Jersey Hot Tub Repair

Is he offering you $2000 to get it out of his back yard? 😀 Most people with 14 year old spas would be happy to have you take it away and save themselves the cost of disposal. Unless you have a truck, you're going to have to pay someone to move it, and unless you're an electrician, you're going to have to pay to get it hooked up. I'd offer the guy $200 if he will fill it and demonstrate that it works. Leisure Bay is also sold under the name "Dr. Wellness," http://www.drwellnesstherapy.com/ and "Energy Saver Spas." https://energysaverspaequipment.com/ I know the energy saver heaters and the Control Packs are not replaceable with any American made parts, you have to buy from the manufacturer. Prices are cheap enough for parts and their telephone tech support is fairly good. There's no way I would pay $2000 for a 14 year old spa. It's at end of life. Dave

It sounds like a pump is the problem, Disconnect the first pump from the pack to see if it's causing the problem. If not, reconnect it and try the second pump. Dave

Removing and replacing circuit board components is a skill I don't have. I'd get a circuit board from an old TV, comoputer or whatever you have to practice on first, but it sounds like you're on the right track. Dave

>>>> . I checked the fuses by removing them, setting the meter for ohm/resistance, and checking for flux in the signal My ohm meter beeps when there's continuity, so that's how I check fuses. I'm not sure what you mean by "flux in the signal." Try touching your ohm meter leads together - do you hear a beep or a tone? If so, your meter is reporting that there's continuity, and you should get that same result when checking the fuses. A 230V pump gets 115V over the common lead and 115V over the hot lead. I'm guessing the relay is the hot lead. If you put your voltmeter across the relay to the common, you should see 230V when the circuit is running, but from either the common or hot to ground only 115V. Relay's usually have connectors labeled NO, NC and COM. (stands for normally open, normally closed and common) Is your pump 2 connected to the same lead on the relay as all the other pumps? In almost every tub I've ever worked on, they use NO for pumps. Is it possible something got switched on the relay connector? Dave

Did you replace the pump with the exact same model or a different one? Different motors have different wiring posts. For example, some motors have neutral as the center post and some have it as the top post. Even within the same pump manufacturer, they use different motors so you have to go by the label on the side of the motor to tell you which is the hot and which is the common. If you purchased an LX brand pump, which Jacuzzi has begun to use on their spas, you may need to set it for 230V if it came set for 115 from the factory (assuming it's a dual voltage pump). Dave

Have you used a thermometer to verify the temperature on the tub is correct? Your temp sensor may be bad and the tub is just doing what the sensor's telling it to do. Does the tub turn off when it gets over 112 degrees? If not, it sounds like your heater relay on the circuit board is not opening, which is a circuit board issue. If the tub is turning off when it reaches 112 degrees, then the hi limit sensor is working correctly, and the circuit board too. In New Jersey, we have a few customers every summer that have overheat problems. The issue is the tub is in direct sunlight, it's 95 degrees outside, and the environment is just heating the water up faster than the heater. In summer, with no heater being used, a hot tub can reach 95 degrees just from the friction caused by the pumps. Add direct sunlight and a hot summer day and there's your overheating. Could you be experiencing that?

You DO have the wires going to the correct spot on the board, right? You took a picture of the old installation, or you followed the schematic glued to the inside of the electronics box cover, right? To check the fuses, you need to remove them from the board. Did you do that? If yes on both questions, swap the wires for pump 1 & 2 where they attach tot he circuit board to see if the problem is the board or pump. Dave

30000 is the appropriate resistance at 77 degrees. The resistance reading should be the same on both the hi-limit and temps sensor. I've seen four things cause a watchdog error: 1) Overheating 2) Bad hi limit sensor 3) Bad temp sensor 4) Bad circuit board It can be a timesaver to replace both sensors at the same time. If they have drifted out of norm and you replace only one, the resistance won't be the same between them and you'll still get the watchdog error. Dave

>>>>> 120v from the black, red and white terminals. Are you saying you get 120V from black to white, then 120V from red to white? What do you get from black to red? Black to red should give you 240V. If it doesn't, than your incoming power isn't right and it's time to call an electrician. If you are getting 240V across black & red, then you've verified you have power going to the tub. Now, turn it off, pull the fuses and check to make sure they're good fuses. (You can't check the fuses while they're in the tub.) Is anything happening on the topside? Do you hear relays clicking? Dave

Circ pump goes to inlet. Might work either way, however. Dave

I'd recommend you contact the spa manufacturer and get a written response telling you if your 50 amp GFCI external breaker is a replacement for the existing one. The reason I say that is because the tub was designed for safety "as built." If it's UL Listed, it meets a specific build requirement that you shouldn't be modifying. If you modify things and something bad happens, your liability is exponential. Worst case: there's something in the design you're unaware of and you remove the GFCI. Your family uses the tub and while someone is getting out and one leg's in the water and the other wet foot is touching the ground, you learn that your modification was a mistake and a loved one gets electrocuted. A law enforcement or insurance inspection finds that you removed the GFCI, and even though a stranger on the internet said it was safe to do, you find yourself getting arrested for manslaughter as you're driving home from your family's funeral. If you have to ask "is it safe," then you shouldn't be doing it. Just a little friendly advice from a risk-averse hot tub repair guy. Dave

