sbslider

I found this helpful. I purchased 3 "like new" pumps on amazon, and zero functioned. All had different ways they didn't work (wrong voltage, broken case) and none of them moved water. I sort of wise up a bit and purchased new finally, and this one works. The new pump was a bit of a bear to get to run properly, until I disconnected the hose at the pump for maybe 1 second, water flowing out of the pump and the supply line. Now its back in business. Thanks for taking the time to help me through this. I've replaced these pumps before, but never with so much drama. Lesson learned, no returned merchandise for the spa.

Hmm, I was hoping I could test the next pump dry for a short time prior to installing and filling up the spa with water, perchance I get another dud. How would the pump know if there's water in the area where the impeller is? What would initiate the spinning of the impeller?

I have measured the voltage applied to the wires that go to the pump at between 230 and 240V. The pump is marked as a 230V pump. This evening, I again removed the hose at the input to the pump, used my hose to force water through the inlet line, then used the hose to force water into the pump. in both accounts my partner was evidence the water /bubbles were coming out into the filter area. The filter was removed. The hose was off the pump for at least 20 seconds, and water ran from the pump and the inlet line. When I applied power to the system, I hear the relay turn on the circulation pump, measure 230V on the pump wires, but see no real evidence the pump is doing anything and get the flow error. I suspect I got a bad pump. Sigh . . . . Wondering if it would be worth trying to run it dry for a moment to see if I can see anything turning in there?

I replaced the whole pump.

I tried both. first the hose in the filter, I got some air bubbles out. But still no circulation pump flow. I left the filter off to eliminate a clogged filter as a problem. Next i removed the hose from the assumed inlet to the pump. After putting it back on I heard an air bubble, hoped for the best and tried again. Still not flow. I tried removing the same hose, for longer this time until it really seemed to flow out of the pump and the hose, reinstalled the hose, and applied power. No change. Next I repeated the steps above with the other side (assumed outlet) of the pump. First time some air bubbles, second time none, and never any indication the pump is trying to push the water around.

Hmm, I did remove the plugs from the inlet and outlet of the pump. regarding disconnecting the hose, one side (going to the heater) is very short and harder to deal with. The other would be easy enough to remove for moment, but I would be concerned about the water getting on the outside of the circulation pump. Is this a concern? Might I be able to stick a hose in the filter hole (with the filter removed) and get the same thing? I did wash the filter during thiis whole process, but I suppose the disposable element may be an issue. Hope you're correct, I have a few things to try now, thank you.

So, I got a replacement pump. I've replaced this circulation pump twice in about 18 years. So this would be the 4th. They last between 4 and 7 years for me. Whenever the water is changed, there's always a bit of air in the system here and there. I've never had a problem with a new pump starting up. Until now. The pump is rated for 230V, and is getting it. But its not really turning on, and not moving water. As such, I see the low flow indicator error. The system will fully start up and turn on both main pumps as designed during start up. I ran these a few times, but I've yet to get any indication the circulation pump is starting. I measure abou 27mA flowing into the pump, with 230V applied. The pump is rated for 60W, so I'm guessing I should be closer to 200mA when the pump is running normally. While poking around I did manage to dislodge and "free" a couple air bubbles in the line coming from the heater. I'm guessin water flows into the circ pump, then out and into the heater. If that's the case, I removed the clamp on the input side wiggled the hose a bit and got a few drops of water, so it seems like water is at the input to the pump. Puzzled . . .

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I haven't had one fail this way before, so I was surprised to see it could cause a ground fault, at least that's what I'm assuming has happened.

Well, I'm thankful for getting inputs from someone with so much experience. While I did not note in my OP, during my initial troubleshooting I too thought it must be the heater. So I decided I would try that first, and to my surprise no issue. As I worked my way around the board, it wasn't until I got to the circulation pump that the circuit breaker tripped. So with the heater connected and the circulation pump connected, the breaker trips. With the heater disconnected and the circulation pump connected, the circuit breaker trips. During this process I set the water temp to low 60s, and its currently in the high 70s, so at least for now I don't see the heater needing to turn on. And of course with the circulation pump not connected it would not come on anyway. Just to be sure, I did it again tonight. I have the spa running, it runs the main pumps 2x a day for some circulation. Power off, remove the heater input and output, power on, all is well. Power off, connect the circulation pump, circuit breaker trips as soon as its closed (no delay, immediately). Remove the circulation pump, apply power, no problems. I'd rather not leave those live leads disconnected inside the metal box, so its all back to the original configuration with everything connected except the circulation pump. Maybe I'm missing something, but the behavior seems independent of the heater. But if there's some other way to set this please advise.

Thanks for taking the time to respond RDspaguy. Presently everything is connected except the circulation pump, and everything seems to work. Like you, I also suspected the heater, as the board is a bit discolored around some of the traces. It's definitely the circulation pump, I just don't understand why it trips before the relay that applies power to the circulation pump. I'm wondering if this is just another layer of the onion. Guess maybe I won't find out until I buy a new pump and try it.

After pondering the previous post a bit, I realized this makes sense, as the relay on the control board only switches the live line, the neutral is just a trace on the control printed wiring board. I confirmed that with an ohm meter. Everything points to the circulation pump, I'll need to study how the GFCI works to figure this out I suppose. I measured both line and neutral to ground, and they both measure around 1.3 meg ohm on my meter, looks sort of capacitive as the reading slowly increases over time.

Here's another piece of data. When the neutral line only for the circulation pump is connected ("live line left disconnected) the circuit breaker trips as soon as it is turned on. However, when the live line (black) is connected and the neutral left open, the circuit breaker closes and then trip right when the circulation pump relay on the control board closes.

Sundance Bahia tub from 2006, I went to put chlorine a few days ago and found the circuit breaker tripped. When I attempted to reset the breaker, the spa display illuminated briefly (a couple seconds, could have been five seconds), then the circuit breaker tripped. The input filter capacitor on the control board was / had leaked electrolyte, so I assumed that was the cause. I replaced the capacitor, reinstalled the control board, and tried again with everything connected. I found the circuit breaker trips immediately. Like immediately. I isolated the behaviour to the circulation pump. The odd thing is, there is a relay between the pump and the input AC, and that relay does not turn power on to the pump for maybe 5 seconds. So it doesn't make sense to me that the breaker would trip immediately when that circuit is not energized. But perhaps I don't understand GFCI behavior enough to see how an unenergized load could cause the breaker to trip.