Wiring Question

[Ela503]

I am having a new hot tub delivered in 2 weeks and just need to set up the wiring.  My brother in law works for a company that can get the 6 gauge THHN wire for a fraction of the price than the store.  I have 1 inch PVC electrical conduit buried under neither a patio slab that the previous owner laid before they poured the concrete.

The new spa came with the GFCI 50 amp box, so I was wondering if I ran all the wires through the conduit with fish tape and used my own supplies, could I just call an electrician for the final hooking up of wires to save cost?

It appears to be a very basic run but would let them connect the wires to the main panel, the spa box, and then the final spa connection.

I haven't ever had to hire an electrician, and I  am not sure if electricians do this or you have to pay them to use their own supplies.  Any thoughts?

[CCC]

I would think that if you are going to hire them anyway, just let them pull the wire, too. That is a fraction of the price of the job. 6AWG is 6AWG, and supplying your own is the same thing as having them install the sub panel provided with the hot tub.

[Ela503]

So do you think most electricians don't have a problem if I would supply the box and the wire.  I can get it for a fraction of the price, but don't want to waste my money if they require that you purchase it from them.

[CCC]

I don't think it would matter. They make their money on the labor, not the parts.

[Ela503]

i'll have to make some calls.  I am making a 70 foot run or so so planned on going on the safe side and using 6 gauge THHN wire.  Does that sound right? 

The box shows a picture in it with 8 gauge, so 6 wouldn't hurt right?  If so, would 4 wires (red,black,white and green) that were all 6 gauge fit fine in 1 inch conduit?

[Racenut]

6AWG will be good. And if you ever upsize the tub and need 60AMP, you won't have to repull the wire.

[Ela503]

The caldera spa came with the box so i don't need one, but i did see online that they made ones that you connect the wires to it and it then has a 50amp breaker plus an additional 10 or 15 amp breaker. 

It sounded really cool so i could have power to to where i plan on putting a pond, but after reading the reviews online, amazon gave they poor reviews.

[Tman122]

You could pull a #8 bare ground to save a little cost. Unless your putting in an auxiliary 110V also, then stay with #6 ground. And pull separate hot/common #10 wires for a stand alone 110v. Code might even say #12? Get a good 50a breaker for in your main panel for the tub. And put in a separate 20/15a 110v breaker for an outlet if going that way. Put the GFCI for the tub outside. And the outside outlet will also have to be a GFCI outlet. Both code distance away from the tub. The only way to know if the wires fit in your conduit is to tape them all together (4 #6 and 2 #10) and see if you can pull them through without scoring them.

Always check your local codes. And having an electrician finish it is a good idea but not necessarily required as long as it's inspected. And that may require a permit. There's always those who DIY it and overkill it and don't tell anybody, which may have long term consequences. But be fine. Or worse underkill it which may have sooner consequences. Weight them out. Do some research.

[Dr. Spa™ Ret.]

I don't think it would matter. They make their money on the labor, not the parts.

You're not, nor never have owned your own business, have you?

[Ela503]

I think I will skip the extra aux and just do the regular 50 amp for the spa.

I will play it safe and just go with the 6 gage for all the wires.  Now the fun part of trying to get these electricians to call me back.  I am 0-3 on callback from voicemail.

[CCC]

No, I have not owned my own business. I know someone who used to work out of a van for a contractor and he told me they marked up the parts 15% and that it wasn't a huge part of their revenue. Maybe he is full of it and he was lying to me. I know what a good electrician makes per hour and the markup on 100 feet of wire would be nothing compared to their time. Either way, if it was in any way not normal for them to install parts provided by the customer then a lot of Hot Springs tubs would never get wired.

[jonnyivy]

I don't think it would matter. They make their money on the labor, not the parts.

You're not, nor never have owned your own business, have you?

Hehe,...thats why there are "Trade" counters and "Trade only" outlets,...where the prices for parts are much cheaper  to enable the contractor to have his " mark-up" on the RRP of any materials he needs for his job.

[BullFrogSpasMN]

I don't think it would matter. They make their money on the labor, not the parts.

You're not, nor never have owned your own business, have you?

Hehe,...thats why there are "Trade" counters and "Trade only" outlets,...where the prices for parts are much cheaper  to enable the contractor to have his " mark-up" on the RRP of any materials he needs for his job.

It always depends on the electrician and sometimes the relationship you have with him...I'm actually going through this right now, I just had the electrician who we refer the most (for spa/sauna hookups) quote me for adding some additional lighting in the store, he actually sent me a list of parts to pick up at Home Depot because they were still 20% ish than the "electrical parts supplier" and will just charge his labor, now obviously if we didn't have that relationship he would have went to the suppler and I would have paid 20% more on ~$1,400 in parts + his markup which he admitted is pretty low on parts...labor labor labor is where the money is

[Ela503]

yeah that's why I am hoping to run the wires through all the conduit with fish tape before he gets their so I will limit the amount of labor he would be there to charge for.  I know they will have a minimum but should help some.

I have a guy coming today to give me quote.