George,
I'll give you a specific example of why a service tech would need to kill power to a spa, for service reasons, when they were not pulling the main motor access panel.
Our spa has a "lounge seat" with 6 solenoid-operated valves. The valves feed water to jets clustered at different body points (feet, legs, lower back, etc.). The solenoids are controlled by a little computer which allows you to sequence the jets in various combinations.
We've had a problem with the valves leaking. I actually believe the solenoids were over-actuating and causing leaks that way. This past repair trip I forced the replacement of both the valves and solenoids.
The solenoids are connected to a single junction/circuit box. These solenoid/valve combinations and the control box are accessed by pulling the access panel off at the corner of the spa where the back of the lounge seat is. This is NOT the main motor, pump and control access panel. The tech had to replace and rewire the solenoids and sure wanted the power to the spa off.
Other info - this is an indoor spa and the "disconnect" is a maintained contact, mushroom-head push button that operates a contactor. The contactor is located next to the panelboard in the basement and is fed by a GFI-breaker. The PB is on a wall near the spa, just beyond 5' from the inside of the spa.
Rob
