Hot Tub Grounding Wire

13 years ago

I noticed lastnight when I was standing on my wet deck and touched the water in my hottub I received a bit of a shock. I immediately cut off all power to the hot tub. Today I checked the power panel for the hot tub and noticed the grounding wire from the hot tub had come loose inside the panel and was no longer connected. I reconnected the grounding wire to the panel and tested the water and no shock... Don't yell at me I know it was stupid to test with my hands but at the time I thought the shock lastnight was so minimal it should be okay... and fortunately there was no shock. Do you think connecting the hottub grounding wire corrected my problem or should I look at something else? I also have a grounding rod with a copper wire connecting the panel to it and it is about 8 feet dep and next to the panel. I've read and heard different comments that say there should be a grounding rod, and there shouldn't be a grounding rod. Which is best advice?

Thanks in advance... khuggart

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Comments (9)

petey_racer
13 years ago
Can you describe "the grounding wire from the hot tub"? What wire is this exactly?

NO, no ground rod is required for a hot tub. If there is a sub-panel in a detached structure there should be one, but NOT one for the tub itself.
khuggart
Original Author
13 years ago
We have a separate subpanel that comes off the main - 50 Amp Fuse... "aluminum wiring" unfortunately that runs underground to the hottub and is wired to a subpanel. There is a copper wire that comes off the subpanel to a grounding rod just inches away from the panel and about 4-5 inches underground. I'm not sure the size of the wire but it's thick enough that it's difficult to manipulate easily. We were told to add a grounding rod "years ago" when we installed it so we did.
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petey_racer
13 years ago
Well the ground rod is for the panel, not the tub, and is required.

Are you saying you have AL wire from the sub-panel to the tub. Larger AL wiring like a feeder to a sub-panel is typically fine, but most tubs require CU wiring to them.

So specifically what wire came loose???
khuggart
Original Author
13 years ago
The wiring from the main panel to the subpanel is aluminum. The tub has 3 CU wires plus a copper ground wire to the subpanel. The copper ground wire is the one that was not connected... no ground. We ran a multimeter on it lastnight and it doesn't appear there is any leakage so I'm HOPING that reconnecting the hottub ground wire to the subpanel fixed the problem... any thoughts?
hrajotte
13 years ago
ONE thought - GFI breaker!
khuggart
Original Author
13 years ago
GFCI is on the subpanel and I tested it after I reconnected the copper wire and it appears to be working fine.
petey_racer
13 years ago
So are you saying the ground wire is separate from the other three?
What is the rating of the tub? 240? Or 120/240v? Meaning does it require a neutral?
khuggart
Original Author
13 years ago
240... has a neutral wire on it.
petey_racer
13 years ago
OK, then that is a 120/240v circuit. The ground should have been run with the circuit conductors.

I am still unclear as to what ground wire you are talking about.

Can you post a pic?