How do you upgrade a circuit from 120V/20 Amp to 230V/30 or 50 Amp?

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I want to add an outdoor spa to an existing pool, but the pool electrical only has 120V/20 Amp breakers. For the spa, I need 230V/30 or 50 Amp breakers added. Is this difficult/expensive to do? Do I need to rewire existing wiring? Do I need a dedicated circuit just for the spa, or can the existing wiring be upgraded so as to also be able to power the spa? Thanks in advance.



Comments

  1. Fulltime in my RV (I wish) says:
    December 30, 2009 at 7:26 am

    To upgrade it to 220V you need to bring another leg from the curcuit panel to the outlet. To upgrade the amps you need to upgrade the breaker & wire carrying the juice. If you have to ask this type of thing…. you’d better call an electrician. I know how to do it & I’d be very careful & check/recheck my calcs on wire size.
    The penalty of doing it wrong (your house burning down, maybe w/ you or your children in it) v. the little bit to put in a single curcuit.
    Call an electrician. It shouldn’t be too expensive.

  2. Kirk M says:
    December 30, 2009 at 7:26 am

    Your 120 volt 20 Ampere circuit is wired with 12 guage wire and it is at maximum capacity as per National Electrical code.
    You need to run a new cicuit for the spa.
    If you do it yourself be sure to get a permit and have it inspected. Otherwise when you sell your home you may have a problem. Also if you have an insurance claim you dont want circuits that are not inspected.

  3. Kenny W says:
    December 30, 2009 at 7:26 am

    You have diffrent guage wire for diffrent circuits.for 120 volt ..3 wire 12 gauge solid wire is used. for a 220/240 volt .a 3 wire 10 gauge wire is used.so u pretty much add a breaker and run new wire to ur source.also since its for a spa you want to add on a ground fault breaker.so you wont fry yourself : ) or others

  4. q-fire says:
    December 30, 2009 at 7:26 am

    No you are going to have to rerun all new service. Its not hard. first go and buy the breaker and wire you need. you can get that at your local hardware store. take the face of your service pannel off ( be carefull people die from this stuff.) you should have room to expand add the 230 breaker in it justs pops in run your wires red and black go to the breaker and are hot and the bare one will go to the neutral ground bar. and just wire it up from there. if this seems to dificult hire a professional to do it.

  5. bdogparty says:
    December 30, 2009 at 7:26 am

    if the spa is 4 persons or more, it’s going to need at least a 50 amp circuit. if it’s smaller it might run on 120 v / 20 amp / 220 v 20 amp… if that is the case, then the panel there now might be able to handle it if the feed wire is # 10 or larger, it could have 220 @ 30 amps and if all that is on it is a 120 v pool pump n light. if not then get a 50 amp bkr for main panel, a 50 amp GFCI outdoor spa panel, however many feet it is to main panel plus extra for spa feed. run new circuit for spa, make sure it is # 6 /3 w/ gnd,u need to gnd your motor in the spa enclosure. depending on where your at it may also require a driven gnd… its pretty difficult w/out help. but it could cost 500/ 800 dollars to have it installed. i have 20 yrs as electrician if i were u i would call some one then u don’t have any worries…

  6. hocky_06 says:
    December 30, 2009 at 7:26 am

    1) You must have a permit to add this to your house.
    If it happens to burn down, your insurance will wanna know who did this.
    2) You must have a dedicated circuit for your spa.
    You cannot share anything on this circuit period.
    3) You must have a circuit that is HIGHER than what the spa needs to prevent overload.
    4) You better have an electrician do this.

  7. jeephandle says:
    December 30, 2009 at 7:26 am

    you will have to chande the wiring due to the wiring for the 120v can not old the power that would go thru a 30/50 amp breaker.The lines to replace would be priced by foot.You just need to run a dedicated line and use a 30amp breaker.depending on how long of wire you have to run an electrician could cost from 300.00 and up just to do this.breaker depending on the type you have can run from 40.00 and up. A culter hammer 30 amp cost me 70.00.If you don’t know anything on how to wire inside of the electricial box I would advise you call an electrician.

  8. Trid says:
    December 30, 2009 at 7:26 am

    Bottom line – The existing line won’t do the job. Bring another line out there…it will be no more, possibly even less labor intensive to add than to upgrade (i.e. remove old and put new in its place). This way you have dedicated power to each, and if something goes wrong with one, the other still works.

    And yes, as previously mentioned, for homeowners’ insurance and liability purposes, have a permit.

  9. Scott W says:
    December 30, 2009 at 7:26 am

    I know this sounds weak…but I have sold spas for 25 years and I ALWAYS recommend getting a liscensed electrician to do the work. If you shop around you won’t pay that much to have it done right and to code. Good luck either way and enjoy your spa!

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