I recently installed my new spa and had a guy install the electrical line. Although he is not a licensed electrician, he seems to have done lots of electrical work. He did not run a separate green (ground) wire from main panel to the shut-off box and he said since he is using metal conduit, that will work as ground. Is this true? I should mention that he did run a ground wire from shut-off box to the tub. in total, he has 3 lines from main panel to shut-off box (Red, Black, and white) and he has 3 lines from shut-off box to the spa (Red, Black and Green). Is this setup correct? I have a Sundance Marin spa (240 V/60 Amps)

Electrically it will work but I would never trust it.

In some areas this may meet code requirements for some installations but I doubt it for spas and tubs.

You should always have an independent ground wire run to the mains.

HOWEVER, in your installation, I believe that spa does not use a neutral. The green going from the tub to the c/o box is your ground and there's no neutral used. If this is the case, then the white going from your main box should be tied to ground, and the white should be tied to the green in the c/o box. This way you will have an independent ground wire. Color of the insulation is insignificant. Just be sure that the white line is marked with tape or something at the c/o as a ground wire so it will never be confused in the future.

I have another question related to this thread. I also have a Sundance spa that uses only 3 wires (red, black and ground) and I've had it for almost 5 years now. I have moved it once to a new house but re-wired exactly how I had it at the previous house. I have a GFCI breaker in the main house panel and a simple disconnect near the spa. At the main panel red and black are connected to the GFCI breaker and the third wire connects to the white terminal on the breaker. Of course the white pigtail is connected to the neutral bus bar. At the spa the red and black go to the proper terminals while the third wire ties into the ground. Everything works fine until I try and connect a ground wire attached to a 5' ground rod to the spa. It trips the GFCI. What can the problem be? I've tried several different things such as isolating the disconnect from the block wall (I thought maybe current was leaking into the wall since the third wire is bonded to the disconnet box). I've tried switching the white pigtail in the main panel from the neutral bus bar to the ground bus bar (they seem to be separate from each other). I've even tried leaving the pigtail on the neutral bar and connecting the third wire to ground bar. That seemed to work for about 20 seconds before the breaker tripped. Not sure what to do next. Like I said the spa works fine and I think it is safe the way it is wired -- just not to code. PLEASE HELP!!

Thanks,
Ron

In MOST cases you can NOT connect the white load side to any form of ground on a GFI breaker. In most cases this will perminantly damage the GFI breaker. Any white wire after a GFI must remain isolated from ground. Other than that, you may have some leakage in your heating element of the tub.

On the note with the metalic conduit being a ground path, the National Electric Code REQUIRES a separate current carrying conductor to be placed inside the conduit for a ground path, or a grounding rod bonded to the boxes at each end. You can use any color wire, but it MUST be wrapped with green electrical tape at both ends designating that it is indeed a ground wire.

hope that helps

Jer

I may have explained in too much detail. I guess what I really need to know is do I have to have a white neutral come from the GFCI breaker's neutral terminal to the spa if the spa doesn't require a neutral? (220v - Only Red, Black and Green). In this case should I be able to simply keep the breaker pigtail connected to main panel neutral bus and move my third wire (spa ground) from the breaker load neutral terminal to the main panel ground bus bar? The real question is will a dual pole, 50-amp GFCI breaker work with only the pigtail connected to bus bar and red/black load terminals connected to spa (no connection to breaker's white neutral load terminal)?

If so, and the GFCI still trips, should I disconnect / isolate the heater wires?

yes, just use the black/red and bond the ground to the ground bus bar in the panel, don't use the white neutral

OK, I did this but it tripped just as before. So I disconnected all equipment and re-connected one at a time. When I connected the circ pump "CLICK". The circ pump must have a ground leak. What I don't understand is why didn't the GFCI trip before I switched the wire from neutral to ground??? Does this mean the spa wasn't protected? What is an easy way to check that it is safe now?

I have another question except now I am the one who inadvertantly ran 3-wire as opposed to 4 wire for my new Emerald Spa. Since my cold water pipe (which is grounded next to my main circuit panel) is 2 feet from where the wiring comes into my house from the spa, can I simply run a short length of no. 6 wire from the ground on the spa to the cold pipe with a ground connector? I really want to avoid having to purchase another 50' of bx cable from Home Depot. If my suggestion above isn't good, then could my next option be running a no. 6 coated ground wire along the bx cable to my circuit box and grounding it there?

I live in NYC and all electrical wiring must be bx, as opposed to Romex.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated,
Jim