Hotsprings

[Dr. Hot Tub]

Hello everyone. I am now getting a huge number of repair jobs for Watkins products and I rarely work on them since I have had very little experience with them. Does anyone have charts for instance to help me determine what is wrong with the sensors or heater as far as what resistance values I should be getting. I do not want to be a "part replacer" and would rather know them backwards and forwards like I do for Gecko and Balboa. If you have their info on repair I would love it and appreciate it and I know my customers would even more.

Thank you in advance!

[ps558]

Hello everyone. I am now getting a huge number of repair jobs for Watkins products and I rarely work on them since I have had very little experience with them. Does anyone have charts for instance to help me determine what is wrong with the sensors or heater as far as what resistance values I should be getting. I do not want to be a "part replacer" and would rather know them backwards and forwards like I do for Gecko and Balboa. If you have their info on repair I would love it and appreciate it and I know my customers would even more.

Thank you in advance!

There is nothing available to non dealers. It states in all thier paperwork that information cannot be shared. You can call the tech support and they will help you though.

There control system are not as high tech as Gecko or Balboa as far as giving error codes, but they are very similiar to gecko stuff. I have tried a balboa sensor in a watkins pack for fun and it worked and the temp reading was only 3 degrees different. If the sensors have a ohm reading they are still working and if pressure switch is good, the spa should run. That is about it, nothing fancy about them. The rest if just pumps, and heaters.

You might have hard time getting replacement electronic parts, Horizon spa parts has some heaters as well as no fault heater and the pumps are like Aqua Flo XP2 pumps and all the older models use same circ pump Laing make. I think they are in the top 5 of miserable control bays to work on in my opinion

[imnay]

There is nothing available to non dealers. It states in all thier paperwork that information cannot be shared. You can call the tech support and they will help you though.

There control system are not as high tech as Gecko or Balboa as far as giving error codes, but they are very similiar to gecko stuff. I have tried a balboa sensor in a watkins pack for fun and it worked and the temp reading was only 3 degrees different. If the sensors have a ohm reading they are still working and if pressure switch is good, the spa should run. That is about it, nothing fancy about them. The rest if just pumps, and heaters.

You might have hard time getting replacement electronic parts, Horizon spa parts has some heaters as well as no fault heater and the pumps are like Aqua Flo XP2 pumps and all the older models use same circ pump Laing make. I think they are in the top 5 of miserable control bays to work on in my opinion

I was able to get Watkins tech support - GREAT support, BTW - to send me plumbing diagrams for our Prodigy but we're owners.

HotSprings approved components like pumps and heaters control panels and etc. that are true to spec and approved by HotSprings can be found at www.backyardplus.com so you don't need to try and substitute other maker parts and try to make do.

Piece parts for those components like contactors and rectifiers and relays also available at that site and probably specific circuit boards.

You don't need a schematic (though it's helpful) to test the values of various electronic components on curcuit boards - just a good multimeter, as I'm sure you know.

SINCERELY No offense intended but the question begs the suggestion that maybe these folks calling the authorized HotSprings dealer probably the best bet for a HotSprings spa owner and I wonder why owners in your area aren't going there. Maybe the area dealers aren't the best.

Just my personal experience when we decided to rehab our Prodigy the local "wanna be" spa guy (great guy, honest and highly recommended in our community) came by and it quickly became evident that I was as comfortable in the motor compartment as he was and he had no clue re the innards of the control box.

Nearby dealer sent a great tech who was more than fair on labor charges (spent almost five hours and charged for the service call plus only one hour) and did a TON of re plumbing and part replacement where warranted - We were VERY satisfied and impressed.

Maybe if our local HotSprings (Watkins) dealer was a total loser I'd consider an independent and sincere best of luck with your search for tech manuals for HotSprings/Watkins spas.

[JerimiahR]

Contact Watkins Manufacturing Tech Support. I'm sure they'll be more than willing to help you through any of your repairs. They've been very, very good to us as a Hot Spring dealer.

Watkins Manufacturing

1-800-999-4688

[Dr. Hot Tub]

Thanks everyone. I have worked on a few hundred of them already and was looking for exact info on ohm readings etc. The local dealership would have been mind recently if I had known they were for sale. They are very expensive and very much behind in everything so I am getting a lot of their business. A tub is a tub of course but there are so many boards that give different readings at various points. I am getting into circuit board repair now and amazed at how many Hotsprings heater boards I already have in a short period of doing this.

Backyards is great for retail parts but I have several dealers across the country that sell me parts at 10% above cost.

It's just no one wants to give up the instructional stuff for fear of getting sued. Next month I will havea computer that can read all circuit boards so it will no longer be an issue.