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I have a 'Newporter' spa from Costco which has all Balboa internals. It won't heat past 90 degrees right now. The tub has a VS model controller box with a board labeled FREE300. It shows the firmware version on boot, but no error codes. It goes right to "PR" and behaves normally except for the ceiling on the temperature. The pump was replaced about six months ago and behaves normally. Here is what I have done so far: Turned it off and then on again many times. Drained and refilled Swapped the temperature sensors Removed and reinstalled the temperature sensors (not replaced) Tested the sensors, they give an approximately 40k ohm resistance at household room temperature Followed the procedure to reset the resident memory by putting a jumper across the two pins on the board. Also did the dip-switch reset procedure recommended for other boards in the series. Tested line voltage where connected to the board. Tested line voltage at the nearest junction box. Also tried changing the filter cycle times ( I had set it way down after overheating during the summer) I am not in a financial place where I can start swapping parts unless I am sure it will fix it. Is there some way to diagnose for sure which part is failing?

Does anyone know how I can get a service manual for my hot tub? I'm having an issue that I would like to initially troubleshoot myself with the help of a manual, before pestering this forum with too many newbie questions.

Hey, sorry for bumping. Planning to move my hot tub and want to know where did you got a trailer? How much you paid for it? And how to secure the electrical and technical components. Plan to do this on my own cause I am moving to a farm, so the trailer will be a necessity for me.

yes It is an option Where are you located?

SM but nit really surprised

Regarding the multi meter. I have one. Confirm test the 2 heater lugs and to test when the spa is calling for heat with the light solid and not flickering. The spa is 8 years new. I was thinking of just swapping out the whole control box/heating element. The Cal Spa site wants $750 for just the circuit board. I have found a few sites that sell the whole BP box/heater for around $540. I know I can do a complete swap just going 1 for 1 on the plugs and confirming the dip switches. For example here is a place that sells the whole unit for $567 https://www.hottuboutpost.com/cal-spas-pack-ele09002057-csbp501-csbp501x/ You are correct on the "slightly", I would not trust my skills to change a relay on the board.

Thanks again Waterbear. I didn't get a email that i had gotten a reply here and called Zodiak or actually Fluidra this morning. Kind of strange on the natures/2 stick or possibly more of a warning, as nice as they where , they don't know. They had to look it up on line and said they leave it up to the pool professionals. They found online that it says not to use copper products with .Kind of scary they make and sell something especially for sanitation that promotes a low chlorine but yet their tech dept doesn't know much about.

Thanks for the reply -- I see one such capacitor, which appears to be normal...

Back in 2000, I installed a 4000 gallon above-ground pool in my yard. I'm not an electrician. I added a new 120 volt, 20-amp breaker to the breaker box, ran wires through conduit back to near the pool, and installed a GCFI breaker receptacle with a weatherproof cover. So the pool's pump simply plugs in to that. I also used a copper grounding rod to provide grounding to that GFCI box. Still working fine...

I was able to see the image. I'm surprised that installing new O-rings in the red circles could be so tough, only need to get a small amount of "give" in the plumbing. I'd also use a little silicone grease or teflon grease on the O-rings. Did you use a wrench (strap wrench, ViseGrips 12LC) to tighten those large plastic nuts? https://ibb.co/3WyWXFj

Says image service unavailable

audio but no video... that I can see

There are a couple of capacitors on the top right side of the board. Round, black with a cross on the top. Does it look like the tops are bulging outward? You might have a low voltage power supply issue but can be difficult to trace.

Nature 2 with MPS in HOT water is a sanitizer but does need chlorine as a shock weekly. Nature 2 with chlorine is unnecessary as long as the FC is kept at the proper level for the CYA content. AS far as types of chlorine go, the 2 stabilized forms of chlorine, diclor and tricnlor, add CYA at the rate of 9 ppm for every 10 ppm FC added (dichlor) or 6 ppm for every 10 ppm FC added (trichlor). Dichlor is a fast dissolving chlorine that is net acidic so it will deplete TA and quickly overstabilize the water. Trichlor is an extremely acidic, slow dissolving chlorine sourse that will also overstabilize but not as quickly as dichlor. Because of it's extreme acidity and the small amount of water in a tub compared to a pool it is not recommended for tubs since the water can become very acidic quickly which could result in damage. Unstabilized chlorine sources are net pH neutral. Calcium hypochlorite is a slow dissolving chlorine that will add 7 ppm calcium hardness for every 10 ppm FC added. If your water is on the soft side it's a good choice as long as you are doing water replacement (drain and refill) every 3 months and you don't let your pH go above 8.9 or you could lend up with scale deposits in the tub. As far as the N2 is concerned, it doesn't care which form of chlorine you use. Once the chlorine is dissolved in water it becomes sodium hypochlorite (liquid chlorine) so using bleach with the N2 is fine.

