Arctic Wiring

[salp]

I have a question here... i have a sheet saying that I need #6/3 wire for my tub (Arctic Yukon Ultra) and a 50 gfi... which i have both and are ready to go. However, in the manual, it tells me that the ground must be #6 stranded ground, and also a #6 solid 'bond' cable. Am I misreading something? I can see if I have to remove the ground in the #6/3 wire and put a #6 ground instead since a #6/3 wire set does not have a #6 ground, but what and where is this solid #6 bond wire going?

Any help would be great.

Thank You.

[Glid]

One black(L1), one red(L2), one white(Neutral), one green(Ground). Page 9 from the .pdf below.

It's really a three wire with ground.

http://www.arcticspas.com/index.php/en/custom_content/15/15/

[salp]

Yes, that is the book I have... .it says I ALSO needa a bond wire IN ADDITION to the 4 #6 guage wires. That's where I am confused.

"We recommend an electrical subpanel containing a 50 amp GFCI breaker is used to supply power and

protect the spa. This subpanel requires a 50 amp, two pole, single phase, 230 volt, four wire service

(two line, one neuteral, one ground). The grounding conductor must be at least the same gauge as

the line conductors, but not less than #6 AWG stranded (Canada), and #8 AWG solid (USA). A

minimum #6 AWG (Canada), and #8 AWG (USA) solid copper bond wire is also required. "

[salp]

anyone?

[Water Boy]

One black(L1), one red(L2), one white(Neutral), one green(Ground). Page 9 from the .pdf below.

It's really a three wire with ground.

http://www.arcticspas.com/index.php/en/custom_content/15/15/

Salp,

I am about 99% certain that what Glid said is correct. Not sure why it reads the extra copper bonding wire. But, if you have the six four wire, two lines, one neutral, and one ground, you should be good to go. It does sound like maybe you are in Canada though, so you might check with your dealer or electrician just to be certain. I did find this blurb somewhere:

Always check with a certified electrician. For most spas, including an Arctic spa, the required wire in Canada is 6 gauge 3 wire with a ground and a 50 amp GFCI breaker is what's needed to run a two pump system. For a one pump unit, you'll need an 8 gauge 3 wire with ground and a 40 amp GFCI breaker. The requirements in the US are the same, the teck cable is just commonly referred to as 6 gauge 4 wire and 8 gauge 4 wire. International customers, please check with your local dealer and electrician for the requirements in your part of the world.

[Glid]

I had questions about the additional bond wire, as well. If you have metal conduit, you would have to bond the ground path for that. Everything metal should be bonded together. That way if there is any "free" current and you touch two unbonded or separate ground path metal pieces, you don't get a shock by becoming the bond.

[Tom]

I have a question here... i have a sheet saying that I need #6/3 wire for my tub (Arctic Yukon Ultra) and a 50 gfi... which i have both and are ready to go. However, in the manual, it tells me that the ground must be #6 stranded ground, and also a #6 solid 'bond' cable. Am I misreading something? I can see if I have to remove the ground in the #6/3 wire and put a #6 ground instead since a #6/3 wire set does not have a #6 ground, but what and where is this solid #6 bond wire going?

Any help would be great.

Thank You.

Here is a reply from Glenn Amendt of Arctic's R & D department:

The grounding wire in the supply cable and the equi-potential bonding cables are entirely separate items. They are connected yes, but they are independent of each other.

The supply ground must be sized to be able to carry any current away from the spa that the supply ( lines 1 and 2) can carry to the spa. For a spa rated at 50 amps and 240 volts the size of the ground conductor must be sized according to the requirements of your local jurisdiction (often No. 8 AWG) and it directly connects the ground from the power supply panel to the spa controller.

Secondly, there is an equi-potential grid within the spa which links metal bodies of all of electrical components and the spa water together in order to ensure there is no potential difference in voltage between these components which could cause a potentially [no pun intended] dangerous situation. Any accessible metal around the spa must also be connected to this grid. Also, in some jurisdictions, there is a requirement for a metal grid to be placed within the concrete pad for the spa and this also must be connected to the bonding grid of the spa. These are the connecting cables to which we are referring as bonding wires.

