View Full Version : How do I get 240 volts AC to the hot tub?
mgrenia
Apr 11, 2007, 06:52 AM
Hello, everyone. My name is Mike and I live in Dunsford, Ontario, Canada.
My wife recently purchased a new hot tub and has lovingly assigned the task of installing this monster to me...
I have an older house with the old fashioned screw-in fuses, and 200 amp service. I had one spot remaining in the panel for a "high draw" item so I ran approximately 70 feet of #6-3 outdoor/underground cable to a spa kit/sub panel outside. Inside the sub is a 60 amp GFCI Breaker.
I'm not an electrician, but with a fair amount of practice over the years I've found that I can handle most 120 volt issues. 240 volts is a different ball game.
Now the fun part: The hot tub itself is only a 3-wire setup. The instruction manual says that the red wire is hot, the blue wire is neutral and the green and yellow wire is ground.
How do I get 240 AC to a single hot wire in the hot tubs electrical box?
If I connect the red and black wires from the GFCI together does that give me the 240 volts I need, or does it burn the house down?
Waiting in limbo...
Thanks,
Mike
ballengerb1
Apr 11, 2007, 07:08 AM
This doesn't sound right. I would expect 4 wires with two Hot. What brand and model monster do you own?
labman
Apr 11, 2007, 07:38 AM
In the US, we have two 120 volt feeds of opposite phase. They are 240 volts to each other. We tie the red and black to opposite feeds, the white to the grounded neutral and the ground to the equipment ground. Your spa sounds like it has the English system with a 220 hot, and a neutral. I think you can tie one hot to the hot, and the other hot to the neutral. I would wait for tkrussel to confirm that. We have several good people in heating and plumbing, but only one I trust in electrical.
mgrenia
Apr 11, 2007, 08:40 AM
The brand of hot tub is a Pleasure Flow AMC-2070 Series.
It was made in China (like everything else is these days!)
My wife bought the tub on eBay, but it is distributed by a firm in Kitchener, Ontario so I would like to think that it's been designed to run on the type of service we use here.
ballengerb1
Apr 11, 2007, 09:20 AM
Sorry Mike, I totally missed where you live. Know nothing, maybe even less, about your power in Canada. Tkrussell may pick up on this or you can send him a private message. He is near the top of the member list.
labman
Apr 12, 2007, 08:17 AM
Hummmm. If I noticed yesterday this was in spas, I would have asked to have it moved to electrical, which I just did. Maybe now you will get a good answer. Does the blue connect through the load to the red, and the green to the housing?
tkrussell
Apr 12, 2007, 08:23 AM
I agree with Labman, your tub seems to be wired for England or European system, which is one red for hot, one blue for "neutral", and 1 ground.
Ballanger is also correct, the tub should need 4 wires, 2 hots for 240 volts, 1 neutral for 120 volt control in the unit, and 1 equipment ground.
Need to be careful here, the neutral of a European system is a grounded leg of a 230 volt circuit. Canada use the same system as US, two ungrounded hot legs to derive 240 volts, the neutral is grounded and is the 120 volt tap off a 240 volt system, so the neutrals do not work the same.
You may need to have an electrician look at the tub wiring to determine if you 240 volt system will feed the tub safely. Or contact the distributor for more clear instruction. Keep in mind a distributor only sells products, I bet he don't give a rats behind if it works.
I was unable to find any info on the net for your tub.
mgrenia
Apr 12, 2007, 02:45 PM
To everyone who has answered my original question: Thank you.
I got the hot tub up and running. As it turns out, the tub is set up for two hots and a ground, no neutral. We hooked it up that way and it fired right up.
I've never heard of a setup like that, but I called two different electricians with safety concerns in mind. I was assured that as long as the GFCI's are in place everything is fine.
That project is officially filed in the "done" folder!
Ghis
Aug 21, 2009, 09:13 AM
Hi ,could you please tell me how to get in contact with your dealer so I can get a part for my hot tub, I have the same hot tub Thanks Ghis.
tkrussell
Aug 21, 2009, 09:50 AM
This thread is over two years old, the original poster never posted again after this thread, so I doubt you will hear from him.
Could not find any "Pleasure Flow" but did find the Series # AMC-2070 here:
Outdoor Spa with 29 Spa Jets Designed for 6 Person (AMC-2070) - China Hot Tub, Spa, Bathtub in Bathtub (http://www.made-in-china.com/showroom/gzbiaopai/product-detailNMFEqDTKXaWJ/China-Outdoor-Spa-with-29-Spa-Jets-Designed-for-6-Person-AMC-2070-.html)
Good luck getting parts from a Chinese company.