d0n Posted August 29, 2008 Report Share Posted August 29, 2008 Hi people. I have an old 3 person tub that I've got set and will be wiring today. Can you give me any info on the tub itself... like the model or maybe the year etc etc? I am a complete hot tub newbie and have no idea what I need to do before firing this old girl up for the first time in years. Do I just fill it and turn it on? I have bromide tables and a floating dispenser. Also have a PH/acidity check kit. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. I'm in Troy NY if anyone is nearby and would like to look it over for me in person. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillbilly Hot Tub Posted August 29, 2008 Report Share Posted August 29, 2008 Have you had water in it at all to check for leaks? The shell color has not been made since the eary 90's so it is at least that old. Iy has a mechanical system, so check to see if it is set to heat thermostaccally rather than just durning filter cycles. The pins will have to be pulled out for the filer cycles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spatech (the unreal one) Posted August 29, 2008 Report Share Posted August 29, 2008 Have you had water in it at all to check for leaks? The shell color has not been made since the eary 90's so it is at least that old. Iy has a mechanical system, so check to see if it is set to heat thermostaccally rather than just durning filter cycles. The pins will have to be pulled out for the filer cycles. Putting it in place and filling with water to check for leaks would be wise before you even start the wiring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d0n Posted August 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 29, 2008 Thanks for the advice! I guess I got lucky. Wired it up, filled it up, turned it on and the old girl started purring. It seems to work well. No leaks. Water is heating up now. The function switch that controls the jet pump, heat and blower is acting weird. It doesn't work correctly all the time. I have to push it a bunch of times to get it to do what I want. I hope these switches are still availible!? It has a light lense but no light in it. I'm going to try to find one for it. The light was optional for this tub. I'm wondering if theese tubs are usually prewired for the light? So, I'll just need to find a light and hook it up? The light switch is there on the panel. Beach comber emailed me a PDF of the manual today. I emailed them this AM and a few hours later they responded. I'm impressed with their customer service. The manual is pretty sparse though. It doesn't give much info. The best part is that I got the tub for free. I spent $182 on materials for wiring it and about $1500 on the deck and the 8x8 support where the tub sits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d0n Posted August 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 29, 2008 hillbilly... It seems that the tub isn't heating up enough. I cranked the temp control on the panel to high (hot) and the heater comes on, I can hear it click on and the "heat" light on the panel comes on but it stops heating to soon. I started at 68 degrees. With the temp dial on HOT (all the way up) it heated the water to 87 degrees and then shut off. Now the "ready" light is on on the panel. I know the water should be hotter than this. I think I have all the switches in the proper positions. Any ideas? Also, if the hot tub itself has a GFCI breaker on it (which it does) another GFCI breaker between my homes panel and the hot tub is not necessary... right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d0n Posted August 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 29, 2008 upon further inspection, there is a metal probe that appears to run to the control panel. The probe end looks like it belongs in the PVC pipe that is part of the heater. It slides through a metal insert in the PVC pipe and has a rubber pug on it that fills the hole in the metal insert. I assume the probe is supposed to slide in and sit in the circulating water? When I remove the probe it is dry. I dropped the probe in a glass of ice water and the heater came right on. It's up to 97 degrees now with the probe in the ice water and the temp dail cranked all the way up. If I take the probe out of the ice water the heater goes off shortly after. Any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d0n Posted August 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 29, 2008 ANother question... the light switch and the function switch both are operated by air bursts through those 2 clear tubes? I noticed if I push the light switch I hear a click in the box under the tub so I assume the switch works fine. The "function" switch doesn't work well. The spring under the switch seems weak. It probably got a lot more use than the light switch since there is no light to switch on and off. Could I simply swap the 2 clear hoses where they enter the box (under the tub) and then use the light switch as the function switch? come on hillbilly... get back here... I need ya! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pathfinder Posted August 29, 2008 Report Share Posted August 29, 2008 You can switch the tubing around. The light assembly for that tub unscrews in the front. Did you get the little halfmoon tool with 2 small ends sticking out? There should be 2 probes one goes inside the well & the other should go in a sleeve just outside the tub shell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pathfinder Posted August 29, 2008 Report Share Posted August 29, 2008 And those little white dials are your air controls for the jets Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d0n Posted August 30, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 30, 2008 I switched the tubes around but the "function" switching didn't get better. Pushing the switch about 20-30 times usually ends up changing a function. The white dials just click. they don't seem to open or close. Like tightening a gas cap on a car... it clicks. I can hear one of them sucking in air when the tub is running. The other must be closed. But just clicks when I try to open it. I have seen one probe so far. Would