bcm Posted December 11, 2006 Report Share Posted December 11, 2006 I've got a heater that uses 2 4000w elements in it and one day it decided to not heat the water at all. I've checked the voltage at both elements and its getting ~230v. The only thing I can find wrong is that it's only drawing about 10 amps but the resistance across both of them is around 12 ohms so I thought that meant they were still good. I'm trying to pull them and see what kind of condition they are in but it's not really cooperating at the moment. Seems really strange both of them would go out at the same time. Any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brulan1 Posted December 11, 2006 Report Share Posted December 11, 2006 I've got a heater that uses 2 4000w elements in it and one day it decided to not heat the water at all. I've checked the voltage at both elements and its getting ~230v. The only thing I can find wrong is that it's only drawing about 10 amps but the resistance across both of them is around 12 ohms so I thought that meant they were still good. I'm trying to pull them and see what kind of condition they are in but it's not really cooperating at the moment. Seems really strange both of them would go out at the same time. Any ideas? The first thing I check is water level. If not, than make sure your filter is not too old and replace accordingly. Just take the filter out and see if it heats. If not than mabye a sensor and if worse comes worse new heater. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcm Posted December 11, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2006 Sorry, I was measuring the current wrong, both heating elements seem to be getting enough power. I took out the filter and still no heat. I'm measuring the voltage at the terminals on the heating elements so there shouldn't be anything wrong with the sensors right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfish Posted December 12, 2006 Report Share Posted December 12, 2006 Sorry, I was measuring the current wrong, both heating elements seem to be getting enough power. I took out the filter and still no heat. I'm measuring the voltage at the terminals on the heating elements so there shouldn't be anything wrong with the sensors right? If you have 220v across the terminals of your heater and there is no hot water coming out then the heater is bad. If there is 220v present i can think of no other reason the heater is not working. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iveywk Posted December 12, 2006 Report Share Posted December 12, 2006 The first thing I would do is see if your filter is plugged. Like the above poster said, pull the filter and see if the tub starts to heat. I'm pretty sure just about every spa has some type of pressure switch, or flow switch, so if your filter is plugged, its not getting enough water going through the heater, and it won't turn on. Its a safety measure so you won't burn up the heater. If the heating element is shot then (on the spas that I sell at least) when the spa calls for heat it tries to turn on the heater and trips the breaker. So what your describing sounds like either a plugged up filter, or a bad pressure/flow switch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfish Posted December 12, 2006 Report Share Posted December 12, 2006 The first thing I would do is see if your filter is plugged. Like the above poster said, pull the filter and see if the tub starts to heat. I'm pretty sure just about every spa has some type of pressure switch, or flow switch, so if your filter is plugged, its not getting enough water going through the heater, and it won't turn on. Its a safety measure so you won't burn up the heater. If the heating element is shot then (on the spas that I sell at least) when the spa calls for heat it tries to turn on the heater and trips the breaker. So what your describing sounds like either a plugged up filter, or a bad pressure/flow switch. In that case there would not be 220v across the terminals for the heater. All of the safety features prevent 220v from being sent to the terminals of the heater. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcm Posted December 12, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2006 Thanks for the suggestions. I couldn't understand why I was getting resistance and voltage at the heating element but yet no heat, just wasn't logical. After poking around for quite awhile it seems there was just a little too much rust around the connectors and it was preventing it from flowing through the element. It was getting bare metal on metal but I guess just not enough. Anyway it's heating a little now, although it tops out at around 85 degrees so I'm going to go buy a socket and try to pull them out and see what kind of shape they're in. Anyone know what size socket I need for a 5500w element for a hayward/comfortzone? Looks somewhere in the neighborhood of 1 3/4" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brulan1 Posted December 13, 2006 Report Share Posted December 13, 2006 Thanks for the suggestions. I couldn't understand why I was getting resistance and voltage at the heating element but yet no heat, just wasn't logical. After poking around for quite awhile it seems there was just a little too much rust around the connectors and it was preventing it from flowing through the element. It was getting bare metal on metal but I guess just not enough. Anyway it's heating a little now, although it tops out at around 85 degrees so I'm going to go buy a socket and try to pull them out and see what kind of shape they're in. Anyone know what size socket I need for a 5500w element for a hayward/comfortzone? Looks somewhere in the neighborhood of 1 3/4" The only other suggestion I could of given was that the tub was dry firing. If that is the case fill the water in through the filter area to fill the lines first. If you see rust and you use bromide just be more speculative with your PH levels because when you use bromine your PH becomes very volitile. Good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chas Posted December 22, 2006 Report Share Posted December 22, 2006 The only other suggestion I could of given was that the tub was dry firing. If that is the case fill the water in through the filter area to fill the lines first. If you see rust and you use bromide just be more speculative with your PH levels because when you use bromine your PH becomes very volitile. Good luck Actually, if you have measured 230 volts at the elements, then the control system would be working fine. But 10 amps is only about half what they should draw - let's see: 10amps multiplied by 230 volts would only equal 2300 watts. 12 ohms is the right ballpark for those elements. Are you sure you have 230 volts and not 120? A dropped hot wire or bad connection could keep them cold but still show voltage on a sesnitive digital meter. One final item - are you waiting long enough? 4000 watts should do about 5 degrees per hour on a 500 gallon tub, less with really cold water, and more as it gets up to temp. So if you haven't waited at least 6 or 8 hours... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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