Trouble With Heating

[chunkachange]

We just bought a used '95 Hot Springs Jetsetter that is in very good condition. We set it up yesterday and it heated up to 98 degrees overnight, but it wouldn't budge after that. Have had the heat switch all the way up and it won't cycle for heat at all now. You can hear the "click" when you turn the heat switch to low or high but it just won't heat any more than 98 degrees. Any ideas what could be wrong?

Thanks in advance for any help!

[Chas]

We just bought a used '95 Hot Springs Jetsetter that is in very good condition. We set it up yesterday and it heated up to 98 degrees overnight, but it wouldn't budge after that. Have had the heat switch all the way up and it won't cycle for heat at all now. You can hear the "click" when you turn the heat switch to low or high but it just won't heat any more than 98 degrees. Any ideas what could be wrong?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Yes, most likely the flter is just dirty. That is by far the leading casue of a HotSpring tub not getting to the desired temp. One of your filters feeds the little circ pump - that is the one to clean. It is on the gray tube - the others are white. Not the caps, the tube.

It is possible that the heater has tripped it's reset - if equipped - or the GFI breaker for the heater has tripped - if this tub is wired for 220 volts, or the heater may have failed. If the spa is 110volts you may simply not be waiting long enough - it only does 2-3 degrees per hour, but that's only with the lid closed and left alone.

The circ pump will hold the spa in the upper nineties all by itself, but it takes it a couple of days to get the temp up to that point, so your heater must have worked for several hours at least.

Your spa was built with a "Cartridge Heater" which has no reset button, and is now replaced with another heater type. If your tub still has the original heater, then it may be as simple as cleansing the filters real well or putting in new ones to get the flow back up because the Cart. Heater has a flow switch.

If the heater has been updated/replaced, it may have a reset button. Find it and push it, but unfortunately the heater will have to be below 90 degress to reset. Shut off the power and wait a couple of hours for the heater to cool - you can't have the power on because the circ pump will continue to move nice warm water from the spa through the heater, so close the lid on the spa but turn off the power and wait if you do have a reset button.

Turn the temp setting back down. Your spa will not heat any faster with the dial all the way up, in fact if you simply haven't given it enough time and you leave the temp setting at the top, then you run the risk of the temp hitting an uncomfortable point in the middle of the night. At that point you may trip a high limit )power light starts to flash) or you may just have to wait for the thing to cool off. Try to figure out where the knob was from the previous owners and start with it there.

BTW - 'cleaning' a filter means soaking it in a filter-cleaning solution or using a spray-on instant filter cleaner. What most people do is called "rinsing" the filter which is simply hosing it off. You may only need to rinse, but if you did not purchase new filters with your used tub you might consider doing so now, or at the very least cleaning them. If you don't want to replace all the filters, get one and put it on the gray tube.

[chunkachange]

Thanks for the reply....we've done some work since but the problem still exists...here's the latest;

1. We replaced the heater; verified the part number with hot springs

2. Replaced the high limit thermistor on the outlet side of the new heater

3. Retained original thermistor on inlet side of heater and control thermistor on outlet line of heater

4. Replaced all 3 filters with brand new ones

Spa temp climbed 3-4 degrees per hour consistently during the reheat process. Upon reaching 98 degrees, the heat circulation pump continued to run perpetually for an additional 24 hours with no additional increase in heat. It appears the circ pump is responding to a "call for heat" by running constantly, but the heater is not fulfilling this call. I am guessing that some control unit is shutting the heating element off or some such thing (not at all sure at this point).

Temperature control knob is currently set at 10 (max) and it never gets past 98 degrees. This is a 110V, Hotsprings Jetsetter (1995).

Any additional troubleshooting help you can give would be incredibly appreciated.

Thanks!!

[paintnsunni]

I thought the spa has a 24 hour "silent flow" circ pump that doesen't come on just for heat but a indepedent system.. have you cleaned and or replaced filters? the reson I asked is that on a spa of my neighbors we hosed off the pleats with no success but on advice of filter company we soaked the filters overnight then hosed them off and now all is good again. his was a low flow issue not heat. does this heater perhaps have a high limt sensor/switch outside the heater you can troubleshoot?

[Dr. Spa]

have you cleaned and or replaced filters?

That was his 4th item on the list.

[chunkachange]

yup - we replaced all three filters and to clear up any confusion, the spa does have a 24 hour circ pump. however, a previous owner of this spa installed an additional control box with a timer. we just discovered this timer when i was changing out the heater. both the circ pump and heater plug into it - which makes me now think that i should bypass this controller temporarily to see if it's not playing a roll in the low heat issue.

[XiRoCCo]

alright - got my own account here... my wife was chunkofchange - but i posted the past 2 entries on her account.

so i disconnected the timer unit and let the spa run for over 12 hours now and it's sitting at a tepid 97 degrees.

anyone have any more troubleshooting ideas that i might try at this point?

thanks for your help!

--kevin

[Stevie]

alright - got my own account here... my wife was chunkofchange - but i posted the past 2 entries on her account.

so i disconnected the timer unit and let the spa run for over 12 hours now and it's sitting at a tepid 97 degrees.

anyone have any more troubleshooting ideas that i might try at this point?

thanks for your help!

--kevin

Could it be a bad temperature probe?

Chas/Doc...fix this "quote" issue will ya? ;-)

[XiRoCCo]

Could it be a bad temperature probe?

I replaced the hi-limit probe (thermistor), but have not considered the inlet probe or the control probe. i did bypass the control probe the other day with a bypass plug i have. still no luck. are there other probes i am missing (or did i misunderstand your question)??

thanks,

--kevin

[mickdund]

I replaced the hi-limit probe (thermistor), but have not considered the inlet probe or the control probe. i did bypass the control probe the other day with a bypass plug i have. still no luck. are there other probes i am missing (or did i misunderstand your question)??

thanks,

--kevin

Try pulling your thermostat bulb away from heater tube.

[XiRoCCo]

Try pulling your thermostat bulb away from heater tube.

i replaced the thermistat and intake thermistor and the tub is working great. thanks