Hello,
I just finished installing a 220V GFCI breaker box for a hot tub. I'm pretty confident in my installation. But the hot tub installers insisted on a change. So I wanted to ask you guys about it. If nothing else, I hope to improve my understanding of the workings of a 220V GFCI.
So the house previously had a hot tub and a dedicated but not gfci breaker at the main panel. My job was to install a gfci breaker to code (within sight but at least 6 feet away from tub). To do so, I spliced a junction box into the existing circuit and came out of the Jbox to a Spa Box with the gfci breaker I needed.
Here's the important part. There are three neutrals in this Jbox. One is the original hot tub wire that goes back to the house's main panel. A second is neutral that heads to the Spa Box and terminates on the included neutral bar along with the breakers neutral pigtail. And the third runs down the the tub. The three wires are tied together with a polaris lug in the Jbox. I believe this is the correct installation.
But the hot tub installer rolls up and insists on a SEPARATE wire from the Spa Box to the tub. So now we essentially have two neutral wires, one from the main panel to the Spa Box and the other from the Spa Box to the Tub, both spliced separately (so we have two separate pairs of white wires under wire nuts) in the Jbox, but both landing on the neutral bar in the Spa Box.
The installer insists that while this is electrically equivalent to what we had, it's required to make the spa operate. He also told the homeowner that "unless you install hot tubs, you probably don't know about this wiring method".
Can you please help me make sense of this?
Thanks,
Kelly Durfey
(P.S. I wasn't there to discuss this with the tub installer. I received all the info 2nd hand from the homeowner.)
I just finished installing a 220V GFCI breaker box for a hot tub. I'm pretty confident in my installation. But the hot tub installers insisted on a change. So I wanted to ask you guys about it. If nothing else, I hope to improve my understanding of the workings of a 220V GFCI.
So the house previously had a hot tub and a dedicated but not gfci breaker at the main panel. My job was to install a gfci breaker to code (within sight but at least 6 feet away from tub). To do so, I spliced a junction box into the existing circuit and came out of the Jbox to a Spa Box with the gfci breaker I needed.
Here's the important part. There are three neutrals in this Jbox. One is the original hot tub wire that goes back to the house's main panel. A second is neutral that heads to the Spa Box and terminates on the included neutral bar along with the breakers neutral pigtail. And the third runs down the the tub. The three wires are tied together with a polaris lug in the Jbox. I believe this is the correct installation.
But the hot tub installer rolls up and insists on a SEPARATE wire from the Spa Box to the tub. So now we essentially have two neutral wires, one from the main panel to the Spa Box and the other from the Spa Box to the Tub, both spliced separately (so we have two separate pairs of white wires under wire nuts) in the Jbox, but both landing on the neutral bar in the Spa Box.
The installer insists that while this is electrically equivalent to what we had, it's required to make the spa operate. He also told the homeowner that "unless you install hot tubs, you probably don't know about this wiring method".
Can you please help me make sense of this?
Thanks,
Kelly Durfey
(P.S. I wasn't there to discuss this with the tub installer. I received all the info 2nd hand from the homeowner.)
