By Dallas Thiesen, FSPA
Following the Florida Swimming Pool Association’s (FSPA) victory in preserving single wire loop bonding for pools and spas for the 2026 Florida Building Code, and defending that code modification against a legislative assault, the fight to reintroduce single wire loop bonding into the National Electric Code has begun.
The Pool Industry Council (PIC), an FSPA aligned 501(c)(4) non-profit, submitted a proposal to the National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA), the organization that develops the National Electric Code (NEC), to reincorporate single wire bonding into the NEC for 2029. This proposal is based on testing completed in 2025 in Florida which showed the single wire loop bonding method to be effective at reducing stray voltages and ground faults near swimming pools and spas. The Florida study was replicated in New Jersey, by the Northeast Spa and Pool Association (NESPA) this year confirming the results from Florida. The data collected in both studies was not available when NFPA removed single wire bonding from the NEC in 2023.
This first major meeting for the 2029 NEC code development cycle was held October 1-3 in California. At that meeting, representatives from FSPA, PIC, Pool and Hot Tub Alliance (PHTA), and the California Pool & Spa Association (CPSA) presented the PIC’s proposal on single wire loop bonding. The pool industry representative presented the rock-soil data collected in both the Florida and New Jersey studies, more than 20 years of Consumer Product Safety Commission and U.S. Coast Guard Data showing no connection between pool electrical incidents and single wire bonding loops, and pushed back on patently false assertions against single wire bonding made by proponents of the bonding grid mandate. While ultimately the code-making panel gave the proposal a negative recommendation on this first vote, the vote was close showing the tide is turning on this issue. The NEC code-making panel will meet again next year to consider more comments on the single wire loop bonding proposal. In the meantime, Florida’s single wire loop bonding exceptions are still in place for the 2026 Florida Building Code and beyond.
What started as an FSPA initiative to push back against the NEC bonding grid mandate has grown into a nationwide effort bringing together all of the pool industry associations, PHTA, FSPA, NESPA, and CSPA, to fight against this unnecessary mandate. The swimming pool and spa industry has rallied around this issue and shown the importance of working together to advance the industry.
To read the full bonding study report and data, follow the link below:
https://fspa.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Equipot-Bond-Report-FINAL_2025.06.pdf
