fibercoug Posted September 20, 2012 Report Share Posted September 20, 2012 Will it never end? I just purchased this 2000 Grandee. I got it up and running and everything seemed to be working (except the control head which I documented in a different thread). I ran the spa for a day without filters until I received new ones yesterday. I put the filter on the circulation pump standpipe last night and shortly after the spa shut down with a blinking red power light. I reset the breakers and I got the power light and ready light on. In the morning I went to start the jets and they would not work. I reset the breakers again ( I believe I did not shut them off for the required 30 seconds last night) and the jets started working but only for a couple of minutes. The power light goes off them comes back on steady. A few seconds later the ready light comes back on. The jets work again for a few minutes then shut off. This cycle continues with no change. I tried leaving the 30 amp breaker off but that did not change anything, the jets will only run a couple of minutes with it on or off. On the control board the lim light does not go off when the jets shut down but the heater light will for a few seconds then comes back on. I am leaning towards a weak circulation pump that is either not pumping enough or the thermal cut-out is clicking in. Or the limit senors are going bad but I think they could be affected by a weak circulation pump. Any Ideas. P,S, This is a great forum. There are a lot of knowledgeable people here who are willing to give their time to helping others. I thank you in advance for your advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fibercoug Posted September 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 20, 2012 Let me also add that the shut down occurs now with or without a filter installed on the gray standpipe. It did not before. I figure adding the filter changed something for the bad that wasn't corrected with the filter removed. Also, when I have the 30 amp breaker energized the system will shut down almost immediately and the power light blinks. With the 30 amp breaker off it runs a couple of minutes before shutting down and resets itself to a ready condition. I also noticed that the spa light, (the one that lights the spa in the foot well) turns off when the jets turn off. I have had trouble with the main 20 amp breaker when I set it. Sometimes it is hard to get it to stay on but when the jets turn off it does not trip the breaker. I wonder if the problems with my control head could be affecting all this. The heater is working fine. It brings the temp up to spec and keeps it there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PreservedSwine Posted September 21, 2012 Report Share Posted September 21, 2012 I tried leaving the 30 amp breaker off but that did not change anything, the jets will only run a couple of minutes with it on or off. On the control board the lim light does not go off when the jets shut down but the heater light will for a few seconds then comes back on. The high limit tripping- try a new high limit thermistor- hopefully it's just slightly out of range, and trips sooner with the heater energized. The heater is working fine. It brings the temp up to spec and keeps it there. Although- how are you getting it up to temp? Does this problem (flashing red light) only occur while the pumps are running? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fibercoug Posted September 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2012 I am not getting the flashing red light anymore. The tub heats up and holds the temp. I took the control head off and tried to directly push the buttons with no effect except the clean button will work once in a while. I put it back together and went to work with both the red and green lights on. When I came home they were off but the blue led light was on so there was power to the tub. I reset the breaker (it was not tripped) and the red and green lights came back on. Went to bed and this morning the red and green were off again and blue led on. I checked the control board and the only light on was the control head unplugged light was on. The circulation pump was running but I could not start anything else until I reset the breaker again. I just don't know if it is the control head or the board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fibercoug Posted September 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2012 I believe the control head problems are masking a weak circ pump. This morning I had the red power and green ready light on solid but nothing worked. The control box said my control head was unplugged. I took the ribbon cable off and put it back on and the power light was blinking. The unplugged light was still on. I reset the breakers the unplugged light is off and I have had the jets running for a half an hour now. So I am thinking a weak circ pump or the sensors although I took a resistance on the sensors and they came back very close to each other. I decided to call in a tech from Olympic Hot Tub who is the Puget Sounds dealer for Hot Springs. Anyone had any dealings with them? They seem to be pretty good from the reviews. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PreservedSwine Posted September 25, 2012 Report Share Posted September 25, 2012 "Control Unplugged" indicates a communication failure. While you may have a weak circ pump as well, that is not a failure that would cause the "control unplugged" led to illuminate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fibercoug Posted September 25, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 25, 2012 I agree PreservedSwine. I believe my control head is toast as well as my circulation pump is weak. I have a tech coming Wednesday to repair and I will report what he finds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fibercoug Posted September 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 30, 2012 Update: as promised. Well, I believe I have the problem solved, at least I hope. The tech came out and confirmed the control head was bad and replaced it. I now was able to control the tub from the control head. But the tub continued to reset itself much like when you hit the reset on your computer. The resets would eventually lead to either the red light flashing or control head unplugged even when the new control head was in place. The tech could think of nothing that could effect the board like this so his solution was to install a new control box. Since he did not have one with him he came back the next day with the new control box. But before he installed it he thought about trying unplugging the aux panel to see if that was the problem. (I want to give credit to the tech David from Olympic Hot Tub for not wanting to run up the bill. I was very impressed with him for trying to save the customer money rather than just ringing up a sale.) The tub ran for half an hour while he was there but 15 minutes after he left it started resetting again. I then started experimenting and eventually hit upon unplugging the Del T3 ozone generator. Since then the tub has not reset itself. Something in the ozone generator was causing a short and resetting the tub. Not sure why the GFCI was not tripping (I will replace that also) but I am happy so far that my tub is operating normal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PreservedSwine Posted October 1, 2012 Report Share Posted October 1, 2012 Update: as promised. Well, I believe I have the problem solved, at least I hope. The tech came out and confirmed the control head was bad and replaced it. I now was able to control the tub from the control head. But the tub continued to reset itself much like when you hit the reset on your computer. The resets would eventually lead to either the red light flashing or control head unplugged even when the new control head was in place. The tech could think of nothing that could effect the board like this so his solution was to install a new control box. Since he did not have one with him he came back the next day with the new control box. But before he installed it he thought about trying unplugging the aux panel to see if that was the problem. (I want to give credit to the tech David from Olympic Hot Tub for not wanting to run up the bill. I was very impressed with him for trying to save the customer money rather than just ringing up a sale.) The tub ran for half an hour while he was there but 15 minutes after he left it started resetting again. I then started experimenting and eventually hit upon unplugging the Del T3 ozone generator. Since then the tub has not reset itself. Something in the ozone generator was causing a short and resetting the tub. Not sure why the GFCI was not tripping (I will replace that also) but I am happy so far that my tub is operating normal. Don't get mad at the tech- that happens so infrequently most tech's won't bother testing for that type of failure. Well done! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fibercoug Posted October 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2012 I was not upset with the tech at all. I understood that this had to be a very infrequent event. I contacted Del Ozone to let them know their ozonator was causing this kind of problem and let techs know it was a possiblitly. I was only giving Del some information and not looking for anything back from them. Del responded by offering to send me a new MCD-50 ozonator free of charge even though mine was out of warranty by a year. I am very impressed that they would stand behind their product like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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