6 Awg

[oggie]

Does anyone know where I can get 6 AWG wire that is rated at 60 amp for a run I will be putting in my basement? I have a 60 GFCI but cant find the correct wire. I hate to try to drag 4 AWG around the basement. Lowes 6 gage wire is rated at 55 amps.

Thanks,

Oggie

[limulus]

Per my electrician who is licensed in both residential and commercial:

Buy a 60 amp Siemans breaker for the subpanel in our basement. Then get #6 Romex (3 wire plus ground). He supplied the PVC conduit and ran that to my Spa Disconnect panel outside. I also bought it at HD and it was made by Midwest and rated at 50 amps, I believe ($89). It also had a blank space for another breaker if I need to add a GFCI outlet. I already have two GFCI outlets on my deck so I didn't buy the extra breaker. I bought a spool of 100' and had about 10' left and I'm pretty sure it was less than $200 for the whole spool.

I spoke with another electrician about this a few weeks later and he told me the exact same thing.

[oggie]

Per my electrician who is licensed in both residential and commercial:

Buy a 60 amp Siemans breaker for the subpanel in our basement. Then get #6 Romex (3 wire plus ground). He supplied the PVC conduit and ran that to my Spa Disconnect panel outside. I also bought it at HD and it was made by Midwest and rated at 50 amps, I believe ($89). It also had a blank space for another breaker if I need to add a GFCI outlet. I already have two GFCI outlets on my deck so I didn't buy the extra breaker. I bought a spool of 100' and had about 10' left and I'm pretty sure it was less than $200 for the whole spool.

I spoke with another electrician about this a few weeks later and he told me the exact same thing.

Thanks Limulus I believe I found the wire code that your electricians used to determine that 6 AWG will be protected by a 60 amp braker. Article 240.6

Article 240.4.B rule states that when a wire ampacity lands between two breaker amp sizes listed in Article 240.6 and there is no listed breaker in that Article equal in size to your ampacity of the conductor in concern and if that ampacity is less than 800 amps then you may increase the ampacity of that conductor to the next breaker size listed in Article 240.6. There is no 55 amp breaker listed thus allowing you to rate this 6 awg copper wire to the next higher overcurrent device size being 60 amps.

[Pathfinder]

If your really worried 6 gauge wont do the trick then just get #4 and be done with it. But unless your tub has a Gecko XM3 spa pack its doubtful 4 gauge will fit into the board terminals. Every dealer and electrician uses #6 for hot tubs rated 50-60 amps. Its very doubtful your tub will ever near 60 running full. I dont think there is a tub on the market than runs over 60 amp rating. My electrical contractor only uses 6/3 tek cable for all installations.

[wylekioti]

Just because you need a breaker rated for 60 amps does not mean your load is 60 amps.. if it were you would be tripping the breaker all the time. Actual amperage use of hot tub depends on motor starting/running amps, heater amps, control pack and extras. Not knowing what the specifics of each component are or what settings you use. Example.. no heater with all pumps running...

Doubt your actual amp draw will excede 35 amps. So your 55 amp 6 guage is adequate. Most likely the reason for a 60 amp breaker is to prevent false trips from spikes during motor starts. But even these should not reach 55 amps. If your tub uses over 55 amps constantly.. you will be better off to sell it and buy one that is efficient because you would be able to save thousands in electric costs!