tominos

ok, just checked it out again. pulled the box out. there is 120v on the line side of the contactor for the heater. when i turn the heat up, the contactor makes, and there is 120v on the load side of the contactor. both poles are pulling in. both the hot and the neutral show it pulling about 14 amps. i also checked the temperature at one of the brass gate valves i installed, of the water coming from the floor drain, and of the temperature leaving the heater to the port on the side of the tub, and i also stuck my hand down by that port to check the temp of the water coming out, feels like theres no difference. i used a thermistor to check the temp on the brass valves. here it is with the heater on, and the circulation pump running. can't upload any more pics, but its about 55 degrees coming from the floor drain, and then about 56 coming out of the heater. i think the heater is bad, i'm just more curious as to how it can draw 14 amps, but produce very little to no heat.

is it plumbed incorrectly? heres how i think it works right now, the pump sucks water from the floor drain on the right, then pumps it through the heater, out the heater to a port on the side of the tub, which is where i've been feeling the water temp coming out. i'm going to pull apart the box and check it out.

ah yes, the hi limit switch is not tripped. i've checked it. on this model of hot tub, the control panel with all the knobs have to come off, and the control box has to be unscrewed and dropped out to look at it, since the cover is on the back side. why would they make a hot tub like this? not sure why the pic is upside down

i am testing the conductor coming off of my breaker that is feeding the gfci 20a receptacle that feeds the hot tub. i'm using a clamp on style amp meter. a fluke t5-600. something is definitely wrong, i have no idea where the energy is going haha. i'm not able to test the leads coming directly off of the heater because it comes out of the heater into a chord then plugs into the control panel. i could pull the control box out and check the leads feeding that heater receptacle. i'm thinking of replacing all the internals on this hot tub with the spaguts v2 pack to get a more powerful heater, and be reliable for a while. is this a good idea with a tub this old?

Hi scuba Dave. Checked it this morning and no change in temp. It's the craziest thing about the heater drawing 14 amps and not heating. There are no other loads running except the circulator pump and that draws .3 amps by itself. The thing is i have felt the water come out of the circulator pump before when the heater was working. And the water coming out was warm. But now the water coming out is not any different in temperature than the water going in. I know what you mean about the 120v 1500w heater not feeling very warm but it seems like it's not doing anything at all.

hi mrwrick, thanks for the reply. i believe the heater relay is working because i'm getting 120v at the plug for the heater. if the relay wasn't activating, i would not get 120v at the heater plug. so it is calling for heat the whole time, and the heater is pulling 14 amps, but the water isn't getting any hotter coming out of the heater core. i'm just perplexed that it can still pull 14 amps of current and not heat.

hi all, brand new to the forum, and recently got my hands on a free hot tub, that doesn't heat. my background is in electrical/hvac so i figured i could get it running.. anyway, it is a 1993 hot springs spa sovereign model. takes a 20a, 120v circuit. the controls seem fairly simple, but it just doesn't seem to be heating properly. the circulating pump is running, but the water coming in and out of the heater is the same temperature. the hot tub draws 14 amps or so with the heater on, and .3 amps with just the circulator pump on. my question is, since the heater draws 14a, can it still be bad? how can it draw 14a, and not heat up? i've tested resistance between the heater terminals and i get about 10ohms. i've also had the heater element out and plugged it in for a second and it got really hot very quickly. so it does seem to work. any insights?