Sundance Not Working At All

[capecodtodd]

Hello. I am new here. I have been reading posts by other folks in regards to fixing hot tub problems but I haven't had any luck fixing mine following the advice.

My Tub is a Sundance 850 Series Capri. I believe it is a 2004. We got it free 4 years ago when clients moved from their house and didn't want to take it with them. After building a deck, hiring a electrician and a crane crew it was hardly free but still.. The tub is like new. We have used it off and on since then. 2 weeks ago I started it back up after near 6 months of sitting. Yes it was winterised and all was good.

The hot tub was working fine for several days then one day I checked on it and saw the OH over heat message on the screen but the water wasn't hot jsut warm. Sounded like a heat sensor temp problem. I shut off the power at the breaker turned it back on and the tub was fine. This happened 2 more times so on a nice day I pulled the panel to see and feel if something was indeed getting hot. Nothing seemed out of whack. With the panel off I turned the power back on and nothing.

The problem now is I am not getting a code or even the ---- ? I grabbed my multi meter and checked power at the circuit breaker then where it comes into the tub then followed the wires through a few connections and the power was good. The volts hadn't dropped from the breaker. Where there was a drop was when the 122volts went into then out of a row of 3 small black boxes. The black wire and the red wire heads over to the heater and registered about 6.5 volts. Is that right?

The main wire going into the board read 122 volts. I also tried disconnecting the heater from the terminals but still noting happened. I thought if that was fried it might be tripping everything else.

I also had a look at the capacitors and tried the hairdryer trick on them like I read on this forum and no luck there.

Nothing on the board looks burnt, broken, swollen or cracked?

This board has 5 fuzes and the power on both sides of each of them is the same so I would think they are not burned out since power is geting through. I also pulled each one to check the OHMs. I'm thinking if they were burned out they wouldn't register when current is passed through them.

I'm at the end of my wits and the next step is to drain it, put the cover back on and forget I once had a nice tub.

Any suggestions?

Thank you

Todd

[capecodtodd]

Any thoughts on what might be wrong?

[capecodtodd]

does it sound like a fried board? This is really bugging me and I bet it is something simple. Any ideas or a direction someone can point me in?

[Roger]

Some Sundance tubs have a lockout switch on the inside of the panel that covers the equipment bay. Do you see one of those?

[capecodtodd]

Thank you for responding Spa Guru. By "lockout" do you mean a physical switch that will turn the hotub off if the electrical panel is opened or do you mean the "lockout" which is programmable for unauthorised use? I do not see any switch. There is nothing shown on the display like a locked symbol. Like the tub the display is dead. I have had the big outside panel off while the tub is running but I can't remember if I have had the electrical service panel cover off while it was running. I'm going to put it back on just in case.

I checked the volts again and I have 124 coming into the panel and going through the big BUSS fuse. I have 5 volts in 2 wires a red and black going to the heater. This seems like it is correct for the heater but looking at a wiring diagram shouldn't I have 240 volts coming in from the breaker box?

I'm starting to wonder when I flipped the breaker which is outside near the tub, if it didn't do something to one of the 2 breakers set up for the tub in the main electrical box inside the house? That was one of the first things I checked to see if they were popped which they were not.

I think the tub is getting half the power it should be getting.

[Roger]

Yes you should have 240 volts coming in to the tub. But you will measure it as 120 volts on the red and 120 volts on the black of a 4 wire system with white being common and of course green/copper as ground. On a 3 wire system you will not have a common (white)

And yes I was thinking there would be a switch that opens when you took a panel off. But yours may not have it. Can't remember which do.

[capecodtodd]

Yes it is a 3 wire system. According to my multi meter the red has 124 volts and the black has 124. So that is good.

There is not a switch that activates when the panel is off.

Tracing the power wires the juice is getting through all the fuses. When the 120 goes through a row of 3 "blocks" which I assume step down the power that heads to the heater supplying 5 volts to that. Is that right? I believe it is. just in case I disconnected the heater but still nothing.

My display panel is dead showing nothing not even the "----"

Since I cannot see anything obvious like a swollen capacitor on the front the next step might be to take the board out and have a look on the backside of it.

The last thing I want to do is call a expensive technician out. I'm not ready to admit defeat but I need a direction.

Thanks.

[Dr. Spa]

Yes it is a 3 wire system. According to my multi meter the red has 124 volts and the black has 124. So that is good.

Ahhhh, no. All that tells you is there's at least one lag of power working. It doesn't tell you if there's 240v going to the spa.

http://www.rhtubs.com/info/220-110-testing.htm

Be sure to click on the pictorial instructions (then the "next" buttons)

[capecodtodd]

I think I found the issue. I tested both wires according to the directions Dr Spa supplied and guess what I believe I have a bad leg. I tested the power coming from the main house panel and it is 240 on both wires BUT coming out of the breaker at the tub it is not. Measured indivually both wires test at 120 but together nothing. I think my original OH problem led to the bigger problem of the bad breaker.

I'm going to get a new breaker today and will let you guys know the results.

THANKS!

[Dr. Spa]

You could do a quick test by bypassing the breaker at the hot tub (BE SURE TO TURN OFF THE BREAKER AT THE HOUSE PANEL BEFORE BYPASSING THE BREAKER AT THE SPA)

[capecodtodd]

No luck in picking up a new breaker. Tried HD and 2 hardware stores but they didn't carry the 240v 60 amp. I will have to try a electrical supply this coming week.

Looked into bypassing the breaker to test it but the wires are not long enough in the box.

Thanks Dr Spa.

[n1oty]

Plus, if the outside breaker is your GFCI (not sure if it is), you do not want to bypass that. Better to wait until you get a replacement. Also, this would be a good time to remove the defective breaker and check for melting or charring, both in the panel and the base of the breaker. If there are signs of warping, melting or charring, replace the outside box as well as the breaker.

John

[capecodtodd]

Ok finally found a 240v 60 amp breaker.. $30 bucks! Installed it and the tub is now working! So now I will need to keep an eye on the original problem of the intermittent Over Heating message on the display.

Thanks to all who pointed me in the right direction for the solution. It was unexpected that one problem would lead to another with no real connection at all. Lesson learned that it could happen.