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Had some work done to the spa lately and not sure if I really trust the guy that worked on it 100%. At least his memory is bad. I have two panels in my garage...one for regular house...one for the 220 stuff including SPA, and the circuit breaker has a GFCI as part of it. THEN, I have another 'panel' thing near the hot tub with breakers for the hot tub, and another GFCI thing. How many of those do I need? Spa guy says the one in the spa panel needs replacing...says it may have been causing an issue with my spa's heater basically never turning off. First time he was here he looked at the one in the main panel and said I was all good. Now he says that other one needs to be replaced for fear of electrocution. Thanks in advance.

Well, as the title of the topic states, the circuit board in my Sundance Spa Sentry 800 burst into flames and is beyond repair. The hot tub had been turned off for around two years or so when it had stopped working for no reason. I had winterized it well and thought id try to fix the problem myself this year. i had a feeling it was a fuse problem so I went to radioshack and purchased replacement fuses for the circuit board making sure that they were lower amp so that the equipment would not be damaged and were ceramic as they had been before. i popped in the new fuses and hit the breaker. Miraculously everything began working like it had before. a few hours later i had the hot tub filled and the pump and heater were just fine. after the hot tub had heated up a bit i thought i would make sure that the jets were still working. about 20 seconds after the jets had started the hot tub shut down. I thought it might have been a fuse as i had put a 1 amp fuse where a 1.25 amp fuse was needed, as well as an 5 amp where an 8 amp was asked for. After shutting off the power i went to the panel inside the hot tub to find smoke bellowing out of it. upon looking inside there were huge black burn marks all over the circuit board, some with exposed copper. oddly, I'm not so sure it had anything to do with the fuses i put in because the burn marks were not on the fuses or contact points for the fuse. I just ordered a new board and want to make sure that my $400.00 investment won't be for nothing and that the new board will not fry like the old one. the board that burned out was a 6600-014 and the board i am replacing it with is the same, a 6600-014 Spa Circuit Board for Sundance® Spas any ideas?? Thanks Again,

Where I live on the East coast, I seem only to find one major company selling portable spas, Hot Springs. The local rep seemed nice, not sure he gave me all the correct info (said frame was pressure treated wood). Found one other local store carrying Hibiscus (think parent company is called Alps Spas). The second company's products looks just as nice, but about a third cheaper. Can't find out much about other spa manufacturers in my area, and the only thing about Hibiscus I could find is from their company's website. Seems like Consumer's reports hasn't yet reviewed portable spas. Just looking for some direction how to buy about a 84"x84" spa. I don't want to just buy a Hot Springs because that's what everyone else has.. I like to be an informed consumer looking at the ratings of different companies and models.. We'll be first time owners. Love using them, now want one for ourselves. I'd love especially hearing from anyone owning a Hibiscus spa, Thanks in advance!

Hi all, As a housewarming gift, my parents game us the hot tub they purchased 14 years ago. It was brand new, still in its original box and packaging and never before used. We set it up this weekend and it is in surprisingly amazing condition. Everything is like-new. Unfortunately, I'm faced with a problem. I discovered while trying to prime the pump that there were no jet plugs in the box. The company who made the hot tub sold the brand to another company. That second company is defunct. I can't get an answer from any official vendor as no one knows who that is anymore! So I come to you. I have an Image Renew 815 Model IMHS81591 (Manual is here: https://www.iconservice.com/CustomerService/manualsProductManuals.do?model=IMHS8159&modelName=IMAGE+RENEW+815+SPA&version=1&company=21&language=) . I need 4 jet plugs. Are Jet plugs a universal size? Is there a way to figure out the size I need without draining the entire hot tub, getting in and measuring it?

