Recoil Rob

I need to replace all 28 jet internals on a Savannah spa, anyone know who made the originals? Looks like either Waterways or Pentair but not sure. thanks, Rob

I have a customer whose old tub I serviced for years. Last summer he bought a new tub on the internet and then sold his house about 3 months ago. The new owners called and said the tub wasn't working. I showed up and all we can see is that it says "ISLAND LUXURY" on the skimmer cover and "SPA KING" on the manual. No contact info, no address. Turns out the spa was imported from China, no parts available as far as I can tell and no idea what the error code means so they are out of luck.

Sometimes you can blow them out and stop the chatter. They get dirt in the points and that causes them to chatter. Hi limits have no resistence when not tripped. When they trip there is resistance to reset them. Definetly sounds like bad contactors to me... Easy to replace, just make sure you get the right coil voltage.

Dead spot in the windings, that will do it. Intermittent problems are tough to diagnose. Glad you got it worked out, sometimes it takes the extra time.

Depending on the tub I can do a seal in about an hour (my minumum) I always pull the pump and do it on the bench or picinic table or the customer pulls the pump and I do it at home. Your local dealer should have a seal and instructions for it's installation are in the box. Take the pump out and bring it to your local dealer, call him first to make sure he has a seal and when would be a good time. Power down tub, close slice valves, dissconnect wires, loosen unions and unscrew pump adaptor nuts. Then unbolt pump from base. Actually, worst case scenario is you may have to replace the motor. The bearings may be shot or, like I had last month, a motor shaft was so corroded onto the impeller that the threaded part of the shaft broke off. That white plastic piece on the shaft is looks like the water slinger on a Waterways pump. Might be $250-500 for a complete pump depending on model and size (is it a two speed pump?) If you have freeze concerns you may want to get a new pump/motor assy. and swap it out completely and then rebuild the old one for a spare.

I'm not sure where you live but if you are in a warm climate can you adjust the temperature set point down below the ambient water temp (say, 60˚) so the sensors will read that and shut the spa down? Perhaps fill the tub with hot water from the house to get the water temp. high enough to do the same? I'm not familiar with your spa but on a lot of spas you can even take the temp sensor out of it's socket and put it in a container of warm water. You just need to get the the temp sensor to read that the water temp has reached the set point and shut the spa down with the heater disconnected. If the problem persists then it's the board.

Great work Bob. I wish I had you out here to help me solve my problem. I've looked, and I can find no ozonator in my system. It would appear that my model, the Freeflow Passport with the Free20 Pack SUV M7 system didn't come with an ozonator. The ozonator, according to the advertising specs put out by Freeflow, is supposed to be included in my system, but I can find no evidence of it every being installed. Unless, however, that the enlightened folk at Freeflow had somehow installed the ozonator in such a way as to leave no tracks should it ever be removed. FreeFlow Spas ----- what a joke, and what a PITA! But!!!!, There is a "socket" marked "Ozone" on the motherboard. So my question is: could it be, in my case, that the missing ozonater might be the problem? That sounds rather remote, but until I can find the culprit that is causing my problem, everything will remain fair game. I will disconnect the heater to see what that does for me and let you know the results. Thanks much Don K. Don, The problem will only occur with a defective ozonator, if there is no ozonator than it's a moot point. MOst Balboa pacs have the ozonator plugged in to a socket on the bottom exterior of the control box. If the socket marked ozonator is empty, nothing plugged in to it, than I would try the heater before buying a board. Turn the power off, disconnect the heater at the elements, make sure the leads are taped off so they cannot contact anything and then power the spa up again. If you still have the problem than I would imagine it's the board. Rob

If your pH drifts that much in a week, sure. With 50ppm borates, my pH moves very slowly. --paulr Water chemistry should be the least of your worries. If there is any possibility of freezing temps, unless someone is going to check your spa every day for you to make sure it's still running, it would be foolish to leave it filled. GFI's can trip for a multitude of reasons and if your tub shuts down while you're gone and no one is there to reset it you are leaving yourself open to freeze damage. In fact, here in NY, I tell my customers who want to use the spa year round that during the colder months they must check it everyday to see if it's still running. After 21 years I can't begin to tell you how many times I get a call from someone in Feb. saying they hadn't used the spa for 2 weeks and now it's frozen solid. Or a call in April saying they thought the tub was running all winter but now it's empty. Freeze damage because no one was watching, the GFI tripped or something else went wrong and the spa froze. Your spa, your money, your call, but unless you have someone to monitor it, winterize it.

You don't know that you'll be back at square one. That's the idea behind disconnecting the heater ( and only work on the electrics with the power disconnected), if upon power up the tub is acting normally then the heater is the culprit, if you still have the problem then something else is causing the problem. This is how trial and error works, takes time but cheaper than than the "shotgun" approach of blindly replacing parts.

Just an update on my customers spa that had the same problem. I disconnected the heater and ozone and it ran fine, reconnecting the ozone brought back the problem. Finally, yesterday everything was reconnected, heater & old sensors, but the ozone was left off and the spa is now heating normally. So it turns out the ozonator was the culprit, backfeeding a signal to the board. A cheap fix that took a lot of trial & error.

