First off, don't worry, I plan to hire an electrician since I'm not comfortable messing with the main breaker box. I just want to know about feasibility and difficulty (or ease) of this proposition before making a choice on a new hot tub.

We recently removed our old dead hot tub from our deck. When we got it, we had an electrician install a dedicated 220V, 50 amp circuit. It has a breaker in the breaker box, and another breaker and cut-off switch outside on the side of the house in a separate box - about 10' from the tub. This was done about 5 years ago, so the wiring is pretty new. The tub itself was older and used when we got it, but the price was right (free - plus the cost for moving and wiring). It served us well, but gave up the ghost last year. Now we're looking for a replacement and have been looking at smaller hot tubs. Most of them seem to be of the 110V "Plug-n-play" variety, though they say they do require a 15amp dedicated circuit.

Since the wiring for the old tub is all already there (I think it's 6 gauge, 4 wire) - even though it would be total over-kill, would it be an easy thing to convert this circuit to be a 110V, 15 amp circuit? Basically as simple as putting in new breakers of the appropriate amperage, and adding a receptacle to the end of the wire (previously it was wired directly into the tub)?


It is doable, but let the electrician make the determination.

The 15 amp plug-in type hot tubs operate a little differently than what you had. Because of the small power supply, the hot tub will only heat water when it is not in use. When you have the jets blowing bubbles, the heater will not operate. This is fine if you don't use the tub for extended periods where the water would cool down while you are in it.

John Grabowski
http://www.MrElectrician.TV