phgray

Well, after having the electrician(s) out 2 more times, who insist that the GFCI is wired correctly, plus a spa tech person who couldn't find anything wrong and was stymied, I think *I* may have found the problem. I spoke with the Bullfrog dealer and he said what could have happened was at first it was wired incorrectly and blew the F4 fuse, which is a .300 mA or 3/10 or .3 amp fuse (as I understand it.) I mentioned that the fuses needed to be checked by taking them out of the circuit board, from what I was reading, but electrician didn't seem to want to do that, checked them in the circuit board, which supposedly can cause a false reading which seems to be the case since he couldn't find anything wrong with any of them. The spa tech was reluctant to pull them out also and check. Finally, *I* pulled out the F4 fuse myself after everyone left. Visually, it didn't look blown, but it didn't get a 0 reading on the multimeter, it stayed at I, plus under magnification the tiny wires wrapped around this core piece, looked like they blew in one spot. So, I was relieved to see I may have found the problem, BUT now I'm having a really hard time getting a replacement fuse. No one in my town had one, I looked on Amazon, ordered what appeared to be the right kind, but they came today and even though being labeled in the zip loc bag as 3/10 fuses, when you look at them under magnification, it says 3 amp, plus the core & wiring in them look thicker so I am reluctant to try them and possibly make things worse. Finally, I got the dealer to send me one, at a fairly substantial cost, hopefully it will be here today or tomorrow so I can find out if that is indeed the issue or not. I'm beginning to think me & the hot tub are jinxed the way things have been going on trying to fix it. So frustrating when it shouldn't be been broke in the first place just having a GFCI switch replaced.

Hello, My Bullfrog spa was working fine, but I noticed the GFCI had a crack in it and while it would trip OK when you pushed the test button, the button would not come back out on it's own, so I figured I should have it replaced. Right after the electrician replaced it, the tub would not come on at all, the LED top panel is completely blank. The electrician insisted that the GFCI is installed correctly and functioning properly, and that there is power there in the panel. He also checked all the fuses, none have blown, and no obvious damage to the control board, which is also getting power as it should, yet the tub will not work. He suggested I now get a spa technician out to check it. I find it puzzling and coincidental that it should quit working when it was fine before the new GFCI was installed and quit functioning immediately after that. Could that have blown out the LED top control panel or cause some other issue that isn't immediately apparent? Thanks much for any advice or info.

Hello, I have a Bullfrog model #362 spa, the control box is a Balboa EL 1500. I've had the spa for 5 years, it has worked well until recently. The first thing I noticed was the GFCI tripped last May, but I had been washing off the deck near the spa and thought maybe it was from that, moisture possibly getting inside, but don't really know. It has since tripped a couple more times at random the last few months, shutting the entire spa down. I don't know if that is a separate issue or if it could be related to the pump/heater issue as well. The spa has two pumps, when one or both are turned on in either low or high speed, they are supposed to automatically shut off after 30 minutes. What sometimes happens is after pump 1, which has the heater assembly, shuts off automatically as it's supposed to, if turned on high again for another 30 minute cycle it will shut off prematurely, in roughly 10-15 minutes and can't be turned back on, even though the light on the display panel indicates that pump 1, is on. If pump 2 is turned on high as well at the same time, it will remain on and function normally. While pressing the pump 1 button after it shuts down, you can hear a clicking sound and sometimes on occasion a 'dr' or 'dr4' code will appear, but not always. After 30 minutes or so, pump 1 can be turned on again and bascially act 'normal'. I've tried resetting the spa by turning it off at the circuit breaker after pump 1 shuts off prematurely, to see if that would reset it sooner, but pump 1 remains shut off when powered back up, until a certain time period has passed, after which, it will function bascially "normal' again, at least until you try to run it through another 2nd 30 minute cycle on high where it may or may not, shut off prematurely. On low speed or during a maintence cycle circulating the water, pump 1 will stay on continually, i.e. not shut off prematurely, and it heats the water without any issue or error codes. I have replaced the filters, drained and refilled the spa, taking care to fill it so an air lock wouldn't develop. While the spa was drained, I looked inside the heater and pump 1 impeller and did not see blockage of any kind. Both the pump and heater, at least to my untrained eye, don't seem to be rusted or corroded. I am wondering if perhaps it might be a sensor issue? The spa also has an ozonator, I don't know if that is of any importance or not. Thanks in advance for any suggestions or advice in dealing with this problem. I live in a remote area so it's expensive to get a technician out so I'm trying to explore as many options as I can before having to resort to doing that or at the least have some knowledge of what may or may not be causing the issues.