DjPiLL Posted May 9, 2008 Report Share Posted May 9, 2008 Ok originally I was going to be putting my future hot tub pretty close to my service box (about 20 feet away), so running the electric was probably going to be easy. But now I am thinking of putting the hot tub on the other side of the house. This 20 foot run is now going to turn into a 50-60 foot run. Anyways, what did you guys do to "hide" the electrical wire outside? Did they tunnel it? I am having a concrete patio poured in the back yard. I wonder if there is a way to have the electrician run the wire underground, then my patio guy pours concerete over the electrical wire and does my patio, then my electrician somehow pulls the electrical wire through the concrete and onto the tub. Of course my wife just found out that the disconnect has to be at least five feet away from the hot tub by code. She was planning on attaching the disconnect TO THE HOT TUB. LOL Can somebody here please post and tell her she is freakin' crazy for thinking this. I told her the disconnect has to be at MINIMUM 5 feet away from the tub and i think maximum 15 feet away. The disconnect will probably have to be attached to the back of the house and she is pissed now that there will be what she calls "an ugly electrical box eyesore" attached to the back of the house next to the patio area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cplarsen Posted May 9, 2008 Report Share Posted May 9, 2008 What you do is bury or trench in 1" I.D. PVC pipe or conduit ahead of time and the electrician can pull wire through that at anytime. http://www.wikihow.com/Install-Outdoor-Electric-Wiring Ignore the bit on the UF cable, you don't want use do that. The trick is to do as little digging as possible. Unless you enjoy digging. I ran mine along the side of the house just under the siding, then under the deck. Avoided the whole thing. Oh, buy the wife a shrubbery, and paint the box to match the house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waterboy Posted May 9, 2008 Report Share Posted May 9, 2008 Be careful regarding putting outdoor wiring just under the siding. To meet code in Canada and I am sure it is the same in the states it must be buried 18" below ground in an approved conduit or appropriate non conduit wire. You can run your 1" conduit below ground before hand as cplarson suggests and bury it. Make sure that you have run a pull line through the conduit so your electician call pull the wires through. We did this for our tub install. You can have your electrician come over and he will let you know what is required. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DjPiLL Posted May 9, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 9, 2008 Be careful regarding putting outdoor wiring just under the siding. To meet code in Canada and I am sure it is the same in the states it must be buried 18" below ground in an approved conduit or appropriate non conduit wire. You can run your 1" conduit below ground before hand as cplarson suggests and bury it. Make sure that you have run a pull line through the conduit so your electician call pull the wires through. We did this for our tub install. You can have your electrician come over and he will let you know what is required. The electrician is coming tomorrow. Is there anything important i should ask him as well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waterboy Posted May 9, 2008 Report Share Posted May 9, 2008 Be careful regarding putting outdoor wiring just under the siding. To meet code in Canada and I am sure it is the same in the states it must be buried 18" below ground in an approved conduit or appropriate non conduit wire. You can run your 1" conduit below ground before hand as cplarson suggests and bury it. Make sure that you have run a pull line through the conduit so your electician call pull the wires through. We did this for our tub install. You can have your electrician come over and he will let you know what is required. The electrician is coming tomorrow. Is there anything important i should ask him as well? If you are going to run the conduit see what he wants you to do near the Main panel. He may want you to cap off just above grade and he will finish the conduit to the box. If it is being inspected he may not want the trench buried. The contractor can usualy give you a better deal on the conduit than the price from your local building store. He may even give you a free bottle of cement. If he is a good electrical contractor he will explain everything that is necessary for the run from panel to tub. if you have any other questions after you have talked to your electrician post them as there is a lot of help here and the forum seems to be running at normal speed again. Good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DjPiLL Posted May 9, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 9, 2008 Be careful regarding putting outdoor wiring just under the siding. To meet code in Canada and I am sure it is the same in the states it must be buried 18" below ground in an approved conduit or appropriate non conduit wire. You can run your 1" conduit below ground before hand as cplarson suggests and bury it. Make sure that you have run a pull line through the conduit so your electician call pull the wires through. We did this for our tub install. You can have your electrician come over and he will let you know what is required. The electrician is coming tomorrow. Is there anything important i should ask him as well? If you are going to run the conduit see what he wants you to do near the Main panel. He may want you to cap off just above grade and he will finish the conduit to the box. If it is being inspected he may not want the trench buried. The contractor can usualy give you a better deal on the conduit than the price from your local building store. He may even give you a free bottle of cement. If he is a good electrical contractor he will explain everything that is necessary for the run from panel to tub. if you have any other questions after you have talked to your electrician post them as there is a lot of help here and the forum seems to be running at normal speed again. Good luck If it matters I really don't plan on getting a CO for this. I just finished a 325 sq/ft house extension and a 200amp service upgrade that I have COs for both of those. I am not going to bother with an inspection for the hot tub. However I would like to run this as much to "code" as I can without having the town come in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cplarsen Posted May 9, 2008 Report Share Posted May 9, 2008 Be careful regarding putting outdoor wiring just under the siding. To meet code in Canada and I am sure it is the same in the states it must be buried 18" below ground in an approved conduit or appropriate non conduit wire. You can run your 1" conduit below ground before hand as cplarson suggests and bury it. Make sure that you have run a pull line through the conduit so your electician call pull the wires through. We did this for our tub install. You can have your electrician come over and he will let you know what is required. Sorry, should have been more clear. Mine is still run in conduit, which is what makes it meet code. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waterboy Posted May 9, 2008 Report Share Posted May 9, 2008 Be careful regarding putting outdoor wiring just under the siding. To meet code in Canada and I am sure it is the same in the states it must be buried 18" below ground in an approved conduit or appropriate non conduit wire. You can run your 1" conduit below ground before hand as cplarson suggests and bury it. Make sure that you have run a pull line through the conduit so your electician call pull the wires through. We did this for our tub install. You can have your electrician come over and he will let you know what is required. Sorry, should have been more clear. Mine is still run in conduit, which is what makes it meet code. I was told by my electrician that I could not run the conduit just under the siding as it was still considered to be exposed and could be damaged. He is a friend and I just think he wanted me to dig 70 feet of 18" deep trench Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cplarsen Posted May 9, 2008 Report Share Posted May 9, 2008 Well, you should have shot back, "What do you want to do with the stuff inside the house"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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