bha

Hi all, A few weeks ago I had a problem with my pump and left the hot tub powered off for a about a week. Sanitizer level was probably low/nonexistant at that point. Up until then I had owned it for many many years without a problem, and had been maintaining it by adding sodium dichlor whenever the tub was used (and more whenever it was drained/filled). Used test strips once a month to make sure proper levels. Never looked at PH or Alkalinity etc. This has been working well for me for 15+ years with hot tubs. Tub is a 6 year old Dynasty and has a brand new ozonator installed that is confirmed working properly. Filter cycle is 1hr each time, twice a day. When I replaced the pump and flushed/filled the tub, I started having problems. I have since flushed/filled the tub 5x and still having the same issues. Nothing has fixed it. Symptoms: White mold at the waterline, on one corner of the tub (nearest the filter). Have had it in other spots, but seems to be limited to the one corner now since the last few drain/clean/fills. See attached pics. They are from 3 weeks ago at the worst of it. Now the water is crystal clear but there is still white mold type stuff at the one corner. Water smells a bit yucky. Usually with this much chlorine, when I open the lid I get a good whiff of chlorine smell (smells like walking into a public pool). Now it just smells musty, even if I dip my hand in and smell it. No chlorine smell at all. Flush/fills procedure (not necessarily in order, but I did all of these steps): Drained tub completely with sump pump, soaked up remaining water in footwells, ran tub empty for a second to blow out the lines, opened drain built into the tub to drain out any bad water in the drain piping, installed NEW filter (didn't clean it, installed a new one just to be safe each time!), ran AAH-Some through the tub for 1hr before flushing. Cleaned/scrubbed entire shell to make sure clean inside. The last time I flushed the tub, I ran 1.5 gallons of pool chlorine (10.6%) for 2 days before the aah-some and drain procedure. NOTHING seems to be working. Usually after 2-3 days the water goes cloudy (see one of my pics). As mentioned, this time it's clear and there is way less water mold at the waterline, but it's still there in one corner. I'm actually surprised it has been 4 days and the water is this clear. Water test/pool store diagnosis: They tested the water yesterday and saw Ph was 8.5, FC was 18.5ppm. Their diagnosis is that the chlorine won't work with Ph so high (I have read this also) so don't add any more chlorine at this point. I bought a bottle of PH Down and added 50g which supposedly will bring down the Ph to below 8.0. Today: Didn't see any improvement, mold still there, water smells same. My test strip (inaccurate I know) said high Ph so I took in a sample. Now they are saying Ph has actually gone UP to 8.7 so something nefarious is going on with the water. Any ideas? Pool store is going to talk to their water expert before I do anything, but our initial thought is to start adding 100g of Ph Down every day and keep testing the water till it comes down. My question: I used perfectly good city tap water to fill this tub, and had an RV filter on the end of the hose. Water was and still is sparkling clear, just smells. How did the Ph get so high so quickly (ie. 3 days). Is there some kind of mold that causes this? I don't want to flush/fill the tub again until I know what's going on, as it likely won't help. I think if I fix the Ph, the chlorine will start working and sanitize the tub and then all will be good (I'm OK with draining and filling if I get to that point if necessary!).

NEW INFORMATION! Thanks for the info guys . So I can now get the pump to run but I think I found the problem! Pump 1 has a motor and a wet end.. and the motor had water in it! Looked through the vent holes and you could see a few tablespoons or more of water sitting in the bottom. The lowest vent hole on the end of the motor had a rust stain like water had been dripping out of the motor. Took my leaf blower and hit the vent hole of the motor for 10 seconds to blow out the motor. Figured it would have to air dry but everything started right up! Before doing this I tried turning on the breaker a few times and it tripped as soon as the pump started running (now we know why….) I have everything running in hopes it will heat up in the spa cabinet and have airflow, causing the motor to fully dry out and not corrode. Any ideas how the water is getting in the motor itself? I didn’t think the wet end seal could leak water into the motor (I thought it just sprayed around) but maybe I’m wrong.. will check tomorrow after it has run a bit. There are a few hoses above the pump (for jets in the area) but they’re all dry right now. Can’t feel any major cracks but will look for drips once it has run a while. If I can solve how water is getting into the motor, everything is fixed! Motor and wet end were purchased in one piece back in March and installed. So they are in great ‘almost new’ condition. Gecko XP2e pump & wet end.