Hi, Unfortunately, I found this website after I had already drained/filled my spa. I have been in contact with the rep at Aquaterra, the manufacturer of my spa, and went of his info to bal ance the water, but I am seriously questioning the info. I have a 300 gal. Aquaterra Vitale spa for which I sanitize with bromine granules and shock with MPS. Per his recommendation, I don't use a bromine floater as that was possibly the cause of needing to have a seal on the water pump/filter replaced as the spa was leaking. He stated bromine floaters are not recommended for my spa as they oversanitize and can damage the jets, pumps, etc. Per his instructions, I balance the water and then added my bromine and shock. I added 3 tsp of bromine granules and 3 Tbsp of MPS on Sat. 4/12. Everyday since I have been checking the water chem b/c I have now learned of the benefits of test kits vs. strips and I notice the bromine have been very low. I have added about 1 tsp per day on Sun. and today Mon. Also, after I used the spa on Sat. I added 1 tsp. of bromine as I was instructed to add 1 tsp. after I use it. Basically, my question is how do I balance the bromine so I don't have to keep checking it daily? Should I use a bromine floater, or is that the cause of premature seal and component wear? What do I do now for a bromine reserve? FYI, I have read and bookmarked Nitro's water maintenance post and also Waterbear's Bromine for Beginners post. I don't know who to follow, Nitro/Waterbear or the manufacturer rep. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Tx.

My spa has a slow but steady leak that looks like it is coming from one of the split nuts on the Balboa Heater. Does anyone know if this is common? I have read that I need to replace heater, but the unit was working OK before the leak. Looking for suggestions on fix from experts and others. Thank you.

I need some help trouble shooting this error message on my Jandy Heater!!!!! "Shorted H20 Sensor" I have replaced the Water Sensor which is in the pipe between the filter and the heater - (thinking this was what the error was regarding, I should have known better) Is there a sensor actually inside the unit which I can replace? Or could this be a board problem...... Heater is 3 years old..... Jandy LRZ 400ep

We are going out of town for nearly 2 weeks. I am not sure what to do with our spa. We don't have a spa service. It's time to change our water anyway, but I am worried that if we drain the spa, any remaining water in the pipes will get moldy and gross. But we can't leave water in it without treatment for two weeks. Any suggestions on what to do while we are away? Thank you!

Hi everyone. So I finally bought my first spa. My wife and I are so excited. It is a 2006 Dream Maker Spa, x400.120 volt. So, we hooked it up last saturday, and everything is going very well. Starting last night, after my wife pressed the light button once or twice, (could have just been a coincidence timing wise) the spa started acting weirdly. A small clicking noise started to come from the engine area. The light would be on it's fade program, but flashing intermittently with the speed of the clicking. Also the display would go back to its default 100 degree setting (the default temp after plugging it in) and when you try to push the temp. up or down via buttons, it would flash "56" then go back to allowing me to attempt to change temperature. Last night when it first started, we tried a few power cycles by unplugging spa, and plugging in, to success. Then when we got back in tonight, it started again after 15 min or so. Things that might affect, that I have just found out. (we just moved into this home, so still learning the power situation) The breaker it is on is a 15 amp breaker, (hot tub takes 12 amps) that also, (at least, but could be more) controls the lights to 2 of the four bedrooms. (problem happens with lights on or off currently) I AM using a high gauge 25 foot. (i only needed it to be about 3-6 feet, but couldn't find a shorter one) extension chord. Doesn't seem like that could be the issue but worth throwing out there. The control panel could use some new clear silicone around the edge of the control panel, and the buttons aren't perfect from when it was brand new (just seems to have a little bit of wear, although all the buttons still work fine none the less) So....is there anyone who has any idea as to what this may be? Sorry for all the info, just know people smarter than I sometimes need all this information. Any advice really helps. Thank you in advance. -John

I moved into a home with a spa....It was dirty and had a leak at the pump. I was able clean and fix the spa which I am very happy about, however now I cannot find the filter part number. I have checked online everywhere that I can think of. I emailed Coleman but they do not have the information because it was built prior to 4/1/2010. If anyone out there has one of these or knows how I can find this information I would greatly appreciate it. Coleman Spa by Maax Model 107 Twilight Thank you so much Jessica

I am looking at a few different spas and don't know which one is best wrt quality, ease to maintain, comfort, etc. I would appreciate any insights that can be offered. Here are the spas I'm looking at: AquaTerra Spa: http://www.costco.com/.product.11757426.html?cm_sp=RichRelevance-_-categorypageHorizontalTop-_-PopularProductsInCategory&cm_vc=categorypageHorizontalTop|PopularProductsInCategory DuraSport G2: http://www.durasportspas.com/explore/g-2-seats-6.html ($4400) Tuff: Haven't looked at any models specifically, but it was recommended by someone else

