jd-santaclarita

Quick update. I checked this morning...at 36 hours and its up to 97...Last night for giggles i shut off the breakers for about 5 minutes, then turned on the main breaker, primed, ran the jets for a little bit, then turned on the heater breaker. Still not looking. I am at a loss for ideas. Thanks, JD

Hi All, I must be jinxed when it comes to heating this spa after a refill. Last time i did it, i ran into a "bad recirc pump"...see the gory details here: http://www.poolspaforum.com/forum/index.ph...jd-santaclarita Its been quite a while and things have been working great. I emptied it yesterday, cleaned and refilled and now its taking forever to heat up. Over 24 hours and its slowly made it from 64-87. I have tried everything i can think of, but am no expert by any means. I shut off both the 30a and 20a circuits at the breaker, drained it, refilled it, then turned on both breakers. I noticed the power and the ready lights both blinked a few times, which is strange. It may be because i turned both breakers on without priming things first. After about an hour i noticed no real temp increase, so i got the manual and followd the "turn the pump circuit on first" method...got things primed as i could tell, let jets run a few minutes, then turned on the heater circuit. Things looked normal as far as i could tell "power light, but no ready light since it wasnt up to temps yet". After about 24 hours and still not up to temps, i pulled of the panel and start touching things....Since last time i did this i had to replace a loud noise making recirc pump, i looked there first. It seems fine, its making a hum sound like its doing something. I disconnected the intake and water flowed rapidly from both the intake hose and back out through the pump itself, so i figure water should be flowing. I cant tell how fast water is flowing. I can see a faint swirl of water movement, so i can tell the pump is moving some water. I cant really tell how hot the water is coming from the bottom drain, but i can tell its warmer than the rest of the spa water....its not super warm, but i dont know how to judge this. I'm guessing that means the heater is working. I dont know what else to really check. Thoughts? Thanks all, JD

We have had our spa for about a week now and a couple days ago we noticed my wife as broke out with a bunch of little bites or bumps like mosquito bites. The seem to cluster up around her upper back close to where her bathing suite top strap goes. But there are a few others randomly in other places. I am wondering if it could be something funky in the spa or possibly an allergy or something. I dont have the same breakouts. I have "possibly" 2 of those kinds of bumps, but they could be something else completely also. Is it possible that I have cooties in my water already after a week. I use the leisure time spa 56 chlorine. The guy at the store had my toss in 1 cap full at fillup and i toss in about a spoonful each day we use it. The test strips are pretty on the money for everything, except the FCI usually doesn't register past a shade of off-white. Maybe i am not using enough chlorine? My spa is 330gal tiger river. I also changed the filter before I filled it last week. Thoughts? Thanks, JD

I was in the spa showroom today and I noticed almost all tubs are coming with an ozone system. The guy said that I could add it to my spa (tiger river caspian its a 2005 or 2006, not sure which). He said that it would kill all the bacteria and i would not have to use chlorine any further. NO chlorine period. And it would make the water a lot softer and cleaner. Is this true? I know this will sound lazy, but what I am looking for is a way to let me go straight to bed after the spa soak. I go to the gym in the morning, shower, go to work, come home, shower off before getting in the tub (after putting the kids to bed), soak in the tub, shower, etc, etc. Thats too many showers a day in my opinion. Is this my magic bullet that will let me exit the tub feeling soft and not stinky? The kit is $350 for my spa, but I have seen kits for ~$100 on the internet (JED?). I think my tub is ozone ready and it has a little area to mount it. Thoughts on this? Thanks all, JD

Hi all, The year is 2006 caspian CHP model. I almost convinced myself to pull out the circ pump without draining it and got half way there until i noticed a flaw in my technique.....water shoots out of the pump also. I only had plans to plug the hose...there are multiple hoses going to the pump. So i gave up for the eve on that. I also noticed something about the breakers. When I turn on the 20amp breaker...nothing happens. Seems like everything (circ pump, jets, control panel, etc) is running on the 30amp breaker. Does that mean the 20A circuit is heater only and everything else is on the 30a? I verified the wiring against the schematics and it looks correct. Got it all rigged back up, turned on and am now living with the loud "off balance washing machine" sounding circ pump...until tomorrow that is. Thanks, JD

Are you sure it is a 4Kw heater, there is an option to have a 1.5Kw heater. Hi all, Yes, it is the 4kw heater model installed. I checked it. As for the breakers, i have a 20A and a 30A separate breaker going to the tub. I have not traced the wiring internal to the tub though. One thing i noticed is that the tub will NOT heat when using it. The heater is on and you can feel a trickle of hot water coming out of the little drain on the bottom, but when you get in the tub and turn on the jets you will lose 1 degree period. I put it on UT-4 which is the "heat up to max and heat through jets" setting and it still wont budge. Not the end of the world..but the other night I was in "money saving" mode and left it at 98* throughout the day..then thought I would bump it to 101 just prior to getting in....NOPE....Didnt even make it 1 degree..just held 98. Thanks, JD

