Hello from a Newbie!

[SoakingWet]

[size=12]I've been lurking around for weeks while the hubby and I have been spa shopping. We finally decided on and ordered a D1 Chairman II. The cement guys are coming in next week and the spa should be here the second week of January!!

We are not totally new to the spa thing. We presently have a tiny little Dream Maker X-Spadition. We purchased it used from a friend and it has served us well. But, what it really managed to do was to convince us what how FANTASTIC it is to have a spa!

My first question is this: We dont have an outside 220 outlet. In general, does the electrician show up after delivery for hook-up? I thought we would have to call him in before but my hubby says after. Don't worry, you're not getting in the middle of a husband/wife debate. It was just a discussion we were having in our spa early this morning.

Thanks for all your help while we were shopping!![/size]

[MostlyLurkingGal]

Hi and Welcome to a great forum! I'm new at this myself, but I would imagine you should get the electrician out there before you get your spa to do most the set up work....I would hate to see you have to wait hours (or days) to get that done AFTER getting your new spa! Just my opinion.........

[Chad]

[size=12]I've been lurking around for weeks while the hubby and I have been spa shopping. We finally decided on and ordered a D1 Chairman II. The cement guys are coming in next week and the spa should be here the second week of January!!

We are not totally new to the spa thing. We presently have a tiny little Dream Maker X-Spadition. We purchased it used from a friend and it has served us well. But, what it really managed to do was to convince us what how FANTASTIC it is to have a spa!

My first question is this: We dont have an outside 220 outlet. In general, does the electrician show up after delivery for hook-up? I thought we would have to call him in before but my hubby says after. Don't worry, you're not getting in the middle of a husband/wife debate. It was just a discussion we were having in our spa early this morning.

Thanks for all your help while we were shopping!![/size]

I think it's best to have the electrician come out before and run the 220 from your panel to the patio. Most dealers will do the final hook-up(at no extra charge) if it is ready to go upon delivery. You might want to ask though, just to make sure.

[thearm]

definitely get the electrician out there before the spa and concrete comes. There are a lot of different options to discuss with him before the spa and the concrete gets there. If he gets there after the concrete and spa your options will be limited on the way it can be done. Also you might want to get a couple of quotes as the rate fo rgetting this done can vary quite a little from one contractor to the next. Ask your dealer for names of contractors they use.

[MostlyLurkingGal]

thearm is sooooooo right about quotes. I had a guy out for an estimate but he never got back to me, so another electrician did the job. When the first guy finally got back to me and his quote was literally half what I paid the second guy.    Dang....... [smiley=angry.gif]

[shortspark]

The hot tub dealer should give you a pre-install sheet which contains all the dimensions, weights, volt/amps and other information for your electrician.  With these instructions in hand, he will know exactly what to do before the spa is delivered.

[galen]

Yes, by all means, have him come out first. Even before the slab is poured. You may want to run the line under the slab and stub it up close to the tub. There should be an access hole near the bottom on both sides of the pump compartment.

[Zep]

re: "You may want to run the line under the slab and stub it up close to the tub"

Thats what I did...when the concrete guy arrived I already had a piece
of PVC pipe ready and he poured the concrete over the pvc.

Makes for a nice clean look once tub is in place.

Congrats and good luck with your new tub!

[macejh]

Ill start by saying... take my advice with a grain of salt as i did my own electrical hookup (after much discussion with many differnet electricians and code inspectors).  I dont suggest doing it yourself as it took alot of work and I always wonder/hope that I hooked it up correctly.  I follwed local code but code differs for different areas and I always wonder if I should have done things differently.

I read a horror story on the web about a electrical problem.  I was something about concrete being poured and it didnt get bonded appropraitly.  When tub user got out, they got shocked after standing on the cement.  To correct the problem, the owner had his re-bar in the cement bonded to a grounding rod.

This alone should encourage at least a discussion with electrician before pouring concrete.

On the other hand, I would want electrical hooked up AFTER delivery so you dont have to pay to have electrican come out a second time to make the connection to your new spa.  Most will charge a "trip charge" to come back.

To each their own; regardless, ALWAYS RESPECT ELECTRICITY!

[macejh]

WOW, ZEP, that is very cool.  I like he stubbed it right under the tub.  Makes for a real clean look.  I will definetly look into this for my future house.  Way cool!  Id love to see pics of the finished product (tub in place with no visible Power lines).

[Zep]

re:"Id love to see pics of the finished product
(tub in place with no visible Power lines)"

Ok macejh....

My slab


My "hidden wiring"


My tub on slab with no wires showing:

[anne]

On the other hand, I would want electrical hooked up AFTER delivery so you dont have to pay to have electrican come out a second time to make the connection to your new spa.  Most will charge a "trip charge" to come back.

To each their own; regardless, ALWAYS RESPECT ELECTRICITY!

An alternative would be to trench whatever needs trenching, bury the PCV and have it come up out of where the the concrete will be on your own first. Then have the concrete done, and everything will be ready for your electrician to actually handle the electrical part when the tub is there, and fish the wires through. This would be less expensive since you'd do some of the work on your own. If you did it that way, I'd not do *any* work until you have an electrician lined up who can make sure that you do your part correctly. You'd probably have to pay some initial consultation charge or something, but then if you are able/willing to do the dirty work, the electrician would only have to do the stuff that his license qualifies him for! One big variable in this plan would be how far it is from the tub to the location of the GFCI. Fishing the wires after the fact could be tough.

[Zep]

re: "One big variable in this plan would be how far it is from the tub to the location of the GFCI. Fishing the wires after the fact could be tough"  

I did not run the pvc all the way from the GFI....I let the electricians run the wiring how ever they do that from the GFI out to my short "pvc tunnel" at the slab.

The pvc that I placed....before the concrete was poured.....was only about 3-4 feet long with a 90 degree curve.....so the "fishing" of the wire was very easy.

I just made sure there was a short "pvc tunnel" for the wiring...basically at the slab and then let the electricians bring it from the GFI box to to the 4 foot pvc section at the slab....basically there was no "fishing".

[galen]

Took a while to find it but here is a picture I posted right after installing my tub. I didn't want to come through the bottom for various reasons.