[bolt in blue]

I finally got the concrete in for my back patio that I asked you guys about back in January this past week. I want to start doing my electric work down there soon but want some opinions. Basically I want a light and two outlets for now but plan to install a hot tub there in the next couple of years and I am trying to decide how much of the work to do now and how much to save for later.

Here's a picture of the patio:


Right now, I have an outlet on top of the deck on the house above the blue arrow. This outlet is on the same circuit as the deck door light, a pair of flood lights, two GFCI outside outlets, and two outlets in my dining room. With my old deck, I came down where the blue arrow is in schedule 40 conduit and ran it around to about where the wood post by the concrete stairs is, having an outlet along one of the top deck supports in a weatherproof enclosure for my grill's light and rotisserie (directly above).

My original plan was to essentially repeat what I had with the old deck on the new one, except add a light underneath, a light switch, and an outlet at a more usable height behind the patio table (this would double as my 120v service outlet for the hot tub). Everything would be GFCI protected, in conduit, etc. One of the posters suggested that I place the light switch inside which is going to be a little bit tricky, but I have convinced myself that it is the right answer, so it will most likely end up there, with a conduit run into the bump out over the door and center window, transitioning to Romex, with a switch next to the door indoors.

As I started to take a closer look at what I need to do, I noticed that a lot of the disconnects sold in big box stores are really subpanels with 4 spaces. I got to thinking that maybe I should run the electric for a future hot tub (which would go where the brown box is) and stick a 120v breaker in there to run the stuff under the deck and cut down the amount of conduit on the house (I could eliminate the deck penetration - most visible piece). I figure I could put a disconnect where either D1 or D2 in the picture is, but D2 would make more sense.

So that's where I am so far. I first need to make the decision of if I should run the hot tub electric now or just the 120v stuff. Any thoughts on that decision? If I run the hot tub electric now, I will need to figure out what wire to use to connect the disconnect. I have not decided whether I should plan for a 50 or 60 amp tub but did notice that all the disconnect subpanels I've seen were 125 amp rated panels. I am about a 70 foot run from the main panel (left side of house, front corner) to D2. I could do about 60 feet of that inside so it could be Romex but will need to do at least part of the run in conduit. Should I be doing it all in conduit? Should I be considering using aluminum? How big of wire would you guys suggest? I could do as small as 6/3 transitioning to #6 THWN, but am wondering if I should really be increasing my capacity more especially if I want to also have a 120v circuit on the run. Thanks!

[Stratmando]

Personally I would do all in conduit,(3/4"PVC Minimum) and use all Copper.
2 #6's, a #8 for neutral and a #10 for ground would be good for 50 or 60 Amps and is what I would use, unless I had Some number 8 and only needed 40 Amps.
Don't forget your Disconnect, GFI Breaker can be in Main panel or Disconnect.