Hot Tub Installation

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We do all hot tub installs with gfi breaker at main or sub, run conduit and pull thhn to a pullout disco within 10 ft of tub and use liquidtite fnc to tub. All tubs i've installed require fullsize ground. All inspectors in my area like it installed this way. They would fail it with romex.
 
Background information

Background information

There are a number of confusing issues regarding hot tub installations.

Here are some issues:

Equipment grounding conductor: bare or coverd? Why should it make a difference whether covered or not depending on whether it is a feeder or branch circuit conductor?

Size of conductors: I just installed a 50 amp hot tub that the manufacturer required four #6 wires from panel to tub. Why did this tub require a #6 egc? Why on earth did it require a #6 neutral? I assume the neutral only carried the unbalanced load. There is nothing on the tub that could have required a wire that size!

Does anyone know the theory behind these requirements? Knowing the theory would help us understand the requirements!
 
You can argue the need for the insulated equipment ground, you can argue if there is a need to oversize and equipment ground. But both are to create what is commonly referred to as an ensured ground fault path. The same as any equipment grounding system does.

Any time you insulated a conductor you are preventing an unintentional contact with that conductor.

When you oversize an equipment ground you are lowering the effects that heat and the overall resistance of the conductor.

It’s that whole concept of doing something extra when the body’s resistance is brought to its lowest values. (soaked in un-pure water)
 
Before someone ask why swimming pools and not bathtubs. Swimming pools (gen. category) are generally a social event with more hazards associated with or surrounding the immediate area of a swimming pool.
I really don?t have a problem with the code council trying to address these specific concerns
 
rikthejman said:
Did one with 50A and 6/3 NM out through soffit block into PVC sleeve down to disconnect.
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That is non-compliant on two points:

1. The NM is not permitted outdoors, even inside a conduit.

2. Any cable with a bare EGC is not permitted outdoors.
 
The whole think is absurd. If a non fused disco is installed a bare egc is okay inside the house but if a breaker is installed in the disco then an insulated egc must be used. How ridiculous is that?
 
I don't have or need an '08 code book but in the '05 definition for branch circuit it says: "the final overcurrent device protecting the circuit", so unless the definition has changed in the '08, I stand behind my view. :)
 
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