elav Posted December 27, 2011 Report Share Posted December 27, 2011 Hello. I have a 2002 Hotspring Spa Prodigy that the heater stopped working or is providing limited heat. The tub is currently wired 110 V and has been running well for many years. I have recently been guilty of not cleaning the filters and the other day I was doing electrical work on the house and threw the main breaker to the house. I'm guessing when I turned the breaker back on the hot tub heater isn't working properly as it was approximately 90 degrees 24 hours later. When I first looked at it there was no bubbles coming out of the bottom of the tub vent and normally the ozonator bubbles can be seen here. I cleaned the filters, unplugged the tub for an hour, tried to reset the Watkins No-Fault 6000 heater (I don't think it was tripped) and plugged it back in. Instantly the ozonator bubbles started to appear again. I'm waiting to see if the tub starts coming up to temperature but because I don't think the heater reset was tripped I have low expectations this will fix the issue. I looked at the circuit board and the "LIM OK" light was glowing green and the "HTR ON" light was glowing red and the "Control Unplugged" light was off. Can someone tell me if my tub doesn't start to heat up how I start debugging this? Can someone tell me how to measure whether the sensors are functional (resistance values I'm assuming)? Also how can I measure that the heater is getting power? I will "feel" the heater and try to determine if it is getting warmer but with the hot tub water at 80'ish degrees now it is difficult to tell (unless it is suppose to get really warm - I've never felt it in working condition). Any help is GREATLY APPRECIATED!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan.The.Spa.Man Posted December 27, 2011 Report Share Posted December 27, 2011 Hello. I have a 2002 Hotspring Spa Prodigy that the heater stopped working or is providing limited heat. The tub is currently wired 110 V and has been running well for many years. I have recently been guilty of not cleaning the filters and the other day I was doing electrical work on the house and threw the main breaker to the house. I'm guessing when I turned the breaker back on the hot tub heater isn't working properly as it was approximately 90 degrees 24 hours later. When I first looked at it there was no bubbles coming out of the bottom of the tub vent and normally the ozonator bubbles can be seen here. I cleaned the filters, unplugged the tub for an hour, tried to reset the Watkins No-Fault 6000 heater (I don't think it was tripped) and plugged it back in. Instantly the ozonator bubbles started to appear again. I'm waiting to see if the tub starts coming up to temperature but because I don't think the heater reset was tripped I have low expectations this will fix the issue. I looked at the circuit board and the "LIM OK" light was glowing green and the "HTR ON" light was glowing red and the "Control Unplugged" light was off. Can someone tell me if my tub doesn't start to heat up how I start debugging this? Can someone tell me how to measure whether the sensors are functional (resistance values I'm assuming)? Also how can I measure that the heater is getting power? I will "feel" the heater and try to determine if it is getting warmer but with the hot tub water at 80'ish degrees now it is difficult to tell (unless it is suppose to get really warm - I've never felt it in working condition). Any help is GREATLY APPRECIATED!!! If the "heater on" light is lit then there are no problems with the thermistors and there should be power to the heater. You should have 110 volts at the relay. If not then the relay board needs to be replaced. If there is 110 volts at the relay then you need to check the heater for continuity. Providing that the thermal cutoff button is not tripped the heater should read 9-15 ohms or something like that depending on the heater. My bet is on the relay board or you may have solved the problem with the hi-limit on the heater and the tub may heat. The heater will not got hot to the touch. Only way to immediately confirm that it is working is with an amp clamp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elav Posted December 27, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 27, 2011 (edited) Dan, thanks for the great information. This issue is on day 4, I'm pretty sure the tub was down to 80 degrees last night and it is reading 84 this morning. I will check those items you recommended today and will report back. Two addition questions. 1. I have a record that the tub was installed in August of 2002. How do I confirm that it is a 2002 tub if I need a new relay board? 2. Will a failed relay board provide limited heat also (I'll clean filters again today). Edited December 27, 2011 by elav Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Spa Posted December 27, 2011 Report Share Posted December 27, 2011 Post the serial number of the spa and we can determine the exact manufacturing date. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spatech (the unreal one) Posted December 27, 2011 Report Share Posted December 27, 2011 Dan, thanks for the great information. This issue is on day 4, I'm pretty sure the tub was down to 80 degrees last night and it is reading 84 this morning. I will check those items you recommended today and will report back. Two addition questions. 1. I have a record that the tub was installed in August of 2002. How do I confirm that it is a 2002 tub if I need a new relay board? 2. Will a failed relay board provide limited heat also (I'll clean filters again today). A failed relay board will mean the heater is not working at all. However, the circ pump will still work and actually can generate enough heat so that sometimes people think the heater is working partially. I've seen people accidentally only turn on one of the breakers to a Hot Spring spa leaving the heater breaker off and a couple days later the spa will be up to 80+ and that fools them into thinking the heater is working partially but in reality its just that those circ pumps transfer some heat to the water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elav Posted December 28, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2011 The serial number is HQ3D1397. Life got in the way and I wasn't able to spend any time debugging the spa today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan.The.Spa.Man Posted December 28, 2011 Report Share Posted December 28, 2011 The serial number is HQ3D1397. Life got in the way and I wasn't able to spend any time debugging the spa today. Yep...it's an '02. Turn the power off and open up the control box. If you look towards the left side where the main power wires and heater connect you may be able to see some burn marks near one of the black relays on that board. That is most likely your problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elav Posted December 29, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 29, 2011 Well, no visible burn marks but I'm only getting a measured 2 Volts from volt meter (aka zero volts). Thanks for the debug help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elav Posted January 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2012 I just installed a new heater relay board. When I removed the old board I could see the burn marks on the back side of one of the relays. Thanks for all the help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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