Leaderboard

With the help of an electrical engineer, we dr-soldered the relays which revealed the part number which I used to order the new relays. They'll be here next Tues. What a relief this was., I was ready to condemn the board a couple of times but with the suggestions of those who replied to this discussion and insisted the board could be repaired, I'm now spending $20 instead of $459.00! I will report back as soon as the relays are installed and the tub is powered up and heating. Thanks again to everyone that replied.

Just an update, decided to mess around with this today and everything went smooth as silk. Ran the 6/3, 40 amp breaker/GFCI outside, pulled the jumper and switched the dip switch and everything is running a-1. Ran a quick jet cycle and heat stayed on so looks like we're all set. Thanks again for the help!

Buy it. Masterspas is the best out of hot springs , jacuzzi, Sundance , best insulation best cleaning systems American made unlike jacuzzi / Sundance. Went to 3 Masterspas dealers and all priced around 15k and well worth it when compared to other brands we looked at. Their hot tub is superior in every way

Update, April 17: So far, so good, no leak. However, even though I drained out 98% of the existing water that February day and tried flushing out the "dead volume" with fresh water, there could still be some of the hardened leak seal chemical "in place" doing its job. So more time is needed...

perfect, thank you! Ordering now...

I have a client who's an electrical engineer and I asked him if he was interested in replacing the relays to which he took me to his garage and showed me his soldering station! So, that was a yes. Lol. I'm ordering the relays today and will report back with the results of the board once repaired. Fingers crossed! Thanks.

Phospates are a useless measurement. They are trying to sell you phosphate remover, which is not needed since phosphates are normally not the limiting factor in algae growth. As far as the other results go, how are they testing and did you get a computer printout? Pool store testing software is optimized to sell you as many products as possible. This is how they make money.

Thanks for replying Yes Indeed it did and is now heating and working perfectly I assumed after the initial 30sec firing it had shut down permanently I gave up left it, to find out later it was heating, happy days wife used it today all good.

Thank you very much, Waterbear. I have Lamotte test strips now and a 5lb bag of DudaDiesel granular boric acid coming today. My plan is to keep TA in 50 to 70 range, make sure pH is 7.6 to 7.8, then add 0.5 pounds to my 325 gallon tub, then test and add more if necessary.

Here would be the test to find the bad relay. (After you replace burnt black wire connecting the 2 relays) With power to the board and heat light solid place one probe on the left coper heater relay and the other on the open tab on the top black relay... do you get 240? next test at where the black wire connects to the top relay... do you get 240? next test where the black wire connects to the bottom relay.. do you get 240? then test the open tab on the bottom relay... do you get 240V. Follow the power and where it ends is where the bad relay is. You can do all that but in reality I would be replacing both of the relays. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiQBBHtejMA&t=294s

If it's a relay, relays can be sourced from Amazon and replaced. If you can't solder, you should be able to find an electronics guy that can. I would replace them all while it's being done. New relays will refresh the board and in the overall scheme of things, are not expensive. If it's a trace on the board, that can be repaired with a piece of wire, simply jump between solid terminals that bridge the break.

Enjoy

CanadianSpaTech - Thanks again for all your help!! I did find a Circuit Board repair shop in town - unfortunately, they wanted $250 to replace just the two relays that were bad (not to mention the others). I did end up getting a decent price on a new VS504SZ Board as an exact replacement of my one that was blown. Got it installed this afternoon and everything is up and running again! Guess I took the long expensive way around (new heater, new top controller, and now new board) - but on the plus side - everything is new and should last years; and if it breaks again I've learned a bunch thanks to your help! With any luck I may even get to enjoy the tub tonight - although it's pretty cold in Utah and the tub water was down to low 40's... Might be tomorrow.

the higher the TA the faster the pH will rise, particularly with a salt system because of the aeration created in the cell because of the generation of hydrogen bubbles so keeping the TA lower is important. Keeping the TA between 50-70 ppm will help because there will be less outgassing of CO2,which is the main cause of pH rise. Read these. It will help explain what's going on. https://www.poolspaforum.com/forum/index.php?/topic/52522-some-truths-about-ph-and-ta/ https://www.poolspaforum.com/forum/index.php?/topic/28846-lowering-total-alkalinity-howto/ The second one goes into the chemistry of TA and why high TA causes a faster pH rise Borate can be sued with a chlorine or bromine generator without problem and will help stabilize pH because it introduces a boric acid/borate buffer that, in conjunction with the carbonic acid/bicarbonate buffer we call TA helps "lock' the pH around 7.7 to 7.8. If you add borate do not lower the pH below 7.6 and don't lower it until it hits 8.0 or higher and keep the TA 50 to 70 ppm for best pH stability.