Canada and the United States have different requirements for the sizes and forms of these bonding wires. The requirements in Canada are for a minimum size of No 6 AWG with no specification of wire type (solid or stranded). In the USA, the minimum size requirements are for No. 8 AWG Solid copper for bonding connections. Because we do not differentiate between spas bound for Canada and the United States, we chose to use No. 6 AWG solid bonding wire in order to meet the minimums in both Jurisdictions at the same time. There are provisions for connecting the bonding wires on the side of the spa controller and they are identified as Bonding Lugs.

===

I hope that clarifies the reason for having both a ground wire and a bond wire.

[salp]

Thanks guys!

Had my tub put in on thursday.. love the message.

Have some issues unfortunately already, but the guys at Arctic in edmonton seem to be ready to help me out.... hopefully things work well....

Cheers

[Algonkin]

I too have a question regarding the #6/3 wire ... how big a hole must I drill to run the wire in my basement studs?

Thanks in advance.

[Glid]

I too have a question regarding the #6/3 wire ... how big a hole must I drill to run the wire in my basement studs?

Thanks in advance.

http://www.spadepot.com/spacyclopedia/wiri...CFQOIFQodwHahWw

This site looks dumb down, but it is spot on for the do it yourself folks. But it says they used a 1.00" conduit for a 4-wire. Oversized for easy pull.

What you are looking for is derating. If you google it, you will find it. It will tell you how many wires you can bunch together before you have to go to bigger wires. Thus, the hole size.

[n1oty]

I too have a question regarding the #6/3 wire ... how big a hole must I drill to run the wire in my basement studs?

Thanks in advance.

http://www.spadepot.com/spacyclopedia/wiri...CFQOIFQodwHahWw

This site looks dumb down, but it is spot on for the do it yourself folks. But it says they used a 1.00" conduit for a 4-wire. Oversized for easy pull.

What you are looking for is derating. If you google it, you will find it. It will tell you how many wires you can bunch together before you have to go to bigger wires. Thus, the hole size.

Most electrical codes also specify what is referred to as a conduit fill percentage and it refers to how much space the conductors can take up within the conduit. Generally speaking, as the number of conductors and their ampacity go up, the allowable fill percentage goes down. The purpose of this rule is to prevent overheating within the conduit.

The single largest mistake that the typical DIY'er (and some of the generic web site advice) makes regarding conduit is that any size conduit is permissible if you can actually get the conductors to squeeze into it. Nothing could be further from the truth, especially with the current levels we are dealing with in the typical hot tub installation.

John

[Algonkin]

I too have a question regarding the #6/3 wire ... how big a hole must I drill to run the wire in my basement studs?

Thanks in advance.

http://www.spadepot.com/spacyclopedia/wiri...CFQOIFQodwHahWw

This site looks dumb down, but it is spot on for the do it yourself folks. But it says they used a 1.00" conduit for a 4-wire. Oversized for easy pull.

What you are looking for is derating. If you google it, you will find it. It will tell you how many wires you can bunch together before you have to go to bigger wires. Thus, the hole size.

Most electrical codes also specify what is referred to as a conduit fill percentage and it refers to how much space the conductors can take up within the conduit. Generally speaking, as the number of conductors and their ampacity go up, the allowable fill percentage goes down. The purpose of this rule is to prevent overheating within the conduit.

The single largest mistake that the typical DIY'er (and some of the generic web site advice) makes regarding conduit is that any size conduit is permissible if you can actually get the conductors to squeeze into it. Nothing could be further from the truth, especially with the current levels we are dealing with in the typical hot tub installation.

John

Thanks for the quick answer John.....much appreciated.

[Algonkin]

I too have a question regarding the #6/3 wire ... how big a hole must I drill to run the wire in my basement studs?

Thanks in advance.

http://www.spadepot.com/spacyclopedia/wiri...CFQOIFQodwHahWw

This site looks dumb down, but it is spot on for the do it yourself folks. But it says they used a 1.00" conduit for a 4-wire. Oversized for easy pull.

What you are looking for is derating. If you google it, you will find it. It will tell you how many wires you can bunch together before you have to go to bigger wires. Thus, the hole size.

Thanks Glid..... You're right, the site is dumb down but it's perfect for this dummy lol! It's exactly what I needed.

Cheers!