goupdog

I have this hottub and have had some issues with it. First had the heater not work(fixed that, bad relay). Then fixed a leak that was a real bummer to get to. While filling and draining several times for these issues I filled it with softened water. Now it has unsoftened water in it. Now, when I was treating my pool when we first opened it, I threw some pool chemicals in the hottub that were left over and some hottub chemicals as well. These include stain and scale, a lil bromine, some pool shock, clarifier, algaecide(I think that's all?). It foamed real bad so then I put some defoamer in as well. I know I messed up! When I turned on the pumps, its like something either broke loose or had a bad chemical reaction because there was a bad sludge that formed around the water edges on the wall. It was brown and sticky. I have cleaned this off many times and it still comes back. It only comes if you run the jets, not while heating. You can see it floating in the foam and spinning with the jets. Plus the water(steam) really was strong of chemicals like chlorine, so much it burnt my nose when breathed in. I have drained it once and refilled with fresh unsoftened again. It still has the residue collecting on the side. I hate to drain again because this thing really sucks to get the air out of. I added a tablespoon or 2 of bromine and stain and scale and ran the jets and it formed the sludge still but I cleaned it off and kept the jets running for another 10 minutes and it didn't really form again. I know I need to restart the chemicals and get everything into order(ph and bromine levels). But is there anything else I can try if this persists? Has anyone seen anything like this before. I have mixed chemicals before in old tubs and never seen this before. I just don't know if it broke something loose of was a reaction. Any advice will be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Now I am dealing with a leak. Did they really need to put so much expanding filler? I know most tubs just use a thin layer of spray foam that coats but doesn't expand like they do on this Hot Springs. I finally dug back to where the water is coming from but I have to wait for a thinner more flexible pal to come and do the final cleaning and see what we can do to patch it up. I searched for solvents to remove the filler but there simply wasn't anything that anyone online could recommend. Plus, it is soaked under there so I doubt anything would have cut the foam before it was diluted. Some of it I could simply gab and rip out by hand. Best thing I found to get the harder stuff was a wire wheel on a cordless drill. It tore thru that stuff like a buzz saw. I just cant get my fat head in there to see exactly where its dripping from but it feels like its coming from the area of a jet right below the step where the 2 seats feet would meet. If we cant get to it tomorrow or Monday then we will be forced to lift the tub up and do some more digging from the bottom up to the area of the leak, in hope of being able to reach it and put something over it to patch the leak. I work in an auto body shop and on my last tub that had a leak I used windshield urethane and globbed it over the connection and let it dry overnight and that fixed it. Might try that unless someone knows anything easier? I've been out there for a few hours "digging" and am very tired now. LOL

Back at normal operating temp. It appears fixed.

Got the relays and now the heater has 120 to both sides and the water temp is starting to climb by itself with no jets running! The wire I made for it came loose as I was taking it apart(it was a temp fix since the hardware store was closed when I found it was bad) so I went to the hardware store and got a perm jumper wire made. Crossing my fingers!!! Thanks for the help.

OK I did some more troubleshooting and found that the heater is only getting 1 side of 120v. The lil black block on the upper left hand side of the IQ2000 must be bad, there are 2 and they look like they can be replaced. So I will see if I can find one of these online. Wish me luck!

ok I got it running but same thing is happening. If I run the jets it warms up until the jets stop(never got to the 104 I have it set on in running the jets 1 cycle). At this point I am calling it quits and am forced to get a tech out. I am sure this wont be cheap but I need to get this thing running again. I will NEVER buy this kind of junk again where you cant work on it yourself! Thanks for the help thus far.

OK I found a wire going up to heater plugs that was burnt pretty bad to the point that the plastic on the blade connector was melted on the male part of the blade. I cleaned it off and ran a new wire. To test the heater (I am not good with a meter) I tried the diff settings and it showed 9-11 on 200(no k or anything). Also, I pushed the reset button in and it seemed to go in some(did feel popped out). Then I turned it back on via the breakers and it clicked a couple small clicks as it does when turning it on. I waited a minute and felt the heater and it felt like it was warming up. So at this point I had tried some stop leak in it last weekend(that didn't work) and I turned the tub back off and started draining it. I will refill tomorrow and see if its fixed. I assume the reset switch might have popped as a result of the burnt wire? Its dark and late here so I will post back more results tomorrow. Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it. Its nice to have someone smarter than myself to bounce ideas off of.

Thanks for the comment. The light is on for heat on, on the IQ2000. I just need to wait for the mud to dry from the rain before I want to go out and ohm it out. I was told 10ohms = good, 20ohms = bad. Is this correct? Also, what about the reset button on the heater? I was told it can go bad. I read it is very hard to push too. It didn't seem to be popped out any but I am not sure exactly what it is supposed to feel like as opposed to being popped. I will post back more as I get it. Thanks again!

pulled filter holder and felt circ hole in bottom and its sucking very well. Leaning towards the heater. I need to ohm the heater and check the relay/reset switch on it. Plus check the thermistors. Anything else?

anyone else have any ideas?

The serial is S2B1102 Built in the second quarter of 2000. The Watkins No Fault Heater is IHH 6000 NHCW(model 0927501). The reset does not seem to be tripped as I can feel the button but its not sticking out and I tried with all my might and couldn't get it to go in any. The lights on the board that are listed Lim OK and Heater on, are both illuminated. The power light on the control is lit up in red and NOT flashing. The Circ pump is Silentflow 5000 model 34378 and seems to be running now with no noise but the case on it is very warm. I fell pretty confident doing repairs myself to avoid the costs of a repair tech(I fear with fixing everything would be more than I got in the unit). EDIT: If I run the jets its starts warming back up. I don't know why this helps or if it is of any help, but it works this way. Does this narrow it down any?

I just purchased one of these and got it all hooked up and going a month ago. Now it has stopped heating. The breakers are not tripped. I took off the wood cover and what I assume is the circ pump is not running nor is the heater warm to the touch. If I wiggle or tap on the circ pump it seems to want to take off but it makes a god awful sound(like a whine or screeching sound). But it doesn't stay on for very long. It had water in it when I bought it but might have sat empty for some time before then as I am not real sure bout that. When I bought it, the guy said that if it started loosing temp that it was usually the sensor. I am leaning towards it being the pump tho with all the noise. Does anyone think buying that new pump and the 2 sensors would be the right thing to fix this? Plus how hard is it to do the swap if so? I don't see any shut off valves on this thing like on my tubs I have had in the past. Also, I filled this thing with water from inside my house(as my outside line broke over the winter as has yet to be fixed) and I have a softened water. Could that have broken loose some grime? Plus there is a small leak somewhere on the side around the right side from the access panel if you are facing it. It appears to be small as there is just a small puddle and water loss is minimal. What are the thoughts on the stop leak stuff that can be bought off ebay? I bought 2 bottles and was gonna try it out. Am I wasting my time? Or should I just drain it and find like 8 big guys to lift this thing up and see if I can see anything obvious? I hope the stop leak is a viable fix as this thing weighs a lot!