Chas

Your circulation pump is bad. That's the little pump, not the big jet pump. Or - it could be a clogged filter.

Run it for the least amount of time which keeps your water clean and clear. Keep in mind that as a newbie you will put MUCH more load on the water and filter than you will down the road. HTH

You seem to have a flow problem. Even if you put in a new filter, as you said, but then a month later the red light flashed, I would still think you have a dirty filter. Nothing more at this point. Such is life! A month is plenty long enough for a new filter to be coated with oil - which is clear and doesn't make the filter look dirty. Two easy thing to check this: 1. remove the cap for the circ filter. Just the cap. Watch to see if the filter floats to the surface. If so, it is likely just a bit dirty and a rinse should get you going again. If it just stays down it needs to be chemically cleaned. And don't lift it up above the water level to check it: that fills it with air and voids the test. 2. remove the cap for the circ filter and reset the power to the spa. If it now runs (no flashing red light) then you need to clean the filter. You sound like you may have already tried this - so 3. open the valve to the waterfall - if it is flowing at all more water than when new, you have a clog in the return line from the heater to the tub. If you leave the fountain running all the time, or even a lot of the time, it slows the flow through the heating system and the return line, and that can and will allow slime to clog up the line. If you want to fix this yourself just to have it done with, or just to prove what is or isn't going on, you can. Power off to the spa, then cap the heater. I have a short section of 3/4" vinyl tubing with a cap glued on - about 4" and nice an soft/new. I take the spring clamp off the outlet of the heater, wiggle the tubing in a circular fashion to get it off the barbed fitting, and cap it with that little tube. Anything similar which will cap that outlet is fine: a small cork will work. Water will come out of the heater as you cap it, and will hopefully begin to flow from the other line. I use a fiberglass fish tape, but a long piece of wire, or smaller tubing will work - gently feed it into the tube and work it back and forth - carefully watching the water as it exits. With the power off to the spa, the water will only be coming at you with the force of gravity, not like a fire hose, but it should be enough to a). push out whatever you loosen up, and . get you and your tools soaking wet. You can also feed the tape in from the floor fitting in the spa - remove the safety cover and find the little hole. Feed it in there - be careful that you don't use a wire with a hook in the end, or anything which can go in and then snag on something and not come back out again... if you use a wire, for example, just leave the end blunt, not looped or folded over. The line from the equipment compartment to the bottom fitting is about 12' long. That's twelve feet, not a typo. I have fed in enough fish tape from the bottom fitting so that I saw it come out the other end, in the motor compartment. I used to have to do this a lot when we sold Baqua - not since we stopped. HTH

HotSpring Does offer a retrofit unit which does have a control panel of it's own. I think it will go back only as far as 09. Here is a clip from the HS web site: CAN I ADD THE ACE SALT WATER SANITIZING SYSTEM TO A HOT SPRING SPA I ALREADY OWN? The ACE system is currently an option for Hot Spring spas built on or after August 5, 2009. Contact your local Hot Spring dealer to find out if your Hot Spring spa is compatible with the ACE system.

We finally got the hot tub working again. All of my neighbors were delighted.

It's a very simple tub. They usually work great. One thing which catches a lot of folks off guard is the "Tranquil Mode." What happens is this: you turn on the jets (high speed) and enjoy. Then when you touch the jet button one more time, the jets go off. As you would expect. But what happens next is the spa sits silently for ten minutes before the low speed and heat comes on, assuming it's needed, of course. You have a nice little tub.

I think there is a HUGE difference between a US company adding a facility south of the border and a Chinese company designing and building tubs. And if you want to SEE that difference, look at any Chinese hot tub.

If you put it directly on the deck it will mark it up. You will always see the place where the tub was. That's not a big deal if you plan on owning the tub for a long time: you may need to replace the deck before it becomes an issue.

If the tub was made after 3rd Quarter '09, as outlined above - then the ACE system will not 'harm' the spa.

Mainly so the filters don't vibrate loose during shipping/handling.

If I could politely ask you to refrain from all caps - I was trying to sleep here! :lol: Photos would be nice - they are always helpful and interesting - and a short list of the other spas you have owned does go a long way toward establishing a bit of validity. Thanks!

I delivered a Vanguard to one of the engineers who helped develop the LED system in question, and I ran into another one who works at Sloan as well. They both said the same thing as the Swine - keep water and moisture out. I have only had one spa with repetitive problems, and I finally used way too much silicone to close up the cupholder, lens plate, and even the harness itself. Seems to be fine now. HTH

The only time I have EVER seen both of these go out at the same time is if somebody thought they were ground wires and cut them. Are you SURE you have two bad ones here? To test them, find the rating temp on the switch itself - usually around 120 degrees for the tub hi limit, and up to a max of 150 for the heater hi limit. Find out which is which, and gently put the probe into a cup of water slightly above that temperature - a coffee mug of tap water in the microwave oven and a good thermometer will be needed here. Just a couple of degrees over the rated temp should trip the switch. Let the cup sit with the probe in it for several minutes and it should cool off all by itself, to just below the temp rating. At that point, pull the probe out for a minute, and try the reset. Then put the probe back into the water and it should stay set. Most of them will not reset unless you let them cool off a bit first. If they reset and then trip right away, let it cool some more.

I would just find the problem and fix it. These things are pretty simple, really. If you reach a point of frustration, consider paying a repair guy who has some experience with these things to look at it. For the price of a service call, or an hour of labor if you can take it to them, you will get a solution, and also learn a lot about your equipment.