For pool the suction valve for pool should be on and spa should be off the return valve for pool should be on and spa should be offl for spa the suction valve for spa should be on and pool should be off the return for spa should be on and pool should be off If your spa is a spillover spa that spills back into the pool you would have the spa return valve on and the pool suction valve on (all other valves off). this is your current setting according to your description of the valves but the picture shows that you have both pool and spa returns open and also the waterfall and the pressure side cleaner return. The pressure side cleaner line does not have a booster pump so it was probably for a Polaris 360 cleaner, which is the only one I know of that does not require a booster pump (there might be others on the market but I am not aware of any). Having the pressure side line open is fine. it just become another return. If you do get a cleaner then close the returns so only the cleanier line is open, have the waterfall and spa returns closed, and have the suction side set to pool. Waterfall should work when you have the pool returns running. The

First, I doubt your advice will be used by the OP, who was looking at hot tubs 6 years ago. Then we get into MasterSpa, their business practices and quality. MasterSpa makes an OK spa. It isn't a top tier spa. There is not anything outstanding about them. Hot Springs, Sundance, Artesian, Bullfrog, Marquis and Jacuzzi are far better tubs. The biggest issue with MasterSpa is that they use the travelling roadshow to sell tubs and then it's just about impossible to get warranty service (dealer are the ones to honor the warranty and the roadshow dealer really could care less about you once you fork over your cash). Do you work for a MasterSpa dealer? Sure sounds like it.

As soon as you add the sodium bromide you will have a bromine spa and there will be no chlorine. Put in your bromine floater and start adjusting as per my pinned post. You might also want to read the other pinned posts in the hot tub chemistry section of the forum. They are all pinned for a reason! On next fill you will need to add more sodium bromide and follow the guide. As far as a floater, get a Pentair/Rainbow 335 (they come in both tan and blue) since they have great adjustability and make it easy to maintain the proper bromine level from the tabs. No, you are not and if you have everything balanced and running right then just shock before going on vacation and make any minor corrections when you get back. I've gone away for 3 weeks in July just shocking before I left (Im in Florida!) and when I came back my chlorine in both the pool and spa was 0 but the water was still clear, no algae, I just shocked and the rest of my water parameters were in line. Having 50 ppm borate does help. I would suggest just going on vacation and taking care of any problems when you get back. As far as daily maintenance, I hope you don't have any pets or kids because they cannot be ignored if you are too busy. Hot tubs and Pools are really no different. You can automate things to some extent but you MUST test the water weekly and make necessary adjustments and sanitizer should be checked a few times a week unless you are not using the tub. If you are not using the tub you still need to check weekly. Or you can ignore it and hope for the best. AS far as chlorine, once you have established your 20 - 30 ppm CYA you stop using dichlor and switch to bleach. Daily maintenance is normally adding a few tablespoons of bleach. That it. After a while you will know how much you need to add without testing and you will just have to do your weekly testing. For that matter CH and CYA only need to be tested monthly once everything is running smoothly. It sometimes is more work to get your bromine floater properly adjusted than it is to do the dichlor/bleach method. No, it's because you are not doing chlorine correctly. Be aware that children can overheat quickly in a spa because they have smaller body surface area than adults so the temperature should be set between 95 to 98 degrees and they should not be in for more than 15 minutes at a time! https://homeinspectioninsider.com/how-long-can-kids-stay-in-hot-tub/ https://hottubinsider.com/hot-tubs-safe-kids/ https://wellisspa.com/blog/can-kids-go-in-hot-tubs/ Finally, I assume you are using trichlor in your pool in a floater or feeder. The same things I said about overstabilzation and FC to CYA levels also apply. If you are running your CYA at the recommeded 30 to 50 ppm then a FC reading of 3 to 5 PPM is perfect but if your CYA is higher then you need to run your FC higher to achieve the same level of sanitation and algae control. IF you do this you will have no need for algaecides, phosphate removers, enzymes, and other pool chemicals that the pool stores love to $ell you! It's how they make money so having an overstabilized pool is in your best interest. You also do not need alkalinity increaser, it's just sodium bicarbonate AKA baking soda. Liquid pool chlorine is the same chemical as laundry bleach (sodium hypochlorite), just more concentrated. Borax is better at raising pH than washing soda (pH increaser, sodium carbonate) since it has minimal effect on TA while sodium carbonate will often raise the TA way too high, particularly with bromine, sodium hypochlorite, cal hypo, and dichlor. It is really only useful if you are running trichlor since trichlor is extremely acidic (pH under 3) which can cause both pH and TA to crash!

Much appreciated!

Awesome, Thanks!

When testing follow the power as seen in this video. Sounds like a blown K2 heater relay. Make sure heater light indicator is solid and not flashing when testing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiQBBHtejMA&t=303s

