I want to purchase a hot tub for my back yard. It requires an electrical disconnect and is 220 as opposed to 110. Anybody know what I would need to purchase in terms of parts and how to hook this up? I have run 110 out to my garage in the past with the romex underground, and I know some basic wiring. Just need to know how to do the disconnect, what type of wire I need, etc. Thanks
Among other things you'll need to know the amperage of the unit and unless the unit has integral GFCI protection, you'll need that as well
for 220, you'll need to get a four wire line. When you did your 110V, you probably used a 3 wire (red, black, copper). 4-wire is just like that except you have an additional color, white.
To do it right, you'll need to find our the amperage requirement of the hot-tub and, based on how far the box will be from the main breaker, have to size the 4-wire accordingly.
For hookup, the 220V uses both busses on the breaker box, instead of one buss for the 110V.
Go to your local HDepot, get a book on this, and they'll explain it better than I can. good luck, tim1198
Whoops, in my previous post, the colors were wrong. 110V are white, black, and gnd. 220V has additional red and maybe green for the grnd. i guess there are probably other configurations. tim1198.
There are two common types of wiring used for hot tubs. It depends on the requirements of the tub. If it has 110V and 220V equipment in it you would need a wire called 3 wire (ie 8/3 or 6/3 - meaning that the wire is 8 guage or 6 guage and 3 conductors plus a bare copper ground). The colors in a 3 wire are red, black, white and bare copper for ground.
Newer tubs are changing however to a straight 220V connection. In which case you only need a 2 wire (ie 8/2 or 6/2). If you check, it is probably the same price for a 2 wire cable as a 3 wire cable (roughly speaking) because the 3 wire is more common.
You need to know what the amperage of the hot tub is and the distance that you are running. From that information, you can choose the correct size of wire and an appropriate breaker. If you have that information, you can talk to an electrician who works at your local home depot (make sure that you are speaking with an electrician thought) and he/she can help you choose the right materials and explain how to install it.
amp. Our codes in Canada would use 8 guage wire for 40 amp and 6 guage for 60 amp assuming the run from breaker to tub is less than 100 feet. Over that, may require that the cable be larger.
Hope this information helps.
Remember, a hot tub must be wired with a GFI breaker protecting the circuit. It is critical to ensure that anyone using the tub is safe.
There are only a few GFCIs which meet the NEC Code for Hot Tubs. Here is a link to one of them:
Beachcomber
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