I have a question regarding Article 680. Specifically 680-10. It tells us that Underground wiring shall not be permitted under the pool or within the area extending 5 feet horizontally from the inside wall of the pool. There are a few exceptions for pool related equipment. It goes on to say well, ok, if you don’t have the room to run it outside of the 5 foot band then go ahead and do it but use these wiring methods. A little bit of a contradiction I would say. You shall not do X but, if you can’t comply then go ahead and break the general rule!
Anyway, here is the situation. A job has a water feature between two buildings. The Water feature consists of a “stream” That is about 5 feet wide 6 inches deep and runs about 450 feet where it dumps into a “pond” that is about 200’ by 100’ and a maximum of 4 feet deep. At the pond end of the feature is an equipment vault with all the pumps and associated equipment. The problem I am seeing is the site distribution. It consists of 4 circuits at 12.47KV 1 12.47KV emergency feed and a comm. Duct bank consisting of 14 4” Carlon Multi Guard conduits. This has to cross under the water feature as designed to feed the building on the opposite side.
My line of thinking is like this. In the scope of article 680 it states the provisions of 680 apply to decorative pools and fountains. Would we consider this “water feature” a decorative pool? If so running any power under or within 5 feet of the water feature is a clear violation. If the city sees it this way the whole site distribution is going to have to be re designed at major expense. I need to bring this up in a presentation we have to do and I don’t want to be wrong. (We don’t have the job yet. We have to do a presentation and I am considering bringing this up under critical issues) what does the forum think? Is it not an issue?
Nick
