electrical question

[jcmsrv]

Hi everyone!
I am building my deck that the tub will be placed on and thought that it would now be easy to rough in the electrial. I know I will need a 60 amp service, and approx 6 gauge wire,( distance to panel is 75 feet). When the electrican wires from panel thru basement, do they use some type of 6 gauge rommex. At our home center they only offer 6 gauge wires ( black, red, white, ground), that would require enclosing in conduit from panel, thru house to GFI box. Is this how it is done???
thanks

[nicker]

I think it depends if the wire will be exposed in the basement.  Our basement is not yet finished so he ran it betweek the rafters and then the part that gos from the outside wall to the tub is in conduit.

[NightOne]

I think it also depends on the building code in your country/state/municipality.

[newtotubbing]

My electrian used 4 wire 6 gauge bundled wire, wrapped in black plastic, came out of the panel without conduit, ran to the edge of the house and then put it into conduit and continued the run to the box outside.  You should go to a local electrical supply house and ask for it there.  The lowes and HD might not have it in stock.

Jonathan

[Brewman]

If you are going to get a permit, then check before you buy any wire, code may require that you use 6 gauge copper THHN/THWN wire in conduit.  
Romex does not have an insulated ground wire, which MAY be required inside your dwelling, but most likely will be required on the run from your spa to your disconnect.

It pays to find this out in advance.  It would be expensive and time consuming to have to re buy your wire.
Brewman

[tonyp]

HD has 6 ga. romex in NJ but check with your electrical inspector before doing anything.  Here they not only want the ground insulated but they want it to be one continuous wire from the panel to the GFCI sub-panel.  This means conduit all the way.

[cdenyer]

An easy way is to identify the type of wiring that is existing in your house now. Odds are that if it was okay when the house was built, it's okay now.

I would say that most homes in most areas allow romex.

As others have said, it's always best to ask. In this case it's not better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

CD

[Brewman]

Romex is allowed in residential construction, but there may be exceptions for things like pools and spas.
It really doesn't matter what your existing wiring is, it matters what your local electric inspectors will enforce.
If you take the NEC code on pools and spas to the letter, any spa with a light is supposed to have an insulated ground.  Some inspectors may enforce this (mine sure did), while others may not.  
If you are not having an inspection, the whole argument is moot.
Brewman

[ricket]

by nec code you are not suppose to run any romex in conduit and you are suppose to have a jacketed ground and you need a means of disconnect close to your tub  :)if you are running conduit you need thhn wire, the problem with romex in conduit is it heats up

[tonyp]

My inspector actually said that he had failed several tubs earlier in the week that he checked mine because they had a stranded wire bonding the heater.  Mine had a stranded wire as well but he passed me and said that he would have to check into it further since if all the manufacturers are doing it that way, maybe he's wrong.

[steve771]

I didn't realize you couldn't run nomex in conduit.  So this "thhn wire", does it come similar to nomex (jacketed, color coded, etc)?  I'm looking to extend my outdoor lighting onto the patio cover.

[Brewman]

If you run romex in conduit you must perform a de-rating calculation.  In essence the wire will not be allowed to carry it's rated current.  Also, romex doesn't meet the insulated ground requirement, so it may not be allowed.  

THHN/THWN wire is single conductor.  It is color coded, and insulated as a single conductor.  There isn't any bundling of conductors like in romex.

This wire is required to be run in conduit, and can be done without de rating, as long as you conform to conduit fill limits.  For spa wiring, you can run 6 gauge copper THHN/THWN wire in 3/4" condiut and be within allowable fill limits.

 You will need a white or grey color for your neutral, and your ground wire must be green.  Your hots can be any color as long as they're not grey, white, or green.  I did my hots both black.  

You can also downsize the ground wire (and possibly the neutral) one size.  So you'd need 6 gauge for your hots, and you could to 8 gauge for your neutral and ground.  
But discuss this in advance with your inspector.
Brewman