Gfi Trips Immediately.

[O'Shell]

Greetings. I am one of the not so smart and unfortunate ones who purchased an infinity spa. It has a Balboa VS501z (I think).. I did NOT buy it at Costco so my warranty is null. About a month ago the GFI tripped and I pulled the side panel to see what was going on. Well pack rats had moved in and chewed through the ozone cord. I spent 2 days pulling all the side panels, cleaning out all the mess they had made and then cutting some wood to block the corners off from them getting in. I pulled the ozone and started it up the second pump was making a high pitched squeal to it, but I tend not to use those jets anyway so I disregarded that. It ran fine for a few more weeks and then tripped again. I looked in and no new rat damage so I looked at the trouble shooting guide. It says to disconnect everything one by one and see if the GFI still trips. With both pumps the light and the top panel disconnected (the ozone was still detached) it still trips. I looked at the fuses and they looked ok tested them with a multi tester and they read .1 - .2 ohms. I did however try the GFI without the .3 amp fuse and it stayed on. So if that fuse is where the short is then what does that fuse cover? I was reading up at Balboas web site and it mentioned a transformer? If that is the problem does anyone know the right transformer I need?

I am not new to forums just this one.. Yes I searched...

Thank you for your help!

[elkski]

A am not familiar if this spa model or if it is notorious for GFCI troubles but I would tend to blame the rats or some of their handy work. Just seems ratty to be a coincidence but you dont say how old the spa is and you do say the one pump needs some type of service and you are going to ignore this so maybe spa maintenance is not for you.

Just a small open in some wire insulation some where could be causing some of your troubles . When you say you have disconnected everything did you pull out the connectors or how did you isolate things? If every wire going out of the control bow is unhooked then the flow switch would not let the spa run. I would inspect all the wire for rat bites and or replace some. What does that .3 A fuse run? do you have the schematics? How big of a mess did the rats make in there? Did they nest near the warm areas?

[O'Shell]

The rats only chewed through one cord. That was the ozone. They made a nest out of sticks under the tub. Their is no other wires that run anywhere else. The second pump still worked fine just made a high pitched noise. I have not the money to throw a new pump at it. Everything is in the spa pack short of the two pumps, the top side panel and the light. I have left the ozone out. It trips when none of these are hooked up. Leading me to think the rats did not chew anything else. As they can not get in to the spa pack without a screwdriver and thumbs. This is the only schematic I could find and it does not show what the fuse does.

Balboa Application Notes

[O'Shell]

Spa is 3 years old.

Yes I pulled the wires from the clips on the board. The pack trips the GFI without any external wires attached. The Pack does not trip the GFI when the .3 amp fuse is removed.

[elkski]

So you had Ratatuie tubby going on. Are the flow switch and wires enclosed in the pac? the joint between the pac and heater is not rat dung and dirt proof. What about perimeter lighting? If every thing is off the board and the power is in a conduit and it still trips it seems like it is a board problem.

It does seem like you are a troubleshooter of sorts. probably as good as me. It is perplexing that removing the .3 a fuse changes the outcome. Maybe it shuts off the bad part of the board.

You dont even have the ground wires hooked up from the pumps to the ground block? Not that this will solve anything but you say you have the board/pac totally isolated??

How big of nest was it and was it all over the pumps/pac? You have the wires off the board so even if the unplugged connectors were dirty or wet things should be ok there.

Are you sayin the GFI trips a few seconds after you get power to the pac or the GFI never sets? and the .3 amp fuse out allows the GFI to set and you have power at the PAC?

[O'Shell]

The GFI trips right as you flip it, the spa pack makes a click within that micro second. With the .3 amp fuse removed the GFI stays on but the spa pack does nothing. No readout from the top panel and after the normal prime time it does not kick on. So this fuse is needed for the M7 computer I would guess. It has no flow switch just two heat sensors on top of the heater, blocked in by the spa pack case. Just one led light and that is a foot above the pack. But that light was disconnected and the GFI still trips. I also am thinking it is this transformer the trouble shooting talks about, but do not know how to tell.

[elkski]

well it now sounds like it is unrelated to the rats. The two weeks it ran fine after the ozone bite tripped the breaker. Maybe it wasn't the ozone bite that tripped it the first time?

Is there a separate off board transformer in the control box. maybe that is just bad and shorting to ground.

[O'Shell]

I think the transformer is right in the middle of the board. It has a coil of wire wrapped in plastic. In a square metal housing. And I do think it was the rats the first time as the wires were touching where the little ****** chewed through.

[elkski]

http://www.aqua-man.com/row_num.asp?Ic=54594

this is all I could find on the PAC. I cant find a trouble shooting guide that you refer to that says anything about the transformer. It looks like it is the thing below and left of the Audio visual jumper in that figure. I guess it is a board mounted so you will have to get motivated and break out the soldering gun or call a pro.

But first I would like to know what the .3 fuse does and either get a schematic or maybe call Balboa.

[Paul Driftwood]

Its not a schematic but I got this VS-501Z G_StickerKit54356HC3.pdf at aquaspa.com. Shows where your .3 amp fuse is located.

[Spa_Guru]

Disconnect your heater element, and power up the spa.