Hi. Been a while since I've visited. Great job on the new site!!! I searched but couldn't find any sub forums (yet) about installing new spa hardware. Did these not make the move over? Or am I making up stuff? We have a very old hot tub/spa (name I don't know) whose heating element and controller finally gave out. After noodling on this for way too I finally pull the trigger on a new digital heating controller. This was kinda spur of the moment and now that it arrive late last night I'm a bit confused on how to put this line line with the pump. I beleive it should go left to right - output side of the pump? The other question is how many 90 degree bends can I have? The new heating element is much lower, so I'm not sure how many bends I can get away with. Or is it possible to use a flexible hose as opposed to rigid pipe, to make sweeping bends? tl;dr Bought new heating controller and need to know pipe placement and order for proper water flow.

Hi, I'm new to the forum - nice to meet you guys. I've recently purchased a home (in November) and I've been slowly getting the pool into order. When i moved in it was a swamp - i've since gotten it pretty much pristine. The previous owners had the bottom of the pool repainted at one point and it really looks great when it's in top shape. That said, right now the skimmer line is clogged (tons of trees, so i'm assuming it's leaves) and I'm likely going to need someone with a co2 gun come out and clear it - so it's a bit murky right now. But that's not why I'm here. I'm here to show you guys some of the plumbing and ask some questions about it, so here we go! First, here's a picture of when it's look good: Ok, so here's my skimmer: and here's some weird hole, water doesn't come out of it - it might be threaded, i was told it might be for a vaccum which would be great because im tired of running the kreepy krauly and manual vaccum from the skimmer: here's the plumbing: Some of the equipment: New wisperflow pump for the pool and spa circulation Old (i forget the brand name) black spa jet pump (under the bubbler) Two Chardonnay valves A very old filter An equally old heater A bubbler Some X10 stuff (X10 sucks) not shown Close of of the plumbing: From left to right: from the spa to the pump from the skimmer to the pool from the heater to the spa from the bubbler Here's from another angle, AND some weird capped off pipes (could this be for that vaccum hole?): So here are my questions: How might i go about determining what those capped off things are in the last picture. How might i determine what the mysterious hole is How can i tell if the bubbler is working - i guess i do so air in the spa, but the water\air only comes out about a foot, it's not very strong - do i need a better pump for that perhaps? How do you service a bubbler? What can you guys recomend in lieu of X10, preferably something that doesnt' require me to go over to the equipment and manually change valves. Should i bother re-doing all of the PVC here - it looks terrible and it's obvious that a lot of changes have been made over the years. I'd like to add the 'screw on' (for lack of a better word) connectors at various places to keep things nice when changing out components. Thanks!

Hi All Ive recently inherited a spa which has added a significant amount to my electricity bill (4x up). Im from New Zealand and the spa controller is a spaquip 500 (see link) http://www.spa-quip.co.nz/shop/Controllers/Spa+Power+500/Spa+Power+500+Touch+Pad.html So the controller is basic and the whole system will not run without both the heater and the motor going at the same time. We are using a slow release silver compound to keep the pool clear which is working great but means we have to keep the spa on 24/7 in what can only be described as a temp maintenance mode ie the spa flicks on for what seems like a 45 min period every couple of hours to keep the temp steady. The silver requires 75,000 litres of water over it per day to be effective. My Question is two fold. A - Is the more costly of the two system pieces the heater element to run? And if so are there any products that I can run inline in the ribbon cable to bypass the thermostat and keep the element off while the pump goes? Reason being is that I can then just run an old school timer on the plug limiting the pump operation to the min hours per day required to keep the silver working. B - Is there any truth to the fact that shutting the power off at the wall on a spa will decrease the heater elements life? By the way its a 2KW heater and a 0.75kw (280l/min) pump... if it makes a difference.

