CatalinaSpa2007

I've been using AF for a year now. Here are my thoughts regading Thumbsie's post: 1). The no sanitizer claim sounds great,but you're right....you need to use at least a small amount of chlorine. 2). I had the same problem as you with the chlorine disolving too fast. The second batch of AF I bought had powdered chlorine, which I was able to extend exactly to the life of the sollution. The most recent batch I bought has the chlorine tablets and so I bought a chlorine floater for $6 from Walmart and I put the AF chlorine dispenser & tablet inside of the floater to slow down the rate the tablet dissolves. Seems to be working good. 3). Not sure what happened. Sometimes upon initial usage the AF ingredients are working there way through the stuff that's left over in your pipes, etc. The instruction state you may see some funk during the first couple weeks. Glad you got it worked out. 4). Yes, it's expensive. I saved a little $ buying a 2-pack off of ebay. However, you're not having to do all the extra testing and adjusting required by other methods. 5). The AF is keeping the water clear. The chlorine is keeping it sanitized. 6). See #2 above for solution. Using just chlorine (and not the AF solution) is not a good plan going forward. If it were that easy, we'd all be doing it. Lastly, I clean my filters every 2 months....not every week. We also make sure to completely shower off prior to ever getting in the tub, so this helps extend the filter life a lot. Good luck!

Good job on the steps!

Do you have the option to turn off some jets? I have a low end Catalina that I turn off most of the jets except for the ones I use the most. Turning off the jets I don't use allows more pressure to be diverted to the jets I do use. Good luck!

Nicely done! Oh...an the spa looks nice too.

I found a guy on Craigslist that moved my spa for $250. Distance was 30 Miles and I'm in California. The guy moved spas for Costco and moonlighted side jobs.

I found an adapter at Home Depot that was flat and bolted to the top of my gfci box on one side and then tapered to a round female threaded coupler on the other side. I then attached a male threaded conduit fitting with teflon tape to the GFCI box adapter.....and ran my pvc conduit from there. This adapter plate from HD attaches with four bolts. Does your GFCI box have a four bolt-hole patter on the top? They will be around the same area as the knock outs. I have a pic, but I'm not sure how to post them here. PM me your email address and I'll send to you. Good luck

Try here: http://www.poolspaforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=23780&st=0&p=101881entry101881 Good luck

You can try ebay for the individual items you'll need if you don't go with a bundle. I've seen Balboa control boxes w/ heaters on ebay and I'm sure you can find pumps and top-side control panels too. Not sure about ozonators. Good luck.

I received my new heater element last week and after a successful replacement, my spa has been working great for 5 days now. The tips I received above really helped me out, and here's a summary of the repair steps for my heater element replacement project: - Turn off power supply breaker at main & sub-panels. - Drain spa - Disconnect left & right water lines from heater tube flanges - Remove Balboa control box front cover - Disconnect heater tube's pressure sensor wire connection to the mother board - Disconnect the heater tube's temperature sensor wire connection to the mother board - Remove the 2 heater element connections to the mother board - Remove the 4 screws & 2 "U" brackets that brace the heater tube up against the Balboa control box's bulk head. The heater tube should now be completely removed from the spa. To replace the element: - Remove the two large nuts (3/4" wrench) securing the old heater element contacts to the heater tube - To get the old heater element out of the tube: (1) push the 2 element contacts down into the heater tube and then twist the element so the contacts are no longer resting against the 'flat pressed' section of the heater tube (2) firmly pull the element out of the heater tube - Prep the new heater element by putting dialectric grease on the rubber o-rings and all over the element contacts. - Install new element by inserting into heater tube. You will not be able to line up the 2 element contacts directly with the 2 holes in the heater tube when the element is first inserted because these holes reside on the 'flat pressed' section of the tube. So insert the element into the tube so the contacts are off to the left side of the 'flat pressed' section of the heater tube (11 oclock). Once the element is in the tube enough so the 2 element contacts are lined up with the 2 heater tube holes, you'll need to carefully turn the element in the tube in order to get the element contacts into the heater tube holes {this is the toughest part of this whole project}. Go slow and be careful not to bend the heater tube contacts. - Install the two large nuts that secure the element contacts to the heater tube. Slowly tighten each nut while watching the inside of the heater tube to be sure the rubber o-rings aren't misaligned. Also watch that the element itself is not touching the metal tube walls once the contact nuts are firmly secured (do not over tighten!) The rest of the installation process is just reversing what you did above during the removal steps. Again, be careful with the element contacts. When the heater tube is re-installed and you're ready to connect both element contacts to the mother board.....use a wrench to hold the bottom nut of the contact so it does not turn......and do not over tighten the top nut! All in all I'm happy it cost me less than $40 in parts to complete this repair and that my new-to-me spa is working beautifully.

"No it is what happens to orings after they been in there a while. Best to replace them" Hmmm. Just so I'm clear.....there's a rubber washer that's sandwiched between the water hose and the heater-tube flange. The bead of "plumbers putty" I'm seeing is located on the big rubber washer where it comes into contact with the heater-tube flange. So are you telling me the bead I'm seeing is an o-ring that's gone to mush?

Specific jumpers will be used depending on your spa's electrical configuration (120v vs 240v or 1 pump vs 2 pumps etc). Are you replacing your existing board with an exact replacement? If so, then one would expect the jumpers to be the same for both boards. Also, on my spa a diagram of the board & jumpers is located on the backside of the main-board box cover. You might also find the diagram in your owner's manual. Good luck.

X2

Will do...thanks for the tips spaguy. When I removed the heater on Saturday I noticed some sort of white-ish sealant used between where the heater-tube flanges connect to the plastic couplings/water hoses. Is this plumbers putty or what?

replacing the entire assembly is the easiest, but getting the element in and out is not bad. remove all sensors switched etc on the housing loosen the two bulkhead nuts slide old element out. when putting in the new element be careful not to bend the connection posts install new bulkhead nuts and sensors and your done Okay...sounds easy enough.....thanks for the feeback, PS588. So if I remove the pressure switch, what type of sealant should I use to reinstall? Also, does the temp sensor require any sealant? you can use teflon tape or teflon paste. the sensor should need anything because it should be mount to the housing not in the water Perfect, thanks again PS588. I'll post a follow-up next week after my repair attempt.

replacing the entire assembly is the easiest, but getting the element in and out is not bad. remove all sensors switched etc on the housing loosen the two bulkhead nuts slide old element out. when putting in the new element be careful not to bend the connection posts install new bulkhead nuts and sensors and your done Okay...sounds easy enough.....thanks for the feeback, PS588. So if I remove the pressure switch, what type of sealant should I use to reinstall? Also, does the temp sensor require any sealant?