Hot Spring 115Volt Hot Tub Burned Wiring..

[permamonkey]

So I have an older hot tub, this summer I got around to sealing it up as it had a small leak. It holds water great now! So I filled it up, ran the jets, turned on the heater. The breaker kept tripping, so I unplugged the heater from the hot tub control board and it stopped tripping the breaker. After inspecting the wire I noticed it had started to burn slightly. I am unsure whether this had happened a long time ago or recently. I purchased the hot tub used and used it one winter and it has sat for one winter. Fortunately for me I found a website that carries the correct heater element to replace if I have to go that route. I although I would strongly prefer not to do it. The heater got hot and ran for about 3 minutes before it tripped the breaker, now it trips it instantly.

Here's a link to the replacement parts for my hot tub, it appears a heater element is 100+! Replacement heater for all 110 volt 1980-1994 Hot Spring spa models.

I have several questions...

1) Do I have to replace the element? Is that what is causing the cord to burn? How do I test to see if the element is bad?

2) Since the cord is burned at the end and consistently tripping the breaker, could I just rewire a new plug onto the cord? It appears as though the cord attaches directly to the element.

3) If I could just replace the plug at the end of the cord, where could I find another plug like the one that was burned? It appears this may be the correct wiring/plug although it is made for a Watkins jet pump. http://www.backyardplus.com/proddetail.php?prod=10409&cat=94

To clarify this cord is running from the heater to the hottub control board(or whatever the correct term would be).

[Dan.The.Spa.Man]

So I have an older hot tub, this summer I got around to sealing it up as it had a small leak. It holds water great now! So I filled it up, ran the jets, turned on the heater. The breaker kept tripping, so I unplugged the heater from the hot tub control board and it stopped tripping the breaker. After inspecting the wire I noticed it had started to burn slightly. I am unsure whether this had happened a long time ago or recently. I purchased the hot tub used and used it one winter and it has sat for one winter. Fortunately for me I found a website that carries the correct heater element to replace if I have to go that route. I although I would strongly prefer not to do it. The heater got hot and ran for about 3 minutes before it tripped the breaker, now it trips it instantly.

Here's a link to the replacement parts for my hot tub, it appears a heater element is 100+! Replacement heater for all 110 volt 1980-1994 Hot Spring spa models.

I have several questions...

1) Do I have to replace the element? Is that what is causing the cord to burn? How do I test to see if the element is bad?

2) Since the cord is burned at the end and consistently tripping the breaker, could I just rewire a new plug onto the cord? It appears as though the cord attaches directly to the element.

3) If I could just replace the plug at the end of the cord, where could I find another plug like the one that was burned? It appears this may be the correct wiring/plug although it is made for a Watkins jet pump. http://www.backyardplus.com/proddetail.php?prod=10409&cat=94

To clarify this cord is running from the heater to the hottub control board(or whatever the correct term would be).

You can test the heater element by setting a multimeter to ohms and checking continuity of the element and current leakage to ground. Between the two round prongs (on the plug end) you should get a number between 9-14. Can't remember exactly.

You will probably find your problem when you check the ground. Put one meter lead on 1 of the round prongs and the other lead on the flat ground prong. It should read "Open Line" O.L. or 0. If it reads any regular numbers then it's bad.

Also, you may have another problem. If the heater got hot and was tripping the hi-limit button then you either had an air-lock or the circ pump is bad. I would try to determine if the circ pump is pushing water now before you order an element or do anything else.

[Spa_Guru]

Quite often the cause of melted wiring in a 120 volt tub can be traced to someone using an extension cord to hook it up, or having it on a non-dedicated curcuit.

Once you get it operational, test the voltage where your cord connects to the power pack with and without everything running, you are looking for a voltage drop of less than 2%.

[Str8rippin]

Bad power point causing a hot spot arc, between the pin and the contact, replace the outlet, make sure the screws are tight, replace the plug, should be fine if not

Your breaker is not rated correctly to the cable, source = A-Grade electrician

[permamonkey]

Fantastic replies, thanks for the extremely informative information. I finally had some free time and purchased a multimeter, figured it would be useful outside this application as well. I tested the heating element and came up with a 9.2 or something, so it passed that test. It also read zero when I checked the ground, so its all good there. So what do these tests mean? From what I understand it means the heater is OK, yet I will need to replace the wire and receptacle.

Whats the best way to tell if the circ pump is working or not? I do believe I forgot to purge the system upon refilling it. After reading on line I tried to use the garden hose to push water through the filter standpipes? but couldn't for the life of me tell if it was working or not. I also noticed many websites talking about the circ pumps having a bleed screw, mines a watkins and I could not find one anywhere.

Also my hot tub is a Hot springs classic f-341689.

Whats my next step, other then replacing the receptacle and heater cord?

To clarify the jets work perfect, the pump that works the jets is great!