curls

Replying to myself here... I read the Decontamination post and will be doing an Ahh-some purge tomorrow evening (it's on order from Amazon now). There's gotta be something in these lines that's eating up the bromine.

Hey folks. I used to have a Freeflow tub, and recently disposed of it (multiple inacessible leaks). Anyhow, I located a free, used Strong Spa which had no pump or heater, so I was able to use my relatively new heater and pump setup from the Freeflow in this one. The former owners said the tub sat in their garage, on edge, for the last 6 months... so likely not very damp inside at all. Long story short, the 'new'/used spa is 250 gal / 1000L. It looks very clean, and I filled it with ~250 gal fresh water, used Waterbear's method (TA to 100-110, pH to 7.6, add calcium, add sodium bromide (50g which per the package pre-treats 1000L of water), then shock with bleach (4% sodium hypochlorite = 1.33 cups, if I remember correctly). The bromine levels shot up to shock levels. I have a Taylor kit but it's got the colour comparator for bromine... not counting drops. The levels were what I would expect for a freshly-shocked tub - above the 'high' and soon settled down to a perfect 'ok' (sorry, at work and cannot remember the actual values, but it was in range of 'ok'). I added the floater with brominating tablets, set about halfway open. Son and wife had a few soaks over the following two days. I tested about 2 days after setting water initially, using the test kit and noticed bromine was ZERO or at least too low to measure. Shocked with bleach as per above, bromine levels went back up to high as was normal for post-shock. Overnight, bromine levels dropped to very low again. I believe son had a soak that evening also. Shocked again, and adjusted the floater to wide-open / max. Overnight, bromine levels dropped to very low again. Note: Water is crystal clear, nothing gross in filter at all, no abnormal smell. Changed filter with a new one, and then super-shocked with 3 TBSP dichlor, left lid open all evening (not in direct sunlight), definitely smelled the chlorine, and once it was bedtime I tested with test strips and bromine was in range to close the lid, so I did. Checked bromine just now (the super shock was last night)... back to negligible/zero. What is going on here? Could the bromine tabs have become less effective as they were possibly frozen over the winter in the garage? Or should I use a spa purge/flush product and superchlorinate again to clear any possible issues from the plumbing?

Nothing is cheap here anymore. $12 for the 100g packet of the Brom Start is about 50% more than pre-pandemic. It's readily available... Just not cheap.

Pure sodium bromide. 98%. See here, "Outcome of Science Evaluation" section. https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/consumer-product-safety/reports-publications/pesticides-pest-management/decisions-updates/reevaluation-decision/2018/sodium-bromide.html#a2

Hey waterbear... Just a correction - sodium bromide is NOT banned in Canada. It was, but it's back available again. I bought some just last week. Also, jumping in on this thread. I have the same issue right now, but it could be that my kids are now using the hot tub way more than before, so the bromine puck floater isn't set to the right level. I have cranked it wide open to see if it catches back up. I have shocked it 3x in the past 3 days with chlorine bleach, and confirmed that the bromine levels were near zero and then above 10 after shocking, using a Taylor test kit.

Where? Somewhere not near the access hatch. I couldn't see anything and being a rotomold I can't just go blindly cutting (did that last year with a more minor leak and ended up cutting a line, which was fixed but f that in the future). I'm done with this tub anyhow, it's been a piece of crap for a few years now. I can't get a picture of the inside of the cover from the La-Z-Boy one, as it's about an hour away from me. I'll try asking the person for it though. I know the exact specs and model on my current pump so if I know the replacement needed for the La-Z-Boy I would be able to x reference.

Hey folks, My 2010-era Freeflow "Passport" spa developed an unreachable and unrepairable leak. Besides the point but relevant... I am looking at a free La-Z-Boy "The Seduce" spa which is a similar size and needs a pump (I suppose it blew it's pump). My questions: 1. Since the Lazboy has flexible piping, would the pump from my Freeflow work? The Freeflow is a 48-size. It's just over 18 months old so still pretty new. I can't find specs for the required pump online. 2. The control board on the La-Z-Boy is a Balboa VS501Z according to specs. My pump is 220v and on my Freeflow VS300 board I needed to set a dip or move a jumper I believe... (Was outputting 115v to the 220v pump). Does this jumper exist on the VS501Z board? Bonus question - would the heater (4kw) be the same on both? I will keep my current one as a backup as it's fairly new also.

False alarm. Secondary issue was a bit of water seeping up the heater post causing continuity to ground. Cleaned it up and will monitor for a bit.

Hey again... Maybe not a pump problem this time... GFI breaker tripped overnight at some point. It didn't get to a warm temp and I didn't get any codes from the panel before it happened -it was while we were sleeping. Dad is going to amp probe the components but doesn't have his GFI detection equipment with him here to look into that detail. It's there anything else we can check? Likely culprit? Thanks again! Edited to add -- the problem isn't immediate. It can't be replicated reliably with pump on high or low, heat on or off, light on, etc. Which means a ground fault is unlikely although not impossible.

Btw, I am certain the gasket material is from the gate valves. Neither one had any gasket left (and they don't hold back water). Here's a picture of the gasket bits. None of the Jets had dark coloured gaskets so it's the only other logical option.

THANK YOU!!! She's purring and pumping nicely now. I'm sending you a pm... Please check it.

Figured out the problem -the pump I was sold is a 240V but my old pump is a 120V. It's there a way to use the jumpers on the board to flip the output to 240V?

The same rating and voltage. No picture of the gasket stuff. I might be able to get one later if there's any left at the bottom of the tub, but it's pouring rain and I'm not home right now. Haha ironic ain't it?! It's a convertible spa that has been running at 240v for many years now. Dad is an electrician and wired it. Pump runs high and low. Wiring appears correct. Dad is actually on his way here today for a visit so I'll have him double check. Filter was out at one point with no change in flow. Didn't leave it out for long as there was a lot of that crud floating around. I'll remove that cover on the suction/drain in the footwell. I'll inspect and even fish tape it to bust any potential clogs. Will also fish tape the filter to pump line. I assume that line is a straight shot with no others feeding in except the line from suction drain? Lastly I will remove heater tube and inspect in it, and will be able to inspect the other gate valve at the same time. All of the above will need to wait until it stops raining as, well, water and circuit boards don't mix lol. Thanks for the help. I'll report back.

Update... Drained tub. No apparent damage to the impeller, no real debris, either. One human hair, that's it. I guess the next step is blow out each jet and then flush the system? It's there any particular method to that madness? Where to start? Leave all Jets open? What's the flushing point with the garden hose?

Freeflow Passport... ~2011. I think I have old, dried-up gasket debris in my lines. My old pump gave up the ghost recently - a long time coming. The new pump was installed in place and hasn't provided adequate flow. I suspect one or both gate valves are internally destroyed, as closing them had little effect on holding back water, which meant the tub drained itself before I could get the new pump in (also didn't want to replace a pump with 40*f water pouring onto my hands!). I got the new pump hooked up and after refilling (TWICE) I have determined the problem of very low flow isn't an airlock, as the system burped itself the second time, but there was a LOT of tiny bits of old gasket material in the tub. Who knows where from -- no leaks are apparent. I have had a tripped GFI, an OH, and a few LF (I think - Low Flow) error codes since replacing the pump. So, I believe there's a reasonable chance that the pump itself may have an internal blockage of debris. Also, probably some in the lines. What is the best way to tackle this situation? My preferred way of selling the hot tub at a steep discount, was nixed by the wife. LOL. I suppose I could drain the tub again, take the new pump out, clean out the impeller, and replace it, but that doesn't fix any debris in the lines and the problem could easily happen again.