Thanks for the great suggestions! Now a day later I went to try your suggestions and found something new… turned on the GFCI and this time it didn’t trip at all — however, the spa keypad is dead and there is no action from the spa (no startup sequence of blower or pumps running, even after 5 mins). Spa is completely dead. I think I have now confirmed my diagnosis of spa pack being flaky/dead, correct? The only thing left is if the spa is getting no power at all, but the GFCI is powering up properly and staying on.. so I think we can rule out that possibility? I suspect the spa pack was dying 2 days ago and is now dead…

2014 Dynasty spa Gecko in.ye-5 with K-19 keypad (original to spa) GFCI tripped in spring twice. GFCI was 10 years old so replaced it. Tripped once again. Then worked perfectly without tripping for 7 months. Now it tripped and won't turn back on. Did once for 1 second, but otherwise just trips right away when turned on. Tried over the last 24 hours and same thing. Thought the rainy day yesterday was part of the issue but it is dry and sunny today and still won't even power up for 1/10th of a second. Troubleshooting: -Disconnected all pumps and heater from spa pack, still trips -Checked all wiring, looks good -Disconnected everything else on the spa pack (ozonator, light, topside, etc, etc), still trips -Disconnected power wiring at spa pack, GFCI no longer trips (stayed on for 2+ hours) I'm now 99.9% sure the spa pack is the issue and am ready to replace. Is my diagnosis correct? If the spa pack trips the GFCI with nothing connected to it, YET if I disconnect the pack and the GFCI no longer trips... that MUST mean it is the spa pack that has failed right?

Ah, ok good idea! So now I have left everything running for last 14 hours (after lots of unplugging and unplugging). NO problems and spa is still working perfectly. I suspect one connection is bad causing the GFCI to trip anywhere from immediately, up to 10-12 hours. Will watch it all day and hopefully it keeps running. After 24 hours of no GFCI tripping, I want to take a look at the connections. What should I be looking to do? Considering really tightening the ground wire onto the pump (it's attached with a screw), torquing down the bonding wire screw, and crimping the female lugs a little tighter with needlenose for the red/white/black wires, so they are very very firmly attached to the male tabs on the pump. They are all quite tight as it is but would they need to be really really tight? And which wire would be causing the problem? (my guess is the white or maybe the green ground wire are the only ones that would affect this issue, but I'm not sure)

Dynasty spa approx 7 yrs old, worked perfectly before I touched it Gecko in.ye control, 2x240v pumps (one low/high speed as Pump 1, one single speed as Pump 2) Pump #1 (low/high speed, 240v) was siezed and making growling noise. Had a seal leak and water on the shaft causing rust and noise. Bought identical replacement pump (Gecko XE) and replaced it. Three wires (Red, black, white) plus a ground wire and a bonding wire. Fired right up and worked perfect. Started to trip GFCI anywhere from 2-12 hours from startup. No idea why. Replaced GFCI (13 years old) with new Siemens 60A GFCI (identical model to old one). Figured GFCI was false tripping due to age. No improvement. Today I got lucky and actually had GFCI trip within 1-2 seconds of turning it on which helped a lot in troubleshooting! Pulled most connectors from the in.ye control unit (keypad, etc.) and no change. Reconnected. Disconnected two heater wires (left ground wire and other sensors attached), no change. Reconnected. Went to the pump and yanked the red/black/white wires. Left green ground and the bonding wire still attached. This time it all powered up without the pump connected. Note this took 10 mins so maybe it's a coincidence, but sounds like disconnecting the brand new pump fixed it. Can't figure out what the problem is. 3 spade lugs all have a good connection, green ground looks well connected (with a screw), and bonding wire looks firmly attached. Had only unplugged the pump to test, then plugged it back in. Tomorrow I'm going to unplug the pump and run the spa 24h just to confirm that the problem is actually the pump. Any thoughts? Bought a suitable replacement pump (it's the one Gecko recomended as the original is discontinued) so that shouldn't be the problem. Don't remember the exact specs but they are very close (ie. old was 8.2A on low speed, new is between 8.0 and 9.0 for example.. but not out of that range so it isn't drawing more power. Have a 60a breaker so that should be fine anyhow!) Any help would be appreciated!!!!