Less water also means more water maintenance, more frequent water changes, and less forgiving if your sanitation routine slips a bit. Bottom line, the larger the volume of water, the easier the water maintenance.

Hi all, I have a 240V hot tub (Artesian Springs, Santa Cruz model; Balboa controller, Model MBP501UX PN 56931-03), with a 50amp breaker. The tub has worked fine for 3 years, with the exception that about a year ago the topside panel stopped working (no display at all). This was replaced and things worked fine for the next year. Last week the topside panel was once again dead (no signal): My wife reported that she was about to put chemicals in the tub, hit the topside panel to wake it up, heard a "click" sound, and the panel went dead. The breaker was not tripped. I verified with the multimeter that the tub was still getting 240v (2 x 120v inputs) and that all of the fuses in the control panel (not the topside panel, which is not fused) were intact. I turned power off and on at the main panel and again at the breaker box. Still no response from the topside panel. I figured that the topside panel had gone bad again. I ordered a new one. Upon installing the new topside panel, I was surprised that it was also nonresponsive (dead, no signal). The topside panel is clearly not the problem. I swapped back and forth between the 2 topside panels (old and new) and, out of the blue, the old panel worked... Sort of... I ran the pumps, etc. and things appeared to work fine. Then, dead again. After filpping the breaker switch off then on, and re-installing the topside panel connection (topside panel still dead at this point), I was re-checking the fuses with the multimeter for continuity and I heard an audible "click" sound. The topside panel was again on, and functioning fine. This has now happened a few times. The topside panel will be dead...then not dead. Any ideas what to do next? Thanks in advance!

Thanks for all the help , I found the pool math chart and also the dosing chart you "waterbear" posted. Sorry, it easy getting lost in some of these threads. Checked today and ph was steady at 7.6 witha Fc at .2. I added the vertex liquid at 1.5 oz which put my 480 gallon tub at 3.5 FC. I have another question and have been trying to search on here, the topic gets brough up but the subject seems to drift so i cannot find a answer. I left the nature 2 in. Does the liquid chlorine have any reaction with it where it shouldn't be used? I assume the chlorine is all the same other than having ,salts, calcium or cya. I know it isnt needed if you keep a chlorine level up but I had found my chlorine a few times around 0 so I would like to keep it as a safety factor if it doesn't hurt. I also have 4 new replacements on the shelf as I stocked up in the beginning. I was planning on using the mps and add the liquid chlorine as needed to stop the cya buildup. It my understanding ( and i could be dead wrong) from some of these threads its the MPS that supposidly makes the nature 2 work, which is a little counterdicting since natures/ 2 says to use the dichlor to initialize the stick.

Final closure to this drama: bad start windings inside the motor. New pump assy installed this weekend and all is running beautifully again. Old motor is not realistically rebuildable, the two places nearest me had (a) minimum $500 rewinding charge (new assy was just over $330 with shipping and tax), or (b) could not even look at it for 2 months. Thanks for your advice, gents. Despite this being a PITA I really did learn a fair amount about how this setup works.

Here is a isometric view of a Plastiflex Vac Prep. I hope this helps! Regards, Dave

I changed the water in my Aspen hot tub and now it won't start. I've attached a video showing the error but I can't find anything online about the error code. Any help would be appreciated. My Tub is about 6 years old. Thanks Hot Tub error.mp4

Hi, Our Jacuzzi J-315 circa 2012 is a 4 person spa, but we only ever use it one person at a time. As such, one half of it is never used. We are wondering if there are ways to fill the unused half with a bag of (something??) so there's less water in the spa, and thus less energy necessary to maintain the temperature. E.g. we could add an air balloon, but obviously it will float up. Or maybe a bag of rocks but I suspect rocks take just as much energy to maintain temperature as water? Something like a double walled box of rocks (with air in between the walls) would probably do it but that's getting into the crazy territory. Any thoughts? Thanks, Nico

I have to agree with "arnspa", as hiring a professional is not what it once was. As a "professional" in the trades for 37 years I have seen first hand the decline of so called "professionals". Asking questions on sites as this is smart if you're inclined to do it yourself or hire out. You just need to sift through the smoke and consider the useful advise. That's how I came across this site🙂.

I'm also in Phoenix, have a 15-foot 4000 gallon above-ground pool (since year 2000). My has a sand filter, and from November through April I run the pump under two hours a day. I stopped using a winter cover a few years ago as they didn't last long, and proved more trouble than they were worth. Yes, I manually clean leaves from the skimmer, and vacuum like every two months. I also have a 1988 CalSpa with a cover, and that's left in the thermostatted position at 104F 24/7, and it adds heat less than half-hour per day.

How did Baquacil work in the hot tub to replace Baquaspa?

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