I inherited this Savannah Tremblant and am getting it ready to run. The tub doesn't leak at all but it is definitely in need of some love. The previous owner got it cheap because the shell had been damaged. It was patched by the dealer but the dealer didn't bother to match the colour. (Or smooth the finish. Or anything, really.) The patch itself has held up over time but the paint or epoxy or whatever it was that they applied to cover the patch has not. It has separated from the patch and has flaked off, revealing significant discolouration. Here, I hope you're sitting down, because this is what it looks like: The patch area is about 15"x8". I'm not extremely concerned that the acrylic be perfect but I want something that will bond to the patch and be blue or mineral mottled similarly. What should I use? Paint? Multitech granite patch? Should I grind off the old topcoat? Any advice would e greatly appreciated. Well, almost any. Don't tell me to toss it. She's got life in her yet.

I recently replaced my existing spa pack with a new Balboa 500z series pack, specifics here: http://www.poolsupplyworld.com/Balboa-54217-Z-Bundled-System-VS501Z-Retrofit-Kit-Complete--Lite-Duplex--Retrofit-Bezel-With-Cords-Primary-Pump-Blower-or-Secondary-Pump-Light-Ozone/54217-Z.htm? My spa has 2 pumps, one 2 speed and one 1 speed. The new spa pack is great, with one exception: I can't get the 1 speed pump to run for more than 5 minutes without cutting off for 5 minutes. It cycles on and off 5 min on, 5 min off. My controls list "blower, jets, temp, light" I have the "jets" as the 2 speed pump and "blower" as the one speed pump. Can someone please tell me how to fix this short duration cycle to a 20 or 30 minute on unless you cut it off? Thanks in advance!

I just thought I would share that my search for a spa had ended! After getting frustrated when despite talking to several D1 dealerships in the Twin Cities I was unable to secure a chance to wet test a tub from their Reflections line, I noticed Dolphin Pool and Spa on the side of the highway as I was heading home from another, unhelpful D1 dealership. I decided to pull over and stop in. Right away I noticed their low key attitude and I liked that. My salesrep, Margo was friendly and helpful. She seemed to answer questions honestly and in a straight forward manner. Since I liked what I saw, I made arrangements to come back the next day to wet test the Cantabria, the largest tub in their luxury line, the Utopia series. So yesterday, with a friend along for the ride, we went to test out the Cantabria. This is a big tub with lots of features. Some key points for me was that I seemed to stay in the lounger and the deep captains seats. Often, I feel like I'm floundering around in tubs, trying not to bounce around like a superball! Caldera was smart in their design and there always seemed to be a place for my feet where I could brace myself gently in place. The jets were vigorous and seemed to hit me in the right places to sooth some of my worst trigger points. Margot gave us an initial orientation to the jets and diverter functions so that we knew how to control the tub, and then left us to enjoy it. She handled that perfectly in that she was helpful but not intrusive. There are a lot of hot tub salesmen in the Twin Cities who could learn from her example how to make a customer happy! After the wet test I talked with her about price. She told me the initial prices they had set for the two Cantabria models they had available without special ordering. I told her which one I was interested in and where I needed the price to be as this tub is being covered on an insurance claim and the insurance company has given me a budget. She excused herself, then came back and said they would accept my price! So I signed papers and wrote a check right then and there. I am now the proud new owner of a Caldera Cantabria with all the bells and whistles! The price Dolphin accepted is a very reasonable price for what is Caldera's flagship, top of the line, luxury tub! At so many dealerships, I would get this uneasy feeling that I was being manipulated and taken advantage of, particularly because I was a woman shopping alone it seemed. At other dealerships when I would try to negotiate with them for a spa in their luxury lines they would act very snooty and direct me to their mid-level line. There was a HotSprings salesman in particular that looked very angry at me when I tried to discuss price on their Grandee tub, and they had it tagged thousands of dollars higher than what I have read on this board is a good, honest price for a new Grandee. I will never forget that man's face! And needless to say I walked out of there and didn't bother to return. If someone is going to be angry that I will not allow myself to be taken advantage of, then I don't need to have anything to do with them. Another dealership didn't want to bargain on their price as they said the State Fair is coming up and they needed their new tubs to bring to the fair, so it wasn't worth it to them to bargain at all. I thought that was an odd way to look at the situation to say the least, especially when the fair is still 6-7 weeks away! At Dolphin, I felt like I was respected, appreciated, and given a good price and an honest deal. They seemed to be happy to treat me well! In fact, Margo described herself to me as a people person who got her job satisfaction from making people happy. Well, she did make me happy, without a doubt! Dolphin not only sold me a spa, but as a pool and spa owner they won my loyalty for purchases for years to come!

