than that, so UF-B is legal to use for it according to 680.

I am not installing an earth ground at the pump simplex outlet as shown in my schematic. I am instead bonding about a dozen points on the pool itself to the pump housing. I'll stop by a pool supply store this week to ask about the best places for this, hopefully using some of the pools they have on site as an example.

If anyone is interested, I'll draw up another schematic later to show the final product and post it here. I'll also post some pics of various parts when my wife brings our digital camera back from her business trip in a couple weeks.

Again, thanks to everyone for their input on this thread. It was greatly appreciated.

[matt4x4]

Wow, after reading all that, it gives even more reason to buying resin pools - I only had to bond my wall!
Sounds like you're on track with everything, Hope you're swimming soon after all that work!

[prh129]

[QUOTE=The Raddish]
What I have done is put in 3/4" conduit from the breaker box to a T-junction under the deck. The conduit is buried about 14" or so, which is deeper than the 12" required by 680.
QUOTE]

Is this an older version of 680? I'm looking at the 2005 version and it states 18" for nonmetallic raceways.

I too only went about 14" down because my ground is loaded with rocks so I don't know if it will fly or not.

Sorry about the duplicate response on bonding - I didn't see John Ts answer while I was writing mine.

Peter