How far does a disconnect have to be from a hot tub?

NEC 2023 680.13 gives the rule for the maintenance disconnecting means: it must be readily accessible, within sight of the hot tub, and located at least 5 ft horizontally from the inside walls of the spa unless separated from the water by a permanently installed barrier that forces a 5 ft or greater reach path.

Both limits matter

Within sight is defined in Article 100 as visible and not more than 50 ft away. So the disconnect lives in a window: no closer than 5 ft, no farther than 50 ft, and you must be able to see the tub from the disconnect location. The 5 ft minimum exists so a person in the water cannot reach the disconnect, and the barrier exception recognizes that a wall or fence that makes the reach path longer than 5 ft does the same job.

What counts as the disconnect

For a typical 240V hot tub on a 50 amp circuit, the disconnect is the outdoor spa panel with the GFCI breaker inside. That panel satisfies 680.13, provides the GFCI protection required by 680.44, and gives the service tech a place to kill power without walking back to the house. Mount it at a height where the center of the operating handle is no more than 6 ft 7 in above grade per 404.8(A).

Common failures on inspection

The two misses that come up again and again: the spa panel mounted 3 or 4 ft from the tub rim because that is where the post happened to be, and the panel mounted behind the tub cabinet where it is not readily accessible. Also remember the receptacle rules in 680.22 as applied by 680.42 for outdoor spas: general purpose receptacles must be at least 6 ft from the water, and at least one convenience receptacle is required between 6 and 20 ft.