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Code Clusters 3: Portable Pool Pump

Feb. 4, 2014

Code Clusters is a fond look back at some of the most interesting and outlandish Code violations published in the pages of EC&M magazine over the past 15 years — the item below is the ninth in a series of 10. Questions? Comments? We'd love to hear your feedback! Post your thoughts in the box below. All references based on the 2005 edition of the NEC.

Joe Tedesco

Code Clusters is a fond look back at some of the most interesting and outlandish Code violations published in the pages of EC&M magazine over the past 15 years — the item below is the sixth in a series of 10. Questions? Comments? We'd love to hear your feedback! Post your thoughts in the box below.

Portable Pool Pump

All references based on the 2002 edition of the NEC.

Harold Endean, a New Jersey electrical inspector, ran across this in-ground pool pump motor wired with an extension cord while performing a final “clean up” inspection of a private residence. As you can see, no permanent connectors were used. An indoor surge suppressor plug strip was also lying next to the pool. The cords were all connected to a single extension cord that was plugged into a receptacle in the backyard at the rear of the house.

According to Art. 400, the extension cord used to supply this short piece of Type NM cable doesn’t represent a suitable or recognized wiring method for this equipment. A storable swimming or wading pool includes those units that are constructed on or above the ground and are capable of holding water to a maximum depth of 42 inches, or a pool with nonmetallic, molded polymeric walls or inflatable fabric walls, regardless of dimension. Art. 680 contains specific rules that must be applied to this installation. See the requirements of 680.1, 680.7, and 680.30. Electrical installations at storable pools shall comply with the provisions of Part I and Part III of Art. 680.