Not sure if this is the right forum or not but im a first time spa/hot tub owner and i recently just bought an old 1992 hot tub/spa and i have no clue what im needing or if i need anything at all and the other is im not sure on how to hook up all the hoses and what not. Here's what I have a 1992 ANH inground spa/hot tub, a heater, a pump, and hoses to the jets...looks like its only water hoses though not sure on that really. The control panel has three push button style controls that are currently hooked up to nothing at all since im not sure what i'm doing. Can anyone provide me with a manual for this? and maybe tell me what else i would need to get and help on how to hook it up to get the hot tub going and be able to use it? oh, and i forgot to mention that the hot tub is a 2 or three person i believe with a lounge on one side. Thanks!!!

Hi, I am thinking about buying an older model Sundance Altamar and trying to retrofit it with Sundance's new technology, such as the Fluidix jets and ClearRay system. Does anyone know the Altamar models for which this would be possible? Would it be cost effective? For example, a new 2013 Altamar in my area costs around $10,000. I see 2002 Altamar models selling for around $1,500. If I could get the total retrofitting cost to around $5,000, I'm tempted to do it. I don't know if that's possible or not. Thanks!

So the low speed jets that circulate the water and gets the water hot was working fine. Then I did test using the test trip to check chemical levels and it was high for ph so used spa down and got that to the ideal level also it was low on bromine it was a pink shade so just one less then the first ideal level so I thought I added the correct amount it said 4 teaspoons to every 200 gallon water and i think mine is 1200 gallons and I actually put in less then that maybe for like 600 gallons since it was close to the ideal level. I waited the 30 minutes I did a test again and it was at the highest level dark purple. So at that point i went and got a bucket and filled it up with water and poured it in there to dilute the water and also turned on the jest to high so it would circualte around more and lower it a little quicker. After that I waited 10 minutes and when back out I noticed the low speed pump was running but no water was circulating on that side. None of them and they valves on the jets are open. I pressed the jet button again and it went to high and still nothing. If I press the option button to turn on the other side jets they come on fine and same with the blow for doing the swimming or laps. I though maybe there was air in the line and i tried all the steps like pressing the pump buttons every 10 seconds. I also tried to bleed it using the bleeder valve it and the union nut too and even removed the filters too. I just never stuck a hose in there like one of things I saw online said. The other steps I did was in my manual and still nothing. During all these processes the display showed HH meaning the heater over heated and the censor kicked it off. I noticed to the night before the walls where the water was touching in the shell felt kind of scummy or ruff but would come off after rubbing it sum. I havent had this water in there for a long time I just got this swim spa used and was working fine and everything and looked in like brand new condition and filled a couple of days prior and was waiting for it to heat up to the correct temp I had only been in it twice before this issue but throughout the day for a total of several hourd to 5 hours for each day. When I first filled it and was heating up I had to use calcium hardness to the swim spa cause it was low and I got that to the ideal level as it matched the color. Did this happen cause I added too much bromine or what could be the problem? What about the ruff feel on the walls. Is that mean there is to much calcium? It shows it at the second shade on the ideal level or What do I need to do to get the water flowing again?

We have had a Hydropool 495 model with salt system for 2 years. It has been very fussy and hard to keep clean. I feel like we are out there every other day checking the levels and adding chemicals or taking water samples in to be checked at our local spa store. There is nothing easy about this hot tub. This past 6 months were the worst and we had to put bromine pucks in just to keep the bromine up. We thought it was broken so we had a technician come take a look and he said it's probably the phosphate levels are too high. True enough, the water test showed phosphates off the chart. Through process of elimination, we discovered our well water was to blame for the high phosphates. So we emptied the tub on Sunday, checked the well water (now 6 months since we last emptied the tub, now a different season) there are no phosphates in our well water so we filled it up and did the regime of chemicals and salt. The tub was crystal clear, beautiful smelling, just gorgeous, for the first time in 6 months, and today - 3 days later - it is green and smells of alge. We tested it, and there is no bromine in the water at all. Does this mean that the machine is broken? Has it been broken all winter long? What exactly did the technician do when we called him out here at the beginning? - Oh and it's on filter cylce 8 if that means anything. We are beyond frustrated and dissapointed with this tub. It was SO expensive to buy, and now maintenance is breaking the bank. If anyone can shed some light on this situation, it would be appreciated. Has anyone else experienced this problem with a salt tub?