Trichlor is way too acidic to use in a hot tub! HOt tubs have a very small water volume compared to a pool and it is very easy for chemical parameters to change quickly! Most spa manufacturers will void the warranty if you use trichlor. Also, trichlor adds 6 ppm CYA for every 10 ppm FC added while dichlor adds 9 ppm CYA for ever 10 ppm FC added. Overstabilization will happen quickly. A spa should not be over 30 ppm CYA! I have a suspicion about what these flakes might be. Exactly which Taylor kit do you have? Are you using strips to test CYA?. My guess is you are and you have a basic Taylor kit that does not test CYA, and probably uses DPD for chlorine testing, based on getting a FC of 5-10 ppm (which is not enough precision to be useful for anything!) Get a Taylor K-2006 and be done with it and stop using trichlor and only use dichlor unti your CYA reaches 30 ppm and no higher then switch to bleach. Keep your TA between 50 to 70 ppm and your pH between 7.6-7.8 and do not lower it until it goes above 7.8 for best pH stability. Shock when CC is 1 ppm or higher, don't use MPS. You can add 50 ppm borate for even better pH stability along with the other benefits of borate. I prefer using boric acid since it does not require pH adjustment like borax. I suspect the black flakes are from degredation of o rings or seals because of low pH from trichlor use. IF the skimmer is near an intake very low pH water could go directly into the plumbing while the pH in the tub reads much higher. Use 6% plain, unscented laundry bleach. both are sodium hypochlorite. Don't waste your money on phosphate removers. They only work if phosphates are the limiting factor in algae growth but nitrates also play a big part and are usually the limiting factor, There are no nitrate removers so there is nothing they can sell you! Maintaining your FC at the proper level for your current CYA level will keep the vast majority of pools and spas algae free. Phosphates are a non issue with proper maintenance. There is a relationship between CYA and FC. The higher the CYA the higher the FC need to maintain the SAME level of sanitation and algae control. The main problem is the use of stabilized chlorine (trchlor and dichlor). Both of these are net acidic (acidic on application and acidic on sanitation) so a much higher TA is needed to prevent pH from crashing to dangerously low levels. The small volume of water in a spa when compared to a pool means this changes can happen very fast and damage can occur before they are caught and corrected. Unstabilized chlorine (sodium hypochlorine/bleach, cal hypo) are net pH neutral (alkaline on application and acidic on sanitation) and require a much lower TA for pH stability since the main cause of pH rise is outgassing of CO2 and the amount of CO2 in the water is dictated by the TA. The higher the TA the higher the CO2.

In case anyone see this in future and has a similar fault it was the low speed capacitor in the pump. 16uf. Got some advice elsewhere, replaced it and all working ok.

Below Manual From 2018 but should have most of the information you might need. Normally a 50 AMP GFCI is used. Need to see the circuit board and the schematic on inside cover. I would install a 60 AMP. When using a 50 the spa can run main 2 speed on high + heater but when you engage the second high speed pump the heater will cut out. You could run P1 on low P2 on high + heater but again once you place P1 to high the heater will cut out. Some Balboa packs can be made to run off a 60 AMP with a "Dip" switch setting change and be able to run all pumps and heater at same time. Post the pics. Use #6 - 3 wire (3 wires plus a ground) https://lmi-websites-media.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/freestylespas-com/Previous+Years+Manuals/2018-Freestyle-Spas-Owners-Manual-EN.pdf Freestyle Spas post 2010 is/was made by Leisure MFG parent company Sunrise Spas in Grimsby, ON. The Sunrise Spa Grimsby factory has now closed and production has been moved to the Hydropool factory in Mississauga. All of the above MFGs are owned by the Jacuzzi Money Fund.

Pick up some RockWool insulation and fill the cavity leaving room for the pumps to breath.

Well all was good with it, saw it running at 104, no leaks and all looked good, he even had a few guys show up to lift it onto the trailer after we drained it. Have it set up now, just waiting on it to reach temp. Like a kid waiting for Santa. 2 days and we're up to 91. Hoping by this evening we'll be in for a soak. We're going to build a 12x14 gazebo over it and make a privacy fence around it, hopefully next week then a busy of mine who's an electrician is going to come help me switch it from 110.

That Hot Sheet is a life saver!! Thank you!!! I've got a new Top Controller on the way and will update once installed.

Editing this 1 year update response to delete my content, false alarm we restarted & everything is fine.

This was just the information I needed to fix my tub. After changing the water in my 2007 Hot Spring Envoy I went to power it back up and the power light would just flash. Looking on the IQ 2020 board, I could see that when powering up the LIM OK light would light up for a few seconds, then turn off and the "CONTROL UNPLUGGED" light would come on. The circulation pump would run, but no heater, and no response to any of the controls on the main control panel. I had our local dealer come by and they quoted me a new control head because the display and buttons weren't working. That didn't quite sit right with me as to the reason for the issue... and then I found this post. This morning I took a look at the I2C interface and there were a couple things plugged into it. First, I tried disconnecting the LED light as suggested in this post. Still had the same issue. Then I followed the cables for the other things plugged into the I2C interface... one appeared to be a remote control receiver (part RFMR-1C) but I never had a remote for this tub, so I disconnected it. The other two things plugged into it seemed to go to the stereo which had been removed a long time ago, so I disconnected those two. When I flipped the breakers and powered it back up, BINGO! It's now running just fine. Glad I didn't have the dealer order the control head only to find out that wasn't the issue! Thanks for the post!!

I am plumbing my own pool, this will not be the first pool I did my own after the shell was sprayed. The main drain and Spa drain are 3" diameter. I am planning to reduce them to 2" to match the rest of the system. Has anyone ran 3" and why did you? The Pool/Spa together are 32' x 20' with a 7' sundeck. I am planning two pumps. Thanks