RED AC is for a 230Volt pump. WHITE AC is for a 115 VAC pump. Good catch. Dave

With a voltmeter, test the output of the circuit board at the pump receptacle to see if it is sending the proper voltage to your pump. If it is, the problem is likely the pump. If you're not seeing the proper voltage from the board, then the problem is probably in the board. You know, you can't replace a circuit board by the silk screened part number on it. You need to go by the chip number, which is usually a small white label stuck onto a computer chip on the board. A motor that turns on for 10 seconds and then shuts down is a sign of the thermal overload in the motor shutting it off. Is the motor exterior too hot to touch? It shouldn't be. If the DR code follows the pump not turning on, it's a sign the pump isn't working. DR is generally caused by a flow problem. Dave

An aging hot tub is definitely a money pit. Then again, so is a car, or a house. But if you like having a hot tub, then it's probably worth it. There are different types of heaters out there. Sometimes you just replace a heating element, sometimes you need to replace a complete contained assembly. I'm not sure what a Baqua hot tub uses, I don't think I've ever seen that brand before. Replacing a heater isn't that difficult, but there's a lot of voltage and amperage mixing with water in those things, so you better be careful. If the old one is corroded badly, it may be difficult to remove. My recommendation would be to hire a professional, but then again, I'm a professional so my opinion is definitely biased. Make sure your tub has a tested, working GFCI. At least that way, if you make a mistake, you probably won't kill your family. Dave

http://energysaverspaequipment.com/packs.php

If you get a tingle when you step on the ground, current is leaking from a component into the water. Does the TEST button on the GFCI work? I'd be concerned with a hot tub that produced a tingle without causing the GFCI to trip. I'd start with an electrician checking that out. I wouldn't let my children get near that tub until you found the cause of the problem and get it fixed. Today's tingle may be tomorrow's electrocution. Dave

Sorry, there's no frame of reference in the photos so I don't know what I'm looking at. I've never seen a jet with a check valve/baffle. Jets are, for the most part, extremely uncomplicated, just a few holes for air and water. My guess is that you should remove and replace the jet housing. I'm not sure what's shattered, but I am sure it's not supposed to be. Dave

That should cause an overheat error. Is the red light flashing? If the pump doesn't turn on, check for voltage where it's connected to the circuit board. If you have voltage and the pump doesn't turn on, it means the pump is bad. If there's no voltage, the problem may be elsewhere. Dave

When operating properly, the circ pump does not make a lot of noise. You can usually feel it vibrating slightly. Those pumps operate 24 hrs/day and are likely to fail after a few years, so they're always suspect. You could try bleeding out the hoses in case there's trapped air before buying a new pump. Also, that pump is usually connected through a fuse in the control box. Occasionally the fuses will blow. The fuse is in a screw2 in socket in the rear of the control box, so it is a challenge to get it out. You are probably referring to a bonding wire. The grounding wire is inside the wiring harness to the pump, the external solid copper wire is a bonding wire. Most pumps from the past 20 years or so have bonding wires for pumps and air blowers.. I've seen some modern Laing pumps (which is what HotSprings uses) that do not have connectors for bonding wire. Dave

The top photo looks like shattered PVC. I'm not sure if I'm looking down into an elbow or a plug, but it certainly looks like broken pipe. Dave

It may be that the motor in the pump has a problem and it is tripping the internal thermal shutoff switch. I've seen this before. It may be that the motor is actually overheating, or that the thermal cutoff circuit is malfunctioning. Either way, you're going to need to either repair or replace the motor. What happens is the motor thinks it's too hot and shuts down. The spa pack, meanwhile, has the heater circuit turned on and is expecting water flow. Since the heater is on, the water in the heater quickly begins to boil, and the sensors report an HL error. The board turns off the pump and waits fifteen minutes (or whatever it's reset time is). Then it tries to turn the motor on again, which works because the motor has cooled off a bit. The motor runs a few minutes and trips the overheat sensor, triggering another HL error. Eventually, after too many HL errors, the spa shuts down. If the motor is actually overheating, it will be hot to the touch. Unbearable to touch for more than a second or two. It's normal for a motor to be warm (around 120 degrees F) , but not painfully hot (I've seen 160 degrees F). Dave

I would recommend to cut out the cracked piece and replace with new pipe. There may be one or two people who have had success repairing damaged pipes, but from my experience most glued cracks don't last. Unfortunately, if one spot is freeze damaged, it's not unlikely to have more freeze damage in the tub. Hotsprings tubs can be a real bear to work on with all that insulation. Dave

As castletonia said, the bleed lines are to prevent air locks when filling the tub up. They sometimes work. Many repair guys just plug up the hoses when replacing the pump. Personally, I try to use them. I've run into plenty of older spas where someone has put a pencil, bolt or dowel into the hoses with a hose clamp to close them up. To remove the hose from the old wet end, a heat gun will generally loosen the glue, or you can just cut like you said. Strong Spas, who manufacture the Evolution, like to spray insulation onto the base of the tub interior, sometimes immobilizing those hoses. The different PSI rating won't matter, as the water in those lines isn't under pressure, it's connected to the suction end of the pump. Gate valves are great for the first few years of the spa's life. When parts start to get old, so do the gate valves and they become a problem. The only time I've ever seen a gate valve stop the flow of water was in a spa less than a year old. Otherwise, I carry plugs to put in the hoses. For a really old spa, I won't even attempt to close the gate valve, I just drain the tub. I've seen a few gate valves break or leak after being used, and draining the tub is less work than having to turn a pump replacement into a pump replacement and plumbing repair job. I've seen one tub in the past 5 years with ball valves. It was made by Arctic Spas. The tub had had a winter freeze up and leaked everywhere except at the ball valves. Dave

Is the pump shutting off prior to the HL/LF errors? Dave

Are the spade connectors on the circuit board clean? I'd try cleaning them off with some fine grit emery sandpaper, just to make sure you are getting a good electrical contact. Dave