Purchased a new Cal Spa hot tub. Ran all 220V wiring myself including GFCI disconnect. I ran conduit from the GFCI disconnect to the hot tub. Once it entered the hot tub, I stopped the conduit and ran 4 of the 4 6GA copper wires by themselves to the central wiring box. Hot, hot, and nuetral went inside the central box where the circuit board is. The 4th 6GA copper ground wire was run to the ground post attached to the outside of this central wiring box.

The inspector came out, failed my install and said that all 4 copper wires coming from the GFCI must be run inside conduit ALL the way into the central electrical box inside the hot tub. He said that there can be no exposed wire within the hot tub enclosure(even though ALL factory wiring is exposed). He also noted that the ground wire CAN NOT be grounded outside this central box where the ground post is, and that it must be grounded somewhere within this box where the other three are terminated. Any ideas where I can ground a 6 GA wire within the central box within the hot tub???

Ok, lets just ask this. Leaving the GFCI going to the hot tub, where should the green ground wire terminate?

Inside the box.

There should be 4 terminals - all of them located inside the controller where the mains will connect.

If you can't get a six gauge wire to ground terminal inside the box (but you really should be able to), then get a larger ground lug rated for that size wire and mount it inside the box.

Leaving the gfci to the tub, the incoming green ground should terminate inside the control box where the rest of incoming lines are - as your inspector has informed you. Not on the outside.

Ok, so has anyone on here ever wired a cal spas hot tub? Where did you put the ground inside the controller?

From what the salesmen told me at cal spas the controller box has always been like this with the ground bar on the outside of the controller box.

'it's always been like this' is simply not true.

I've wired them.

Why not post a photo of this thing. Open the box -

The bar on the outside is required by code for the appliance equipment ground. Which means that pumps etc, have to be grounded to it. However, I do understand what you're talking about.

There has to be a ground somewhere inside the box or else it would be impossible to connect it properly with conduit in a fashion that would be code compliant.

Post a photo of the inside of your control box and we'll see what we can figure out.

Here is the cal tech support reply:

From: Glen Steinheimer - Warranty Technical Support
Sent: Monday, October 30, 2006 11:39 AM
Subject: RE: Questions regarding wiring terminations within hot tub.

The ground wire is connected outside the box per Balboa, the company that makes the controls and electronics.

You can contact Balboa at 1-800-645-3201.

Glen Tech Support

How the hell do I get this wiring approved by the inspector? It was designed by balboa to be grounded on the bonding/ground strip outside the control box from 2005-present.

Sorry, Can't help you without a photo.

You're just not going to get advice of this nature without something more definitive (that is to see the physical configuration of your box) by description.

Here is a crappy pic that I took with my cam phone. I know that you cant see everything, but it does show the green connector that is used for the hot, hot, and nuetral.

Well that's about a joke. What I'd do is go to Home Depot and buy a grounding / bonding lug that is made for circuit breaker boxes.

Drill a hole for it in the aluminum box - attach it with screw and locking washer.

Not trying to sound stupid, but is there any way the inspector could fail that if I drilled a hole and put a grounding/bonding lug?

I just dont want to have to have him come out, fail it, and then have to come out again, becuase they charge for each inspection trip.

Thanks a bunch! I really appreciate the help. Hopefully this will be the end of this wiring mess.

If you do it right, it'll look factory. Besides, what are the requirements?

If you meet those requirements, there won't be any issues. He just goes by his book.