Jump to content

Jersey Hot Tub Repair

Members
  • Posts

    583
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Jersey Hot Tub Repair

  1. I'm not a big fan of the LX pumps. Several major manufacturers have changed to various LX models because they are cheaper than the North American made pumps. I have been replacing them in spas that are less than 6 months old. The ceramic seals on the motor shafts seem to have a fairly high failure rate. I guess if the cost is 50% less and the failure rate is 10% higher, it's worth it for a manufacturer to use cheap parts. I spoke with several techs at the Atlantic City Pool & Spa show this past January and most are reporting similar observations,
  2. You say you have mineral deposits around the motor shaft. Turn the jets on to see if water is spitting out of the wet end. If it is, it is possibly getting sucked into the motor and shorting it out. I've seen pumps fail when only 2 years old. It's not that common, but could happen. If the motor is two years old, you could probably get a new wet end to replace the leaking seal. A wet end is under $100, and not too difficult to replace if you have the right tools. Dave
  3. I'd be curious to learn how the grundfos works for you. I've been hesitant about changing to them because they have 1" barbs and I'm not a fan of adapters to bring it down to 3/4". They are certainly cheaper, but I can't believe the quality could be any worse than Laing. Dave
  4. I've never encountered a hum from the control center, which I assume you mean to be the box that the circuit board is mounted in. A humming from a motor that is seized is very common. Most often, a Balboa 500 type spa pack is used in a situation where pump #1 supplies water to the heater, it doesn't have a separate circulation pump. Do you have a separate circulation pump? Dave
  5. " Meter testing to the heater had normal results, " What Does that mean? What is the electrical service to the spa? How many volts across the two heater leads on the circuit board? How many volts on each individual lead to ground? For a 240V spa, you should get 240 Volts between the two heater leads. If you get 0 volts, and the heating indicator is ON, it probably means the circuit board is bad. For whatever reason, one of the heater relays isn't closing. Dave
  6. On a hotsprings, a blinking green light is usually an overheat error. When the error occurs, is the heater hot to the touch? You may even hear water boiling inside the heater when that occurs. If so, I'd look for some sort of flow error. You may have enough flow to activate the pressure or flow switch, but you may not be moving water fast enough through the heater to prevent overheating. Remove the filters and see if the problem still occurs. If the issue goes away, your filters are dirty, which is the cause of many overheat errors. Also, do you have water moving through the heater? An air bubble can easily get caught in the tubing and restrict water. When you replaced the circ pump, did you connect it properly? If the tub continues to report overheating and the heater is not hot to the touch, it indicates an electronic problem. Are you sure you didn't swap the circuit board connections for the hi limit and the temp sensors? Dave
  7. A couple of suggestions: Do you have an ozonator? If so, disconnect it from the pack. It may have water in it, but only trips the breaker when the pack turns it on. I've seen that many times. If that doesn't help, try running the spa with one of the jet pumps disconnected from the pack. There could be a leak on the shaft seal, and after a variable amount of time operating, that leaks sprays water into the motor and shorts the tub. After a few minutes (or hours), that water dries up and the tub runs fine until the next time the pump turns on and sprays water. The reason it would seem intermittent is because the jet pumps turn on once or twice a day to run for a minute, just to keep fresh water in the plumbing. I've seen this happen plenty of times too. Dave
  8. The click is the Relay closing to send power to the jet motor. The hum is the motor trying to start up, but because the motor is seized the shaft won't turn. I don't know what "trip the jets" means, but a Balboa VS500 will quit trying after a few seconds if the motor won't start. Dave
  9. I had a problem twice with a Dimension One spa, once about 3 years ago, and then again two weeks ago. The circ pump would constantly turn on and off and giving a flow error. In my case, it wasn't heating, however, a bad flow switch will cause a Dimension One with an MSPA pack to cycle on and off. To test that, just short the flow switch closed, after the power is applied to the tub. Dave
  10. As Cusser said, don't mount it directly over the tub, where mount failure could lead to electrocution.
  11. I would never mount a TV onto a hot tub. Two reasons: If you physically attach it to the hot tub, you will be drilling holes into the tub, and ASSUMING you can find the frame to get a good mount, anytime you need to have the hot tub serviced you will have to remove the TV. Everytime you remove and replace the screws the connection will get weaker. The more important reasons not to mount the tv onto the tub ( or even NEAR the tub) is what if it falls into the tub while your family is in there? While that's not supposed to happen, every year people are electrocuted in hot tubs and swim pools because of bending the rules of electrical safety; someone gets killed because of something that's not supposed to happen. I would guess that your town's electrical inspector would write you up for having the TV anywhere near the tub. I checked out the cosmos outdoor tv mounts like you suggested and they look very sturdy. Five years from now, the screws you used to mount it into the tub have rusted, an unusually strong blast of wind blows through, and it's goodby Jawncarlo & family. Dave
  12. Is the temperature correct? Are the pumps turning on themselves when you turn the hot tub on? Is the tub filtering? First thing to check is to see if transformer is providing low voltage to circuit board. Typically you'd expect to find between 12-14V on the secondary wiring. USUALLY the primary wiring, which would be 220V, will be red and white or red and black. Secondary wiring will typically be yellow or blue. A wiring diagram or a label/sticker on the transformer itself would verifty that. There's probably a glass fuse somewhere on your circuit board that protects the circuit board from over-voltage. Check to see if it is blown.That will prevent the topside control panel from working. Is the topside old? Do the buttons make contact when you press them? Or are the mushy or have they been problematic in the past? Moisture gets in there and will eventually cause it to malfunction. I would also check the wire between the topside control panel and the spa pack. Frequently they are gnawed on by rodents, which might create the problem you're seeing. What kind of spa pack does your hot tub have? Most of the Arctic spas I've worked on have geckko packs. A few photos, model numbers or part numbers would help. If it's a balboa pack, you can disconnect the topside and the tub should default to 80 degrees. Dave
