my husband is running wire to a hot tub, which uses a 220 plug. he is going to hook up a 30 amp breaker. what size wire should be used?
If he does not know he had better leave it to a pro or you will get fried or burn the place down! GEEZ!
You should probably contact a qualified electrician for assistance with this. Otherwise, just ask one of the people at Lowes when you go to buy it.
It depends upon the length... Assuming the length is less than 90 feet, use number 10 AWG wire, 600 Volt Insulation.
First thing you need to do is call your city's building inspectors and get necessary permits. !!! For your protection. #10 wire for thirty amp breaker. For 220VAC you will need 3 wire (three conductor cables) plus ground wire for a thirty amp breaker. But question is what is the ampacity rating of your hot tub? You need to size your circuit breaker to the ampacity of your hot tub. Breaker is going to have to be a two pole (double pole) breaker GFCI breaker since it is 220 VAC. since it is for a hot tub. You should have a red wire a black wire a white wire and a bare wire in your cable. The black wire and red wire are your hot wires they go to the breaker. The white wire is your neutral (grounded conductor) it goes to the terminal strip where all the other neutral wires are connected in the breaker box. The bare wire is your ground wire! It goes to the ground wire terminal strip in the breaker box. Now that said if you or your husband is not absolutely sure about what you are doing get an electician to do it for. First water and electricity do not mix at all good together. Good way to get fried if tub goes hot on you if hooked up wrong. Good way to burn the house down if hooked up wrong as well. Another thing since it is a hot tub meaning like wet area like bathrooms and out side special considerations are going to have to be taken for safety namely you are going to have to use a GFCI circuit breaker or have a GFCI double pole switch to disconnect the tub incase of a short circuit or excessive current leakage to ground otherwise you end up bolied lobsters. Well done and ready to eat by the time you are found. Not as easy as just hooking up three wires is it. And if you do not know exaclty what you are doing call an electrician.
