House wiring question

[Psychoholic]

Maybe someone will know this one.

I'm installing my new hot tub (of immense size and pimpness) on a short deck I built (it sits 31" below the main deck, so when I redo the back deck and extend it to the end of the house, you'll step down into the hot tub) and had a question about wiring.

There are 4 wires coming out - 2 hot leads, one neutral (white) and one ground (green) and go into a disconnect box (per law - it's about 6' away with a pull out). The disconnect has plugs for the 2 leads and only one bus - so which wire do I tie with a wire nut? (I would assume to run the ground straight through?)

If anybody is wondering, I'm using a Siemens 50A GFCI breaker in the panel and 6-3 wire to the disconnect box.

[kaptinkaos]

I actually am a spa repair tech. Green can be run straight through or be attached to a grounding lug/bar inside the breaker/sub panel box. The ground has to be seperate from the neutral line for the GFCI breaker to work properly.
Make sure when you wire everything that the wires are checked before connection to the pak inside the spa, if you reverse a hot wire & plug it into the neutral line, you will blow your pak up. (see attached picture for example).

What kind of tub is it? (Maax, Master, Jacuzzi)?

Here is 4 Az Spa Repair website for reference - www.4AzSpaRepair.com

[Psychoholic]

You shouldn't have told me that! Time to pick that brain!!!

It's a Leisure Bay 'Mediterranean' (big ole 6 person bastard) - it has a Gpack 4000 system in it.

The tub itself originally belonged to my parents, who paid to have it moved so the wires in the pack are still hooked up from the last install and I've got some 10' of wire coming out of the tub. I pulled those through the deck last night and pulled my 6-3 wire through conduit from the house - the question really is just the disconnect wiring.

Although this does raise the question about wiring the GFCI breaker - so I take the green to the ground bus bar from the 4 wires coming in, and the white to the breaker, then the pigtail on the breaker to the neutral bus bar?

Thanks in advance!

[kaptinkaos]

Neutral from the spa goes into the Loaded Neutral on the breaker, the neutral from the house & the white pigtail from the breaker are attached to the bus bar inside the subpanel or main panel.

Ground just needs to be attached to a good ground to prevent any electrocution. If you mis-wire the GFCI neutral lines the breaker will instantly trip until you correct the neutral wires, but if you cross the wires leaving the breaker into the spa, then you risk frying the spa pak.

Out here, code is the sub panel must be within eye sight of the spa but not more than 50 ft away & no closer than 6 ft in a straight line. Basically you shouldn't be able to touch the spa & the sub panel at the same time.

I know 6 ga is reommended, but it may not fit without trimming some wires, most spas use 8 ga & recommend 6 ga.

[Psychoholic]

So to be clear - my house has 4 wires coming into it from the main - red, black, white, nekkid. The red and black are connected to the main bus, the white is on a bar and the nekkid wire is on a different bus.

So the 4 wires from the hot tub I'd go:

black to hot lead on gfci
red to hot lead on gfci
white to loaded neutral on breaker
white pigtail on breaker to white bar on main panel
and the ground wire to the bus that has the naked wire?

[kaptinkaos]

Correct

The ground can be green or plain copper, it should go to a seperate bus in the sub-panel or directly to the spa's ground in/on the pack or even wire nut the ground from the main panel to the spa's ground wire.

[Double D]

Yeah 220...221, whatever it takes.

[Psychoholic]

hahahahahahaha!

Dude, I said that TODAY when talking to my boss!

[Psychoholic]

Ok - got it wired up. Ended up doing the ground wire onto the bus for the disconnect box and wire tying the neutral together.

Got it all wired up into the main breaker without letting any of the smoke out or blowing myself up.

Started the tub, got jets 1, jets 2, 3 levels of air, and 3 levels of light!

Then, we see the smoke...

So I guess that the pump for jets 1 is either losing a bearing or just generally sucks (the tub has been sitting for a few years). It will run very loudly (versus the other pump of the same size which is rather quiet) for about 10 seconds and shut itself off, and when what sounds like a temp switch says it's under limit then you can turn it back on. I did a little initial searching and the pumps are god damned expensive! Is there anything perhaps I can do to save this one?

[kaptinkaos]

Pumps are damn expensive. How many pumps are in the spa? All all the pumps 2 speed? (low & high) Or is pump 2 one speed only?
You can replace bearing/bushing only & sometimes the starting capacitor, if the rear circuitry is shot, the motor is toast.

Can you post a picture of the motor from a couple of views so I can see the motor & plumbing going into it? How much were you quoted on a moter? We might be able to get you one cheaper. Also, what is the HP/Volts/Amps of the motor, if the decal is still there on the casing?

[Psychoholic]

As far as I know it's only one speed on that pump (the air is 3 speed and the light is 3 setting, but as far as I could tell the pumps are each just 1 speed). I haven't quoted the motor out yet, what I could get off of it though (it's behind the spa-pack, so getting the label was a creative bit of iphone picture taking) is a Leisure Bay Spa Pump 303694 PK G.

[Psychoholic]

It looks like the spa was purchased in june of 2000 (if that helps)

[kaptinkaos]

Got the info, I'll see what I can dig up on/about the spa & motor.

[Psychoholic]

Went to rec-factory warehouse today to see about a lock ring for the filter (the other one broke) - had to order it.

Found out that was a 4.5 hp pump.

Did some more investigation today and it appears to be a G-series Balboa topide control (be damned if i can find the manual for this), with an LB104 spa pack (again, no manual to be found anywhere). Given the noise that the pump is making, I'm really beginning to wonder if it isn't the bearings on the motor and maybe I can have that rebuilt at a local electrical shop (like someone who does alternators and shit)?

It is pretty damned nice though having a hot tub again, I missed that.

[Psychoholic]

**update**

Ran the pump today for 30 minutes without any failure and it sounded much improved. The anemic performance I had noted seems to have gone away as well. I went to each jet and hit it with a plunger, took the filter out and ran it that way to try and blow out any funk that might have been in there. Fixed the ozone generator, so that is good.

So now all I need is the ring and I'll be good for a bit. I thing the motor just needed to be run for a while.

I am still looking for a manual for this thing, so if you know where I could find one I'd be most appreciative.