ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area GFCI Protection on Hot Tub

I went by a prospective customers home yesterday to give an estimate on wiring a hot tub. Upon inspection of the tub the instructions indicate a three wire connection. Two hots and a ground. No neutral connection in the hot tub, no internal GFCI protection provided. There is a neutral generated inside the internal components of the hot tub for lighting and control circuits. Without a neutral connection how would one go about protecting the hot tub with a GFCI breaker. Has anyone run across this before? If I cannot provide the GFCI protection required I will have to tell the customer I cannot do the work.

You need to use a 2-pole GFI circuit breaker.
You don't need a neutral to detect ground fault, only a circuit path that can be monitored for any current that isn't accounted for.

12 Amps out on one wire, 12 Amps back on the other...everything's fine.
12 Amps out on one wire, 11.9Amps back on the other...something's wrong with the circuit.