In a residential home, is it legal to tap into the pool light 15a ckt and run to a indoor spa requireing 15 amps also. The customer says she won't run them at the same time.
The Golden Rule - "The man with the gold makes the rule"
Assuming 680.23 is satisfied I can't think of a reason why it's not OK.
What size bulbs are they using? Even two 600w would work but spa lights are usually more like 100 or maybe 300. My 15,000 gallon pool lights up fine with two 300s. In fact I have them on dimmers because sometimes it is too much.
The pool is probably a 400 watt. The indoor bath tub spa is using a 1.5 HP motor. At 750 watts per HP its a bit close on a 15 amp circuit. They would probably have to run them separate, which is ok, if its code.
The Golden Rule - "The man with the gold makes the rule"
680.23 (F) (2) Equipment Grounding. Through-wall lighting assemblies, wet-niche, dry-niche, or no-niche luminaires (lighting fixtures) shall be connected to an insulated copper equipment grounding conductor installed with the circuit conductors. The equipment grounding conductor shall be installed without joint or splice except as permitted in (F)(2)(a) and (F)(2)(b). The equipment grounding conductor shall be sized in accordance with Table 250.122 but shall not be smaller than 12 AWG.
Please explain how you will conform with the criteria in bold above and tap in a receptacle for the spa.
Why don’t you run another circuit for the indoor tub motor?
Along with Mike's (jw) comments about complying with 680.23(F)(2) a 1.5hp motor can not be connected to a 15 amp 120 volt circuit. You need to look at table 430.248 which shows the full load current for a 1.5 hp motor at 20 amps.
Ya, I always run 20 amp ckts with GFI for indoor bath tub spas. The customer said the company said it could be a 15 amp. But I believe he is wrong. I'll ck the code book.
The Golden Rule - "The man with the gold makes the rule"
jw electric, Your talking about a light fixture. This is going to a spa motor. Just a 20 amp circuit with a GFI mounted below the tub with access, is legal. My question is can I tap a 15 amp pool light circuit (if the motor calls for it, which I don't think it does, even though the spa company said it would) sharing the same circuit as the pool light if they were not going to be used at the same time. The pool light circuit has a switch controlling a GFI recept (Standard) than out to the light. I would tie into the line in at the switch and run underground to the spa, a short distance. The panel is on the other side of the house, making it really difficult the run the circuit. Conclusion though is to run a new 20 amp GFI circuit from the panel and just charge for a much bigger job.
The Golden Rule - "The man with the gold makes the rule"
In order to add the tub to the circuit that supplies the light in the pool would require a joint in the equipment ground conductor supplying the pool light which would be in violation of the following section of 680. 23 (F)(2):
Quote
The equipment grounding conductor shall be installed without joint or splice
I was trying to point out that even if the pool light was supplied by a 20 amp circuit this installation would not be allowed.
