How to Ground Your Aluminum Pool Enclosure

Locate your home’s grounding rod. The rod is steel or occasionally copper and is usually located near the electrical meter feeding electricity to the house. Several inches should stick up above the ground

Secure a #3 drill bit in a drill. Drill a hole at a low corner of the pool enclosure that sits near the house grounding rod. Clamp a 1/4-28 tap in a T-handle tap wrench. Insert the end of the tap in the drilled hole. Turn the tap handle clockwise to thread the aluminum.

Hold the end of a 1/4-28 machine screw in the tapped hole. Turn the screw clockwise with a Phillips screwdriver until the screw head sits 1/4 inch above the surface of the aluminum.

Remove 1 inch of insulation from the end of a 12-gauge copper wire, by setting the wire in the correct notch of the stripper jaw and pulling firmly toward the end of the wire. Grasp the exposed end of the wire with a pair of needle nose pliers. Turn the pliers clockwise to form a loop. Hook the loop over the shaft of the machine screw. Tighten the screw to hold the wire tight to the aluminum enclosure.

Dig an 18-inch deep trench in the ground that starts below the attached 12-gauge wire and ends at the house grounding rod with a narrow trenching shovel. Lay the wire in the trench. Leave 16 inches of wire extending from the ground at the grounding rod. Fill the trench with dirt and tamp it down with your feet to hold the wire in place.

Loosen the bolts of a grounding clamp with an adjustable wrench. Place the clamp around the grounding rod. Cut the 12-gauge wire to a length that allows its end to reach the clamp. Remove 1/2 inch of insulation from the end of the wire. Slide the wire in the grounding clamp. Tighten the clamp with the adjustable wrench to lock the wire in place.