Hi all, I had another thread regarding slow heat up times. But I am noticing strange behavior from the circulation pump. It seems a bit louder than I would expect (i have nothing to compare it to though). It has intermittent clunking noises that come and go. The spa finally got up to temp and it then the pump constantly was making a rythmic louder noise...similar to a loud dishwasher or washing machine. I wouldn't think this is normal operating behaviour. When sitting 12' away at the patio..it is quite noticable and annoying, so my guess is that it is not normal. I then shut off the breakers for a few seconds and turned everything back on. The noise goes away for the most part. I am baffled? Is there anything I can do to help troubleshoot the issue. I have a feeling this is contributing to my 24 hour heatup time. Could be be clogged or have something stuck in the pump? Any way to easily check or clean it out without draining the spa and taking it all apart? Thanks, JD

One more thing. I just pulled the panel off and listed close to the pump. It is running, but frequently (every min or so) will make a weird hiccup sound. Its almost like it sounds like changing gears on a standard transmission truck. I dont know if that is normal...it dont sound normal. I dont know what could cause that. Could this be messing up the water flow through the heater element? I also dont feel strong flow coming out of the bottom drain and i cant tell a temp difference coming out of that drain either...not sure if thats normal or not. I am not sure what to do at this point... Any thoughts? Thanks, JD

Thanks for the info. Is there something I can check out myself? I also noticed the circulation pump is a bit on the loud side. (I dont have anything to compare it to though). I can hear it churning from about 8' away which i am not sure is normal or not. I can definitely hear it clear as a bell when next to the spa. Is it possible the pump is clogged or something? I put a new filter in. Anything else I can check? Thanks all, JD

Thanks for the info. So by my super rough calculations i guess I am getting ~1 to 1.5 degrees per hour. Does that sound correct? Thanks, JD

Hi all, I wanted to give a morning update. Its been about 20 hours now and it is getting there. The water is warm now, but not at spa temps yet. The cover is in good condition and sealed up well. I checked the power meter and can see it is spinning. I did find a little buried blurb in the manual stating it will take 18-24 hours to heat. I doubt it will even be done in 24 hours and its 100* outside here. I also noticed other models of spas having much bigger heating wattage (6000w vs my 4000w). Not sure why this spa would have a smaller heater, its not a cheap spa.... Thoughts? Thanks all, JD

Yes. I also double checked them and reset them again to be sure. It seems like things are running...just at a snails pace. Its now been running for almost 9 hours and its barely at room temperature. I put my arm in and can tell there is a little water coming out of the bottom drain and can see a faint water ripple, so i assume its working. I cant however tell if the water is hotter is coming out. Either its too small of a change or it aint working. Unfortunately my digi thermo died after the first use...so i am back to my own senses for temperature checking. I am going to give it the benifit of the doubt and hit the sack and hopefully its all ready to roll in the morning. Sure seems awefully slow though. Its a big ol' expensive spa to have a 4000w heater and heat this slow is kind of suprising to me. Thanks, JD

I am just curious about how long it should take. I just got it finally powered up for the first time (preowned) and it has been on for 3 hours and I am not able to feel any changes in temperature yet. I was hoping to use the spa tonight (we are anxious) but it doesnt appear as though its heating up. I can hear the gentle humm of the circulation pump and i dont have any blinking "somethings wrong" lights, so I am hoping its just slow. I found my digital thermo and just took a reading of 77.5, so i will be able to track progress. Thoughts? Thanks, JD

Hi All, I like the hot shower idea. I am getting a 100 sub panel in the spa area since the price of running the line was soo much..i decided to do 1 main run and have it for good. This opens up the doors for stuff down the road. Hmmm...hot shower I already have the cover lifter, so no big there. I am just thinking about the mats and towel holder stuff for practicality at this point.. Thanks all, JD

Hi all, I am having the electric lines ran today and should be able to fire up the spa this eve or tomorrow. My spa is a pre-owned tiger river caspian model. I read that you should fill up the spa before powering it up. I had a few questions that I was hoping you guys could steer me in the right direction: 1. Do I just drop a hose into the spa and fill it up? Or do i connect the hose to the bottom plugs, etc? 2. I am sure there is probably residual water in the pipes, etc...do i just ignore it and fill? or do i have to get it out somehow? 3. Is there a "fill line" that tells me how far to fill it? Ok, now to the hard stuff: My spa came with a big box of about 30 jugs of chemicals. I dont know anything about any of them and am quite confused. Do i need to add chemicals now or do I wait until the water has gotten off balance over time? Is there a dummies guide to get me going today? Anything else that I should know before filling it up and turning it on? Thanks all, JD