  13. Is the hot tub maintaining the set temperature? IOW, is it heating? Do you have blinking dots under the temperature on the display? First thing to try for any hot tub problem is reboot. Power it off, wait 30 seconds, power it on, and let us know what the display says. Dave
  14. Can you turn the valve when the pump is turned off? Adjusting the diverter valves with your pumps running is a sure fire way to destroy the valve guts. There's just way too much pressure in the hoses there for the plastic knob to turn. Dave
  15. Did I read it right that the problem occurs when both pumps are on? If you disconnect pump 2, will pump 1 run normally? If that's the case, it may be that your breaker is getting old and can't handle the amperage. Is the breaker warm to the touch? If that's not the case, try swapping the circuit board connections for pumps 1 and 2 and see if the problem occurs on pump 2 instead of pump 1. Dave
  16. If the tub is acrylic/fiberglass, we've had success using Fiberglass repair resin, the same stuff you'd use on a car. It'll look like hell, but at least it will create a watertight seal. First, rough up the surface with sandpaper. I usually drill a 3/6" inch hole at each end of the crack - it's supposed to stop the crack from growing. Cut a fiberglass patch that will overlap the crack. If possible, but the patch on both the back and front of the tub shell. The front for water tightness, the back for strength. Mix the resin and hardener - you can add color but good luck on getting anything that will match. I use tongue depressors to push the resin into the patch and holes. Out of the can, it dries to an ugly, yellowish plastic sheen, but it will be watertight. Dave
  17. The internet is a great place to shop comparatively, but if you buy cheap, you're going to get cheap. People want an $800 cover and buy one for $299 on Amazon and then complain the quality isn't up to snuff. For a cover to last, it needs double stitching, thick vapor barriers, a good taper, a freight company that understands what "Use no Forklifts" mean, and proper care by the owner. Proper care means it's not a play surface for the kids to walk on, keeping it clear of debris, if the tub's not being used for the winter cover it with a tarp to protect the vinyl. In New Jersey, direct sunlight in hot summers, followed by freezing winter temperatures, deteriorate vinyl. I see good covers last 4 or 5 years, and cheap covers last 3 years. When you do a price comparison, it almost makes sense to buy the cheap cover and replace it every 3 or 4 years then spending twice as much for a "quality" cover that only buys you an extra year or two. A lot of customers have told me they received horrible customer service from cheap on-line stores. If an online store is selling you a cover for $299 that costs them $275 to manufacture and ship, how much hand holding can you realistically expect? Their low margin shouldn't be the buyer's problem, but that's what happens. Dave
  18. Decks suck, don't they? 😀 Technically, there's no problem in splicing the wires, unless the splices are bad. Some of the topsides have a ribbon connector that holds the cable to the control panel, not sure if yours does. Sometimes, rodents will chew through the cables resulting in a malfunctioning topside caused by a bad connection. IF that's the case and you splice the wires, you will only have a new topside with old wires, not working, and still have to go under the deck to replace/repair. It wouldn't be a horrible idea to cut an access panel into the deck for future servicing, but that's your call. Dave
  19. Sometimes an auxiliary control pad which is working fine screws up the main control pad. Easy enough to disconnect and test. The transformer typically sends 12V to the appropriate circuits. If the heat icon is on and you get some display during start up, you're probably getting useful voltage, but it's not difficult to check. You should measure 12-14 AC Volts across the two yellow wires on the transformer connector at the circuit board. Be careful, there's a lot more voltage on the black and white wires. Flow sensors have nothing to do with topside displays. The flow sensor just tells the circuit board if water's moving.
  20. The pump, when put into High speed, will automatically shut down after 20 minutes. If you're in the tub, you just turn it on again, if you leave the tub, it will turn itself off. If it "power's itself to low," it's either in a heating or filtering cycle. If you've just been using the tub and it's winter, no doubt the temperature has dropped and the tub is just heating itself up to the set temperature. The Thermospa topside IS made by Balboa, with a Thermospa label attached. Balboa's part number is VL404. They make different overlay's for the VL404, so make sure you buy it with the correct overlay or the printing won't match the button function. Fading digits is a sign of an old LCD display and it happens to all of them. Balboa makes the topside panels and control packs used in about 90% of Thermospa tubs. As well as about 50% of every other hot tub on the market. Dave
  21. Do you have an auxiliary pad? If so, disconnect it. I've seen many times were a bad auxiliary pad affects the main control panel. Unfortunately, the best way to test a control pad is to replace it with a good one and see if that helps. But if you're not in the hot tub repair business, the chance of having a spare laying around are pretty slim.... Dave
  22. Before you replace the board, I'd examine the interior and determine where the hum is coming from. A seized motor would hum and could also trip the breaker if it was wet from a leak. When replacing the board, go by the chip number - there will be an IC chip on the board with a small label with a number, that's what you use to find the correct board. But I've never heard of a board humming, my guess is you have a problem somewhere else. Dave
  23. Good pair of eyes beats the internet. Good catch. Dave
  24. Are you in the USA? Wiring directions are usually mounted inside the cover of the control pack. You'll need two breakers, a 30 amp and a 20 amp. Dave
  25. GFCI's usually trip because they sense voltage going to ground. I only see about one tub with contactors a year, but can't recall a bad contactor tripping a GFCI. Now, a bad heater element is to blame for at least half the GFCI trips we get called out for. Why not disconnect the heater from the contactor, and see if calling for heat and activating the contactor causes the GFCI to trip? Dave
×
×
  • Create New...