If a hot tub is installed on a screened porch of a dwelling and fed with a 50 amp GFCI protected circuit, is a disconnect required near the hot tub?

The 50 amp GFCI breaker isn't within sight of the tub.

shortcircuit

Yes disco is needed. 680.12

Thanx Electricmanscott...wish they would put that requirement in part 4 also to clear up the confusion that I get from the emergency shutoff rule(680.41)

shortcircuit

The emergency disconnect is not required at single family dwellings.

Jim, you're correct that the emergency disco is not required for single family dwellings however the SERVICE disconnect is still required to be within sight just like any other piece of equipment.

What if there is circuit breakers or switches under the skirt that will disconnect the motor. Do they count?

Yes, the disconnect(s) under the skirt of the spa or hot tub qualify as the required disconnect(s). They/it certainly would be within sight of the equipment served. Some have said that an additional disconnect is needed within sight of the spa or hot tub. The '02 code seems to make it a lot clearer to me by saying "within sight of it's equipment" 680.12 and not "within sight from all pools, spas, and hot tub equipment and shall be located 5' from the inside of the pool, spa, or hot tub" as it did in the '99

George, I think that the disconnect required by 680.12 should be seperate from the tub altogether.What if the hot tub is defective and they want to remove it and replace it with a new one?

shortcircuit

680.12 says the disconnecting means shall be
accessible & within sight from its equipment

look at the definition of accessible, I do
not think the disconnect under the spa meets
that requirement.

Wait a minute here- Are we trying to say that the disconnect under the skirt of a spa is not "accessible and within sight of it's equipment" 680.12? I would think that if I'm working on the equipment associated with the disconnect, that I would have the spa/hot tub opened up and this would provides accessibility and within sight. The relationship is between the disconnect and the equipment. You want to install an additional disconnect within sight of the spa/hot tub? Go for it. I'd like to bid against you.

Does within sight of mean "within 50 feet?" The inspectors in my conty want a disconnect about 5 to 20 feet from the spa.

Article 100
In Sight From (Within Sight From, Within Sight). Where this Code specifies that one equipment shall be “in sight from,” “within sight from,” or “within sight,” and so forth, of another equipment, the specified equipment is to be visible and not more than 15 m (50 ft) distant from the other.

I had an inspector "gig" my hot tub disco because it was not insight of those that were sitting in the hot tub!!!
The hot tub was/is located in a "kick-out" section of the pool deck and the disco was mounted on the pool wall so that if one were sitting in the tub, the disco would not be in sight but if one were working on the equipment with the front panel of the tub removed, the disco would be staring you in the face if you glanced to your left.
No matter how hard I tried to explain to her that the intent of the disco was for the safety of the person working on the tub and not for the person using the tub, she would not budge. Talk about stubborn and bull-headed.
To get the occupancy permit, I simply exchanged the disco for a 6X6 PVC junction box and extended a piece of pipe up to above the pool wall where I mounted the disco so it could be seen by those enjoying a soak in the hot tub. The dang thing looked like a periscope! Once the final inspection was obtained, I located the disco back to its original state. The GC was happy to compensate me for the time and materials to get the final CO. Talk about jumping through hoops to accomodate a bull headed inspector...sheesh!

[This message has been edited by Coastal (edited 01-12-2005).]