Moved into a new home that has a Clearwater Spa. Power was off. Turned it on and the spa heated to full temp, great! Turned off, drained, cleaned, refilled, turned on - GFCI trips, dang!
An electrician replaced the dated GFCI, but it still trips so must be a problem with the spa itself. I took off the spa electric panel box and started disconnecting/reconnecting pieces to try and debug/understand what was causing the GFCI to trip. I disconnected the heater and it ran ok without tripping the GFCI, but when the pump came on a small amount of water started dripping from both ends of the heater tube so I turned it off pronto. I then disconnected the pump as well as the heater and the power stayed on without tripping the GFCI. So to recap, with BOTH the Heater & Pump off, the GFCI does not trip.
Strangely, although I'm 100% confident it ran with the heater off/pump on (the water leaked and it scared me), when I have this same heater-off/pump-on setup in place the GFCI trips again. Similarly having the heater-on/pump-off trips the GFCI.
It feels odd that it worked fully before a drain and refill, and now there are maybe TWO things going wrong? Maybe I messed something up after draining and refilling? I've attached a second image of the gate valve that I haven't engaged at any point (for any testing or draining) and wondering if that was a mistake I've made? Is leaking water from the heater normal when the pump is on but heater disengaged?
Thanks in advance for any help!
ChainsawDR