Eaton Cutler-Hammer 60 amps Plug In 2-Pole Circuit Breaker #BR260 is compatible with my Electric Panel in my house, now where do I find a 60amp GFCI Box ?

[JimboCh]

1 hour ago, RDspaguy said:

Yeah, here's the deal. IF the circuit has no neutral load (240v only) and IF the panel is bonded and grounded you do not need the neutral wire. But this means you can never drop a 120v 15a breaker in that sub-panel for extra plugs, outdoor lighting, etc, or use it for a different spa down the road. I recommend that you put in the neutral. 

If you are wondering what "bonded and grounded" means, you should just put in the neutral.

Neutral and ground go to the same place, but a neutral is a current-carrying conductor (it is meant to have electricity flowing through it) while a ground is a safety conductor that should not carry current, and can be dangerous if it does. Like, electrocute you for touching your refrigerator dangerous. You can make it work with just the ground or neutral, but it is a code violation for a very good reason.

Well I don't have 6/3 wire, but it looks like I'm going to have extra 6/2 wire, can I take out a single straight white wire out of that wire and use just for my neutral from  house panel to gfci box? I'm only using 3/4" pvc pipe for going through 12" wall(cinderblock and brick) then about 3 ft over to GFCI box. I believe I can fit the 6/2 wire and a single white strand through the pipe and get it where I have to.

So in total the run is about 6ft in total counting the wire in the house panel to get to the neutral bar in the GFCI Box? Would that be acceptable? code wise?

[cranbiz]

Technically, no. The single strands in romex are not usually marked, You are supposed to use THHN wire and using the wire from deconstructed romex, you can't prove to the inspector that it's THHN. In actuality, most, if not all romex consists of THHN wire so what you propose is fine.

I will neither confirm or deny that the 3 6 GA and 10 GA ground wires in my 3/4" sealtite from the spa panel to the spa pack might have started life as 6/3 NM-B romex. I don't believe the inspector who inspected and passed my install actually looked very hard at the wires, but I also may personally know the electrical inspector.

[JimboCh]

Getting close now, just waiting for 60amp GFCI breaker to arrive via UPS tonight. I'm thinking of filling tub with water now.

Check out my wiring, let me know if you see any issues. Yeah, Yeah I know the pvc pipe is exactly level, I'm a rookie though lol...did my best.

No idea why the first picture is turned. It's not like that on the wall. lol

I drilled the hole in the middle of the brick I thought but I think the drill wandered on me a little bit to as why it's not level with hole coming out of box.

Had box installed first before drilling hole in wall....and there was no way I was taking  it off the wall to redrill 3 more holes for the screws.

 

 

 

[cranbiz]

Looks good.

If I was doing this work, I would mark on both ends the white wire that will be carrying the load. Electrical tape will work for a marker although red tape is better (simply because traditionally 240V lines are red and black, neutral is white and ground is either green or bare copper).

[JimboCh]

1 hour ago, cranbiz said:

Looks good.

If I was doing this work, I would mark on both ends the white wire that will be carrying the load. Electrical tape will work for a marker although red tape is better (simply because traditionally 240V lines are red and black, neutral is white and ground is either green or bare copper).

Will do, got another question for you. I'm thinking of placing a  regular 15 amp breaker in that spa box on side of the house with the 60amp gfci............ I want to run a 3 wire to a GFCI receptacle that I will mount onto the brick pillar that is about  5ft from tub, this receptacle will be facing toward the house, not the hot tub.

Will be wired like this, is that okay? and will just the 60amp breaker in my house electric panel be okay or must I get a higher breaker in there to run the 15amp breaker additional to the 60amp?

 

What size underground wire do I need to buy to run off the 15 amp breaker to the 120 GFCI Receptacle?

 

Branch Circuit/GFCI Outlet

 

[cranbiz]

The wiring is fine, the problem is the spa draws 53-55A, you are supplying a 60A circuit. You will have the possibility of overloading the 60A breaker IF you are drawing max current from both the 15A GFCI and the 60A GFCI.

What I would do is run 1) 14GA THHN wire from the main panel as a 15A circuit, use the spa panel as a feed thru  and then out to your 15A GFCI. You would need to run a neutral and a ground wire from the spa panel to the GFCI.

That's my CYA legal advice. Ignore anything after this.

As long as you are not going to have a heavy load on that outdoor GFCI, what you propose is not ideal but it will work. Just be aware that you do have the possibility to exceed the 60A breaker at the main and it will trip.

To be clear, 15A circuit requires 14GA wire.

[JimboCh]

update: Okay, fired up the hot tub. Did find 2 small leaks not under pressure on the back off the lcd lights cascading water fall.(just constant dripping) surprising how much water can collect with it just dripping.

Used silicone, put it on yesterday, waiting until this afternoon to put back the 3 inches of water I had to take out of tub to make the repair.

Had to take off the one side panel to get at the lights to make the repair. Lets hope I got the silicone in the right spots to stop the leaks, wasn't exactly that easy to reach in and get to the lights.

[JimboCh]

All wired up and hot tub is running.