OK, that's more concise. And very timely, I have a customer that is having a similar problem, his spa goes from 71 to 79 then to OH in about 4 minutes.. I was in contact with Balboa yesterday as I have tried changing his sensors and we still have the problem. Balboa's tech support said that they have seen this type of problem caused by the ozonator or the heating element backfeeding to the circuit board. I am going back there today or tomorrow to try Balboa's suggestions of unplugging the ozonator and disconnecting the heater leads at the element to try and isolate which piece of equipment it is. If neither of those work then, they say, it's the board. Try unplugging your OZ first and see if that rectifies the problem, if not try the element. Neither of those? Then they say it's the board. Good luck. BTW, what is the chip # on the board you're looking for? In response to Recoil Bob: Let me try this again. The main power to the spa is turned on. The spa will start to go through the "prime" mode then it will check the water temp using, I'm sure, the two sensors in the heater, then turn on the heater, and then the motor will start the pump to begin the 4 hour circulation phase. The heater will turn off when the water temp has reached the preset temp which has been set using the topside control. Once the pump has started, the "jet" button on the topside control can be used to activate the 15 minute timed spas jets. After 15 minutes the jets will turn off, but the pump is still running and the spa is still within the 4 hour circulation phase, so the jets can be turned on again for another 15 minute period. This scenario will continue until the 4 hour timed circulation phase has expired and the pump turns off. Keep in mind that the water temp has been set at 95 degrees using the topside control panel. And the water temp of the water in the spa, as checked by a digital thermometer, in the spa is now 95 degrees. And note that the spa pump is now in its idle mode. As time moves forward from this point, the temp reading in the digital display starts to gradually rise above the set 95 degrees. The temperature of the water in the spa, however, has not changed and remains at the preset 95 degrees. There has been no heater activity during this period. The digital temp reading in the topside control will continue to rise through out the spas idle time until it reaches a point where the topside control will indicate an "HH" code or a "Dy" code, and the spa will not operate. The pump cannot be turned on by using the topside control because the system has shut itself down. I can restart the spa only by cutting the main power off, letting the spa sit for 10 to 15 minutes, and then turning the main power back on. Then the spa will start this cycle all over again by going into the "prime" mode again. This is the loop that I find myself in. I hope that I did a better job of explaining my problem this time around. Now for the rest of the story. I have replaced both of the sensors and the topside control with no affect on the problem. I have been trying to find a source for a new mother board for this spa because it looks like that may well be where my problem lies. I'm finding no Freeflow spa dealers that stock any of the parts. One of the dealers has told me that I must order any parts I need through their service tech. I have paced several calls and have left several messages with their service tech, but he doesn't return calls. This episode with the service tech guy has been going on now for almost a month(I am a fairly patient and understanding guy, but this is starting to wear a little thin). so that's why I've come here to this forum for advice and help. And to respond to Lori: I did talk with Terry ( a really nice guy ) at ActionSpaRepair.com regarding the possibility of switching out the motherboard to a Balboa# 52532 board and then using a different overlay on the topside control. This will work. However, before I go this route, I want to make sure that I've exhausted all hopes of finding a source for the Freeflow specific FF53335 board.

You initially stated "If I return to the spa an hour or two later, the topside control will show that the temp is now at anything from 98 to as high as a code of HH and the spa won't operate. The water temp is still at 94 degrees, so I know that the heater has not been heating the water beyond the set 94 degrees." When you return to the spa, after it has reached the temp set point (94˚) has the filter pump stopped or is it still running? Run the spa without filters for a few days. If the problem goes away you need to clean or replace the filters. Might be the board (sticking relay), might not. Where is the temp sensor situated? Is the hi limit sensor in water or clamped to the heater housing? If the second, try moving it to another part of the heater. Sometimes elements contact an area of the housing and it get hotter than others. If the sensor is in the element tube make sure it's not contacting the element. One clogged jet should not give enough back pressure to cause a problem. Stop buying parts before you have a better idea of what you need. Ah, see, comprendo. You might end up with blower, jets, heat, light vs. jets, light, down, up We used to sell those things (Freeflow Spas) for a year or two and I can't for the life of me remember what the top side looked like. The 52532 board says the chip is R1x (a or b I guess). Too many spas, too many parts, too old now The overlay is just the thing that labels the buttons. You can peel off the existing overlay and stick on a new one. It doesn't sound like changing the top side will help you if, because of the board, you're gaining a blower button and losing a heater button. *lol* welcome to the wonderful world of hot tubbing! I think these guys usually have a clue http://actionsparepair.com/ maybe give them a call in the morning. The dealer side of things is very on top of it, hopefully the public part of their business is equally helpful and responsive. I'm kinda surprised someone else hasn't jumped in here... but if you really get stuck let me know and I'll see what I can do. Lori

Testing heaters is fairly simple. First you check to make sure you have 240V between the two contacts on the element when the spas is supposed to be heating. If you do, you put an amp probe on one of the wires to the heater and check to make sure it's drawing amps, if it is drawing the proper amperage the heater is working. If you have the 240V but 0 amp draw the heater is shot. If you do not have the 240V at the heater, the problem lies elsewhere, the heater is not getting the voltage so it can draw the amps to make heat. On those Jacuzzi spas which used a Balboa system there is a temp sensor, a hi limit sensor and a pressure switch. When one of them goes you will usually get an error code on the display. If you are not getting 240V it would be a waste of money to buy an entire heater just for new sensors and pressure switch. The 25A fuse the board protects the wiring to the motors, nothing else. Tubs will usually heat up to about 90-92˚ when the heater is not working, the heat generated by the motor will do that by itself. When a 5.5Kw heater is working properly you can expect 4-6˚/hr.

Is the VitaBath whirlpool line still viable? I hope so because I just did a warranty job for them today....

S3 is a sensor error but likely the result of another problem. You said you have 220V on each leg, that is not right. You should have 240V between both legs but only 120 between each leg and ground. Is the pump 240V or 120V? Note that the spa can be a 240V spa but the pump may only be 120V. If the pump is 240V and it's getting 120V it will make those noise you describe. Also, if it's a 2 speed pump and for some reason power is being applied to both speeds at once you may get the same results.