Everything sounds fine except for the GFCI protection. The tub motor MUST be GFI protected. This can be a receptacle or breaker.

thats what i thought.
thanks for the info

Look in a closet or cabinet near the tub. There may be a blank face GFCI for the tub out of site, but more accessible than through the access panel. We used to have an inspector around here that wanted things wired that way.

I purchased a 20amp GFI breaker (SD QO Breaker). it has a white wire attached to it. is this something a DIYer can do or do i need a pro??
thanks

Did you confirm that there is no "hidden" GFI somewhere?

i looked into the cabinet again. there is a metal junction box where the outlet is and the wire goes under the floor. i could not locate where the wire went.

there is a cabinet next to the timer switch but did not see any other boxes or circuits. thats when i bought the breaker.

it could be that it is below the tub but i dont know if there is anything there. is there a way to test?
thanks

To test, connect a small incandescent light bulb in a socket (4 Watt night light to 25 Watt Edison base) from the hot to a known-good ground. If it's GFI protected, the GFI should trip. (Good luck finding it to reset it, since you can't find it now. ;-)

Power must be on when performing this test. Use extreme caution. If in doubt, call a pro.

"I purchased a 20amp GFI breaker (SD QO Breaker). it has a white wire attached to it. is this something a DIYer can do or do i need a pro?? "

You can do it. There's only one real difference between putting in a GFI breaker and a regular breaker. What you need to do is:

1. Open the panel
2. Find the circuit that powers the tub
3. Trace the black wire back to where the cable enters the panel and find that circuit's neutral. Carefully trace the neutral to where it connects to the neutral bus bar.
4. Disconnect that neutral.
5. Remove the regular breaker and attach the black wire to the GFI breaker.
6. The GFI breaker will have a second terminal screw. Attach the neutral to this screw.
7. Connect the white pigtail from the breaker to the neutral busbar.
8. Snap in the breaker, turn it on, and test.

Unless you are experienced in working inside panels, I recommend that the power be off while you are doing this.

"Unless you are experienced in working inside panels, I recommend that the power be off while you are doing this."

Experienced or not, NO DIYer should EVER be in a live panel! The main should be opened before removing the cover.
Even with the main off there is dangerous voltage present.

"Experienced or not, NO DIYer should EVER be in a live panel!"

That's an emphatic and blanket statement that may not always be true. An experienced and careful DIY'er may be more competent than a careless electrician. Not likely, but possible.

The panel is always live unless you've got a convenient upstream disconnect. The main breaker still leaves the main lugs unprotected which is the most "inviting" target for a wayward foreign conductive object to touch.

Be careful out there.

I'm a DIY and I almost always work panels hot. I also keep one hand behind my back.

I have 30 years of electrical work behind me, not that I've seen everything or know everything by any means. I do have a lot of respect for the amount of power a panel can deliver. Forty-eight kW will power a car nicely. That's more power than my '65 Opel Kadett's engine delivered.

I agree with Petey, however. I do NOT recommend it for most DIYs. It was many years before I was brave enough (or crazy enough) to take the cover off a hot panel.

"I'm a DIY and I almost always work panels hot. I also keep one hand behind my back."

Pretty hard to wire a hot panel with one hand behind your back unless your last name is Houdini.

the breaker is about 3 from the bottom on the right hand side. it is a Square D panel.

should i try myself. i opened the panel and though it is full it does not seem too difficult.

Going back to the top of the post,

"the motor is pluged into an outlet that was put into the tub box but it is not GFI."

why not just swap out the outlet with a GFI outlet and forget about getting into the main panel?

Pretty hard to wire a hot panel with one hand behind your back unless your last name is Houdini.

OK, as much of the time as I can. ;-)

Hey davidr, I just read a previous post of yours and here's the quote:
"A handyman should never perform electrical work unless he or she is a licensed electrician."

Then you make this statement:
"I'm a DIY and I almost always work panels hot."

I think you'd better make up your mind one way or another.

Handyman != DIY.

As I wrote in the other thread, a handyman is paid to work on other people's houses. A DIY (c'est moi) works on his own.