both probes metal wires go to the control panel? One probe goes in the heater well (is the well a section of PVC pipe?) and the other goes in a sleeve on the tub? Would this sleeve be accessable from the tubs access door on the end of the enclosure? There's only one access door on the tub. The heater will only heat up to air temperature (85 degrees). If I stick the probe ina glass of cold water, the heater will heat the tub up to over 100 degrees. I did not notice a tool. What would it be used for? I'm amazed at how hot the water is this AM. The tub was off all night. It cooled down from about 105 to only 90 degrees! Beachcomber sent me an email this AM... I have good news and bad news for you. The good news is the tub is our shell but the controls were installed by a former company called Ocean Pacific. They use to purchase our shells a long time ago (over 15 years ago) and retrofitted their own controls onto the shell. The controls on your tub are not something we used on our tubs. They must have added the Beachcomber Logo onto your tub. Sorry but the parts on your tub is not available through Beachcomber. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillbilly Hot Tub Posted August 30, 2008 Report Share Posted August 30, 2008 Sorry , I have a life outside of work The metal probe you are talking about is suppose to be dry, it goes into a dry well and senses the water temp through that. It sounds as if you need a new Temp probe. It sounds as if your air switches have as started to go bad. The air control that is turning and not sucking in air sounds like it is stuck. Some of them can be taken off and cleaned, we cant see well enough to see which it is. Don't fret, you can get the parts you need, you just have to look. We have these parts in stock most the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d0n Posted August 30, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 30, 2008 billy thanks... the temp probe that you think I need is the thing I've been sticking in a glass of cold water to get the heater to come on? The probe that goes into the heater PVC pipe? I did swap the switch hoses again and now the light switch is acting as the function switch. It works much better but still very iffy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d0n Posted August 31, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 31, 2008 I looked on ebay and found air switches and buttons. Should I change both? How do I gain access to the control panel? I probably need to remove the cedar siding on the tub enclosure? Or maybe hire a skinny 10 year old to climb inside through the access door?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dnepr Dave Posted August 31, 2008 Report Share Posted August 31, 2008 I'd go with the skinny 10 year old, it'd make for a better story! Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d0n Posted September 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 12, 2008 I'd go with the skinny 10 year old, it'd make for a better story! Dave I opted to pop out the control panel instead of hire someone to wriggle inside the enclosure. Whoever said the air switch was bad is correct. I ended up buying a new air switch, light harness and backing plate (now I'll have a light too), filter, and len gordon control panel. $183 total parts. Now the tub is functioning like new. Thanks for the help guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d0n Posted September 22, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2008 Hey guys... My brett aqualine em203t has a 4 position sequencing switch (part number CSC1131). A TBS312 momentary switch is used to switch between the functions of the CS1131 (heat, blower, jets). I bought a new air pressure switch. The seller sent me a TBS301a LATCHING switch. I installed it thinking it was the correct switch. It did work for a short while (20 minutes) but then stopped working. After speaking with a hot tub tech and doing more research on my own, I found out I needed a momentaty switch not a latching switch. I've ordered the correct switch (tbs312). While waiting I decided to do a little testing to see if I could get the jets and blower to come on. I assumed that if I momentarily touched the 2 wires together that go to the momentary air pressure switch, the 4 position sequencing switch would advance to the next position. Nothing happened. Now, I'm thinking that by installing the incorrect tbs301a latching switch, I may have caused damage to the much more expensive CSC1131 4 position sequencing switch. What do you guys think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d0n Posted September 23, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2008 hillbilly? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeanie Posted October 18, 2008 Report Share Posted October 18, 2008 I have acquired a hot tub with this set up and I have a question. How do you work those dials? I have left it on continuous because I can't figure out how it works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeanie Posted October 18, 2008 Report Share Posted October 18, 2008 I am female and I have been setting up an independence spa the last several months. After alot of reading I am down to this question: I can't see the water intake place (I don't know what you call it... Mine looks like this the last spa I had, you reached down in there from the top (there is no top as you can see) and pulled out the filter and cleaned it and put it back in. this appears to have a catch basin only for larger stuff. I put a small filter in there that picks up some of the grease only. I don't see anywhere else that has anything that looks like a place for a filter. There is one intake screen that catches big stuff as it sucks....but some stuff gets through there (I pulled out a big leaf that was almost in). Where is this stuff going??? thanks for any answers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeanie Posted October 18, 2008 Report Share Posted October 18, 2008 the picture I put in there didn't come through. My place that looks like it should have a filter doesn't have any way of getting into it other then here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.