Hot Springs Envoy Shuts Off - Help!

[n8leon]

Greetings,

we have been struggling with this issue since last Sep.

It has happened every time we use it, for a total of about 10-12 times.

The symptoms:

------------

The jets go out first, about 30 seconds later the interior light goes out, and then about five seconds later the control panel goes dark. i.e. seems like a very purposeful shutdown process

The control panel then goes to a flashing red power light and nothing else is on or works.

Actually, the blue light over the control panel continues to work.

The circulation pump (bubbles) also continues to work.

Sometimes it takes several hours to happen, but sometimes <10 minutes.

Most of the times, I have been in the tub, with the lights on & the jets running.

Yesterday, it happened with the hot tub closed up for the first time.

(hasn't been used in a week)

Can't say for sure, but increasing the water temperature (to force the heaters on) seems to exacerbate the problem.

Toggling the 30 amp breaker for jet pumps will remedy the problem temporarily.

Tried / Tested / verified:

-------------------------

Had the heater/control board replaced. (Oct)

Had the hi-limit thermistor replaced. (Nov)

Waxed filter compartment door with a candle.

Connections to control board are solid.

Today I put a video camera on the filter compartment door, turned on the lights, all the jets, and cranked up the heat. Reviewed the video to confirm filter compartment door was open and water was flowing well at time of shutoff.

Cleaned all the filters.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks,

n8

[n8leon]

sorry about the formatting - not sure why all of my CR/LFs were stripped?!

n8

[PreservedSwine]

sorry about the formatting - not sure why all of my CR/LFs were stripped?!n8

When the red light starts flashing- look on the IQ2020 circuitboard trouble lights- is "control unplugged" lit? What about "lim ok?"

[n8leon]

OK, next time it happens, I will open it up and have a look.

Speaking of that, I opened it up yesterday, and put a video camera on the main board,

to see if I could see anything unusual when it happens.

After well over an hour, it hadn't happened.

This is the 2nd time for this experiment with the same no-fail result.

That makes me wonder if I have a heat issue.

The AC/DC converter was quite hot, but I imagine that could be normal.

Thanks for the reply!

n8

[n8leon]

When the red light starts flashing- look on the IQ2020 circuitboard trouble lights- is "control unplugged" lit? What about "lim ok?"

Just made it happen, and checked the lights: both of them are OFF after this occurs.

(only took a few minutes after running everything including the heat up to 102)

I know the "LIM OK" was ON and "Control Unplugged" was OFF yesterday

while I was waiting for it to happen.

Does that imply my hi-limit thermistor is bad still/again,

or are there other reasons for LIM OK to go out?

Thanks,

n8

[PreservedSwine]

When the red light starts flashing- look on the IQ2020 circuitboard trouble lights- is "control unplugged" lit? What about "lim ok?"

Just made it happen, and checked the lights: both of them are OFF after this occurs.

(only took a few minutes after running everything including the heat up to 102)

I know the "LIM OK" was ON and "Control Unplugged" was OFF yesterday

while I was waiting for it to happen.

Does that imply my hi-limit thermistor is bad still/again,

or are there other reasons for LIM OK to go out?

Thanks,

n8

Good work- you've narrowed it down to the thermistor. Now- you need to determine if it's a bad thermistor- OR - discover if the water in the heater actually overheating.

It's pretty doubtful you'd get a bad thermistor- but you'll need an OHM meter to rule it out. It's a bit more likely you have a flow issue- either a bad circ pump, or dirty filter, or perhaps even some hardness buildup either in the heater, or somewhere in the circ plumbing.

[n8leon]

Is there a good way to narrow it down between the circ pump vs. the plumbing?

The unit is coming up on 8 years - is it typical for the pump to start failing?

Would that be consistent with the fact that it fails every time with everything running

but has only shutdown once (in over 6 months) when the tub was not in use?

Thanks for the guidance!

n8

[PreservedSwine]

Rule out a slightly clogged filter- try removing the circ pump filter (The one with the open standpipe) and see if the problem vanishes.

[n8leon]

I pulled the circ pump filter this past Monday, and the "moto-massage" instantly started working dramatically better,

so that is pretty compelling!

Also, I cranked up the heat to 102 and ran both jet pumps for over 30 min, and no shut down. :-)

I didn't expect that was going to work, since I had just cleaned the filters a few weeks ago.

On the other hand, I can't remember when I replaced this filter last. (we use a paper filter on the circ pump)

I will be buying a new filter this weekend.

I'm pretty convinced that is it, especially given the moto-massage, but I'll report back in a month or two.

Thanks so much!

n8

[technituber29]

Make sure that you are cleaning the filters with a chemical filter cleaner. Taking a hose to them or sticking them in the dishwasher will never remove all the body oils and cosmetics and such. Also I would recommend that you unscrew the lil round cover on the heater return/drain in the bottom of the tub in the foot well. Sometimes scale can build up here and restrict your water flow. Which would explain why your spa is going into an over heat or high limit condition and locks up on you. If you do see a bunch of white scale come flying out of the pipe when you do this run to your dealer and pick up a bottle of metal and scale control. Add the entire bottle and let it run through the entire spa for 24 hours at the highest temperature you can achieve and then drain. Then when the new water is in there use the metal and scale as prescribed according to the back of the bottle.