Good morning, We recently purchased a home with a pool. Having never owns a pool before, we are slowly figuring it all out - or so we thought until we tried to heat up the spa for the first time last night. We have a pool with an attached spa with spillover into the pool. The spa also has a hole in the middle for a screw in fountain ( which we have taken out). With the filter on the spa fills up and spills over into the pool. With the filter off the spa drains down to pool level. Not ideal, but it has been ok - the spa always fills back up when we turn the filter on. So last night we turned the valves to what we thought we were supposed to do, turn the heater on and the jets came on and the spa heated up, BUT it slowly drained down to pool level. I have tried all morning to attach photos of our set up but can't seem to figure it out. Help on all fronts would be appreciated http://flic.kr/p/e3N5H6 http://flic.kr/p/e3N5E8 http://flic.kr/p/e3THAs I can't get them to show up as pictures, but here are links to the pictures - I hope this works....

I am building a new home at the moment and am putting in a pool at the same time. This will be my first time owning a pool and I am trying to understand what I should preemptively consider/buy now during this process. We have to use the pool company the builder has contracted with in order to have it done by close. Of course those prices are higher, so I am trying to get the most for my money. I know I could go with another pool builder, but honestly I don't want to deal with the hassle/mess afterwords! Here are a few questions I need help with: Is it easy to add on a wireless remote control for the pool? The one they are trying to give me has a price tag of over $2k. I've seen the eaxct same one online for about $600. Adding in a screen footer. We will not be getting a screen put over the pool at this time as we are overlooking a lake and have a nice wide open view. The pool guy has indicated that we put in the screen footer now so that its ready incase we add it in later. Thats about 1300. Is that a good price? I dont understand what is involved in this process to know otherwise. What kind of decking would you reccomend? I was just going to continue with the brick pavers we are using under the lanai as it is pretty massive in and of itself. We won't get our yard fenced in- aluminum fence per the HOA- until after close, but in order to meet code we need to have the child safety fence put up, which is about 130 linear feet in to cover our pool. Thats pretty massive to have to store around after the fence and other controls are put in. What do other people do with these massive fences when they are not in use? It was indicated on our paperwork that if we wanted our in floor cleaning system to work while we are in the spa, we will nedd to add an auxillary pump. Do I need to add this? Our spa will spill over into the swimming pool as a water effect when it is on. So it is necessary for the in floor system to be cleaning CONSTANTLY or when you are entertaining or sitting in the spa, its OK for it not to be "cleaning" I think we will want to add solar panels later to heat up the pool. Is that a complicated process of digging and tearing up pavers to do? Does anyone know of a way to "preplumb" for solar panels in the future? Sorry so many questions! I can't tell you how many times I heard during this entire process of building a home that it's better to "have it down now, instead of after you close", so the lines start to blur between was is really the truth and the eagerness to sell someone for commissions sake!

Hi everyone, first post here and looking for some help. I just bought a used spa that the previous owner had wired for 120v. It looks like going to 240v is a simple matter of using 240v supply. The cover for the electrical connections has 2 boxes printed on the outside: one says 240v-4 wires (N, L1, L2, G); second one says 120v-3 wires (N/L1,G). I have taken the cover of the controls off and see nothing that leads me to believe more needs to be done. Is it possible to be wired internally that just adding the second live wire will work? I have pictures, but am not sure if they can be psoted here. Thanks for reading and helping...JDanW

I have a 2001 hotsprings GRANDEE I noticed the spa was not hot enough for the girls, tried to up the temp but the display had some weird on it and wouldn't opperate, so i kicked the breaker off to reset( left off for 10 min) when system came back on there was no display @ all and the main pumps would not work the circ pump came on but thats all. i tried to test voltage on stuff all seamed ok, talked to another person who said that there was a problem with the topside ribbon cable on these spas, i unplugged all the connection to make sure there was no corrosion in the way, but again all seams good. ANY ONE HAVE THIS PROBLEM