ECN Forum
Posted By: ToHo Disco location - 05/28/05 02:04 AM
A customer is building a house with a room dedicated for a hot tub. My question is there a minimum distance from the inside wall of the Hot TuB to the Disco. One side of the hot tub only has a clearance of 1 ft. from the wall. My customer asked if I can put the disco there. I said no just out of what I thought was common sense. 680.12 says within sight. My guess would be not within reach from the hot tub.Any help would be appreciated..thanks ToHo
Posted By: Gregtaylor Re: Disco location - 05/29/05 12:42 AM
Well, you're correct. But why is there guess work going on? Article 680 is entirely about pools and similar installations. More specifically, Part IV is about Spas and Hot Tubs and 680.43 concerns indoor installations. You can read it a lot faster than I can explain it.
Posted By: shortcircuit Re: Disco location - 05/29/05 01:10 AM
ToHo...maybe you can install the disconnect behind the skirt of the spa next to the equipment it serves...

shortcircuit
Posted By: Gregtaylor Re: Disco location - 05/29/05 01:50 AM
Sorry, that was a snotty answer and not helpful. From me,I mean.
I don't think you can put the disconnect behind the skirt of the spa, just because I think easier access would be required. And it could be considered a modification of the spa itself. If you put it on the wall in the room where the spa is, it should be at least 5 ft. from the closest point on the waterline of the spa. The thing is, in a single family house you are not required to have the disconnect or even an emergency switch that close. A circuit breaker with a lockoff is acceptable just like any other appliance, unless the manufacturer requires fuses.
The thing that will sting you is the equipotential grid required by the '05 code, if it has been adopted in your state.
Posted By: shortcircuit Re: Disco location - 05/29/05 10:28 AM
Gregtaylor...wouldn't a disconnect behind the skirt of the spa be accessible and within sight of the equipment it serves?

I have mounted disconnect switches to air conditioners on roofs, boilers, and other equipment where there is no adjacent supporting means.

If there is room behind the skirt, where the equipment is located, I say it is code compliant...

A circuit breaker with lock kit will work...

shortcircuit
Posted By: harold endean Re: Disco location - 05/29/05 01:33 PM
I think we had this discusion before. I know the Greg Fretwell and Iwire, and some others will remember this one. Some believe that you CAN install a disco behind the skirt and some believe that you can't. I felt that if there is a means of disconnect beind the skirt that would satisfy sec 680.12.
Posted By: Gregtaylor Re: Disco location - 05/29/05 04:13 PM
I do think that a disconnect behind the skirt would satisfy the code, now that I reread certain sections, but I think that it could be a modification of the spa itself, voiding the UL listing, which is its own code violation.
Posted By: renosteinke Re: Disco location - 05/29/05 05:14 PM
Who said spas are UL listed? Most manufaturers do not list their products.

The idea of sending an unprotected feed anywhere near the spa concerns me.
If we're talking about an "emergency" disconnect, well, those are required only for commercial installations. This requirement came about after several folks drowned after getting stuck on the suction inlet. Residential spas don't have those monster pumps....

In any event, spa dealers have disconnects available, that typically use air to operate a remote-located switch, thus removing electricity from the equation entirely.
Posted By: gfretwell Re: Disco location - 05/29/05 07:50 PM
680.22(C) Switching Devices. Switching devices shall be located at least 1.5 m (5 ft) horizontally from the inside walls of a pool unless separated from the pool by a solid fence, wall, or other permanent barrier. Alternatively, a switch that is listed as being acceptable for use within 1.5 m (5 ft) shall be permitted.

Unless the disconnect is "listed as being acceptible for use within 5ft" it has to be >5' away.
The IAEI Florida guys hashed this around and said a disconnect under a removable cover on the spa is not acceptible and they are the AHJs who have to "accept" it.
YMMV in your jurisdiction
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