Far be it from me to argue with a Sith Lord! In fact, there is no way I could : you have the tub you have, and you have had the results you have had, and that's awesome! But I would like to point out that this brings up an important point I wish more people would consider: You are one person, and you have had good results with one spa. But there are enough folks out there who have had enough trouble with this particular brand and dealer system for the BBB to drop the boom as they have. I'm only saying that coming here and getting the thumbs up from one party, or even two or three, is no guarantee - Your Smileage May Vary!

There is a thing called "Chas' Law," which will come into play here. I may have to modify it for the ACE system, but the basic law is this: do a water change at the end of your first 30 days of tub ownership. Just once, but it makes a huge difference.

Not true, sorry. I get almost as much grief with THIS as with insufficient 110... The Prodigy is a HotSpring, and they get nothing but the best. You need a sub panel and two GFCI breakers. One is a 30Amp Two Pole breaker, the other is a 20Amp single pole breaker. The tub, if converted to 220, runs one circuit for the heater, and another circuit for everything else in the tub.

Sounds like the jet switch needs attention - stuck in the 'on' position. On the older units, it was air-operated. Be sure, if you have one of these, that the air tube got reconnected.

Well, the scum line can be from many different things. The best way is to simply wipe it with a clean cloth. You'll note that the line usually form just a little bit above the water, so you can wipe most of it off without dipping the towel into the water. Start with that - if you need to use something to break the oil/grease, you can use something like: Put a small amount on the towel and it should cut the grease, and if you get some into the water it doesn't foam up. HTH

All too true, ALL too true. One of my favorite electricians gave me a very nice 110' power cord with a box and 20A outlet on the end. I had just had the same experience we are discussing here - and I took out a roll of Romex (jacketed cable), ran a direct line from the breaker to the spa - and of course, it worked. The customer begged me to leave it there over the weekend, and who could refuse? They had paid good money, and there was their new toy just sitting, waiting for the electrician to come take unexpected money out of pocket - I figured they deserved a nice soak! But when the electrician saw my "very temporary" hack job on Monday morning, he presented me with the tools to do a far nicer job. he even made me a pigtail for the end so I can either plug into a better outlet, or simply hardwire into a breaker. I have used that cord to solve this issue many many times since then. To the OP - I know your pain, it's never fun to hear that you have more money to spend. But while you're at it, consider going to 220. If you have to run conduit and start from your main panel anyway, you may find it's not much more to spend. The big difference will be the cost of a sub panel, which you will need, but you get faster heating, and you can run the heat/jets at the same time. Just a thought.

I would do all your testing on something other than the (expensive) control box. For example: connect it up to a power cord, or jump it over to one side of the 20A incoming power (it is a 110V pump). It may be worth taking it out - plug the lines with corks - and opening it up on the bench. They can get frozen up with a bit of calcium from when the water dried up all those years ago, or slime can form and then harden as it dries. They have very low starting torque, so it may take nothing more than a basic clean out with a wet rag to get it going again. Only after you are sure you have a good, running pump - which is not shorted and pulling way too much amperage - would I then swap the leads over to the ozone leads. HTH

HJames has it!! Wire size is only half the equation - length of run is very important. I have had many folks with this same problem, and when I tell them they simply do not have enough power, they begin telling me all sorts of useless information. Like: how long the electrician/brother-in-law was in the trades, or how many degrees the engineer/handyman/neighbor who wired it has, or how many spas they have had before, or the biggy: how long the tub ran before it started having these problems... In other words, check the voltage AT THE BLOCK inside the spa. As has been stated above, look for a drop of no more than 3% - 2% would be perfect. If you have a real fast digital meter, you can also check the voltage as you try to start the motor. It will drop a bit even if wired perfectly, but if you see it go below 100 you have found the problem! Solution? Find a shorter route from the breaker to the outlet, or go to the next larger sized wire. In fact, if the voltage drops to 80 or 90 when you trigger the motor, you might want to consider going up two sizes in the wire. I have folks who live on the beach, sometimes they will get corrosion on wire junctions, and that can cause the problem as well. In that case, pull a new wire all the way home - and you might as well go up a size at the same time.

In the States, we call that "Cobalt," or "Cobalting." It is a reaction between the chlorine and the fiberglass. The surface of most spas is acrylic, with older tubs being gelcoat. If either of those fail, the water comes into contact with the fiberglass backing in such a way that this reaction occurs. There are cobalt cleaners and cobalt blockers available - but drying it and sealing it is a good idea. If you have a lot of cracks or holes, you might consider sanding the surface and redoing the gelcoat. That would seal the entire surface of the tub - to do the best job, you should take out the jets: just the faces inside the spa. HTH

Prices vary across the country, but right now I could get a slab poured for less than that if I did most of the prep work. That means operating a shovel, something I'm not unfamiliar with. Or, it could mean hiring a handyman, gardener, nephew, brother-in-law who owes you money, etc. The slab would be far more stable, and is NOT that tough to remove if it comes to it down the road. (I have taken out lots of them over the years: to replace with a better one, with a larger one, one which doesn't face the sunset every night, one on the OTHER side of the yard, or just because the tub was going away, period. You will have to do prep work for the EZ pad, and that's something I think gets overlooked - it's really not that much harder to prep for a slab, IMO.

Replacing parts is not the way to troubleshoot this. Do you have a meter? A VOM of some sort?