woul you rewire this ??? or not ???

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rt66electric

Senior Member
Location
Oklahoma
Went to a house and found ahot-tub wired like this--- from the main panel a 2p 50 breaker feeding with a 8-2 romex( through the attic and then to exterior wall then, sleeved in pvc down to a spa panel). The hot tub requires (1) 2p 20amp and (1) 2p 30amp circuit.. There is no neutral wire or additional ground rod!!!! Should I repull w/ 6-3 seperate the neutal/ground or do as my other journymal suggests and use the romex grd as a neutral and isolate the ground by driving a ground rod???? or put it back the way I found it??? GOTTA-GO play baseball w/youngen DENNIS
 

electricmanscott

Senior Member
Location
Boston, MA
Spa panel feed needs insulated grounded and grounding conductors in conduit. Romex will not satisfy this requrement.

Ground rod would not accomplish anything.

Probably more issues to be addressed with this install.
 

ericsherman37

Senior Member
Location
Oregon Coast
I don't know where the idea comes from that driving a ground rod and running a wire to it from your equipment constitutes "equipment grounding."

That's not what ground rods are for, as far as I know.

If the hot tub specifies what circuits it needs, then those are what circuits it needs.

I'm an apprentice, and I've worked with journeymen of all different stripes and not one of them has ever told me to "use the grounding conductor as a neutral" or to "drive a ground rod to ground that equipment." The equipment grounding conductor(s) and neutral conductor(s) need to be run with the rest of the circuit(s). Driving a ground rod and bonding it to the hot tub is not going to facilitate the operation of an overcurrent device.
 

LarryFine

Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
Location
Henrico County, VA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
Should I repull w/ 6-3 seperate the neutal/ground or do as my other journymal suggests and use the romex grd as a neutral and isolate the ground by driving a ground rod????
Absolutely do the former, NOT the latter! The rod would be next to useless. And, remember, no NM cable (or its conductors) outdoors.

There must be separate neutral and grounding conductors if the tub has any neutral connection, which I'm sure the 20a circuit has.
 

K8MHZ

Senior Member
Location
Michigan. It's a beautiful peninsula, I've looked
Occupation
Electrician
I suppose a GFCI would be out of the question.....

I am at about a 50/50 rate for getting or losing hot tub wiring jobs. For some reason people don't want things done right if it costs money. I won't fudge one bit on a wet location job and really don't fret about losing any so I pretty much give them a 'take it or leave it' scenario. If they take it then I want it to be safe enough for my own family to be in.
 

ceb58

Senior Member
Location
Raeford, NC
Went to a house and found ahot-tub wired like this--- from the main panel a 2p 50 breaker feeding with a 8-2 romex( through the attic and then to exterior wall then, sleeved in pvc down to a spa panel). The hot tub requires (1) 2p 20amp and (1) 2p 30amp circuit.. There is no neutral wire or additional ground rod!!!! Should I repull w/ 6-3 seperate the neutal/ground or do as my other journymal suggests and use the romex grd as a neutral and isolate the ground by driving a ground rod???? or put it back the way I found it??? GOTTA-GO play baseball w/youngen DENNIS

Ask he journymal why he thinks you can use a bare wire for the neutral:-?
 
What about art. 680.42-c

I'm with you, I have used many a feet of 6-3 romex for hot tub wiring. I would re run a 6-3 from panel to spa box. Once it leaves the house change over to the conduit.
One of two ways.
1. Change over to conduit with FA and romex connector. Strip off outer covering of romex and go to spa box.
2. Run romex into J-Box and then change over to THHN in conduit and go to spa box.

I'm assuming the Hot tub box breaks down the circuits to what it is requiring.
 

bradleyelectric

Senior Member
Location
forest hill, md
I'm with you, I have used many a feet of 6-3 romex for hot tub wiring. I would re run a 6-3 from panel to spa box. Once it leaves the house change over to the conduit.
One of two ways.
1. Change over to conduit with FA and romex connector. Strip off outer covering of romex and go to spa box.
2. Run romex into J-Box and then change over to THHN in conduit and go to spa box.

I'm assuming the Hot tub box breaks down the circuits to what it is requiring.

Do you understand that you would have a violation if this installation was outdoors?
 

rt66electric

Senior Member
Location
Oklahoma
thanks guys

thanks guys

Thank you for your quick replies. I was leaning to complete rewire, similar to post #11, but I needed some reassurance. I going to print this thread out totry to sell to H.O. thanks again ---DENNIS
 

TOOL_5150

Senior Member
Location
bay area, ca
Thank you for your quick replies. I was leaning to complete rewire, similar to post #11, but I needed some reassurance. I going to print this thread out totry to sell to H.O. thanks again ---DENNIS

on post 11, dont do the first option - thats hack work. Outside conduits need wire rated for outdoor use - THWN


~Matt
 

wawireguy

Senior Member
What your other "journeyman" was suggesting isn't remotely safe or even close to meeting code. If I were you I'd tell him you are doing it right or you're not working on that job. If someone gets killed down the road they will sue the pants off him and anyone else part of this project.
 
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