ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Hydromassage tub question

I am wiring up a hydromassage tub that has a double insulated motor with no means for bonding. According to the NEC this need not be bonded. If there are no metallic parts other than the water lines I assume I am done as there is nothing else to bond. What do you guys think?

i think the tub makers are smartening up...

If the motor is double insulated then nothing has to be bonded to the motor. However some new tubs have a heater. Now these heaters need to be bonded.

Just as long as the whole thing is protected with a GFCI, I don't think that you can go wrong.

If the copper water pipes are reachable, and in the accesible area, I would think a good idea would be to bond the water pipes to the equipment ground. Is that a good idea? I had an inspector a while ago, ask for that to be done. I guess he was treating it like a pool with anything metallic within 5 feet of the tub had to be bonded.
Have a good day

Welcome to ECN, SJT.
Scott, sorry about my earlier advice about the GFCI on this Double Insulated equipment.
Over in NZ here, we have a number of brands of these Spa/Hydro-massage units and they are becoming more and more popular with motels and ski resorts.
I specialise in the installation, testing and commissioning of these pools.
Have any questions?, ask away.

Trumpy;
how do you wire them in NZ?
does the same general philosophy apply?

are GFI's ( or your equivalent) used?

is a disco within sight?

do you 'bond' all mettallic's?

are proximal lighting fixtures & receptacles restricted?

just curious....

Sparky,
The same very general principles still apply to installing and wiring a spa pool.
Over here, the feed from the supplying switchboard, must be from a dedicated Residual Current Device(RCD), this is the same as a GFCI, although I am not sure of the trip current, that you guys use over in the US, we use 30mA, for personal protection.
The problem of Bonding all of the metallic pipework has been alleviated, by the use of Polyethylene Pressure pipe,but all metallic enclosures(controls housings,etc),must be bonded by at least a 4mm2 wire.
All light fittings that are installed in a
pool area are OK, as long as no person can touch them while being immersed in the pool,or are standing around the edge of the pool.
For any light fittings,actually in the pool, over here, they must comply with IP68 of IEC 527,this is the code for ingress-protection(dust and water).
What does the US use for the same type of code?, with respect to weather and water-proofing?.

Trumpy,
Our immersed lighting has it's own fairly stringent requirements in the NEC art 680., Either 'dry nitch' or 'wet nitch' would specifically apply.

Our weather/water proofing would be dictated by the definition of dry/damp/wet area's throughout the NEC, with the appropriate materials required per listing/rating.

bodily immersion vs. associated electrically protective devices such as our GFI ( 4-6 ma) works a little funky here.

there are many situations where one can, by code, get away with normal ( non-GFI) protection. One such instance is a hard-wired pool, 3Ph motors,or pool heaters.

This i make no claim to rationalize.... others may imbellish...