Newbie Spa Owner Question

[davecason]

Hi Gang,

I just had a friend give me their old hot tub - it's a Coast Spa up here in Canada. I think it's made by Northwest Spas tho .....

Northwests Model Number is a KNDH-40 ..... I think they got it in 2009. They say they drained it and then left it alone but

it hasn't run for a year and a half. Doh !

I just hooked it up and filled it two days ago - the static test seems happy and I just energized it today. However, the control

panel is showing ICE and Pr for prime but when I try to turn on the pumps the relay is working but the pumps don't turn on at all.

If you power up the tub both pump lights come on, always ..... if I turn off pump one press 2'xs it comes back on. The same goes

for pump 2 if you press the keypad to turn it off it comes back on as well.

So my newbie guess is: either they're not getting power or they're frozen up or seized, so my main question is:

Can they be tested while in the spa or will I have to pull the pumps to check?

Pump one at the back is a Waterways PF-30-2N22C and the one at the front is a Waterways Executive 56.

The control system is a Balboa CS504SZU.

I guess if I have to pull the pumps close the shutter gates in the lines and pull it out and try to bench test it?

Any suggestions? I did put a meter on all the fuses and they're happy. Do you think I should check for power

at the panel plugs in the Balboa control? Any other suggestions are welcome since I'm a newbie hot tub owner ......

Cheers'

Dave

[davecason]

Hi,

Does anyone know the start up procedure for a Northwinds spa? A friend of mine suggested that it might be priming and just leave it for ten minutes.

When I power it up both pump lights on the control panel come on by themselves and they CAN'T be turned off. If you try to turn pump 1 off with two

button presses it will go off for a few seconds and then the light comes back on. Button two does the same thing but it only takes one press to turn it off.

It's also displaying the word ICE but the temps have been well above freezing and the side access panel was open to a 20 deg sun for 2 days.

The manual is crap as usual because it was written for a generic tub model so its useless ..... it says: " Your spa will enter Priming Mode (Pr) when it is energized.

During Priming Mode, press Jets button repeatedly and be sure the pump is free of air. Priming Mode lasts less than 5 minutes. Press Temp to exit. After

Priming Mode, the spa will run in Standard Mode (see Mode section). Some panels may not have a Temp button. On these panels the Set, Warm, or Cool

buttons are used. "

With my tub with energized both lights come on by themselves and just sit there and the tub makes no noise at all.

Cheers'

Dave

[PreservedSwine]

With friends like that...lol

You should call a qualified, competent tech. It may just be a little corrosion on some temp sensor harnesses, but you may have some expensive issues there.

[davecason]

Hi Guru,

True enough - but can you suggest anything like maybe metering the power outputs of the control board to see if it's passing voltage to the motor plugs first ? I pulled one of the motors out (WaterWays Exec 56) and visually it looked good, no cracked pumps, motor spins cleanly, not blocked ...... I will call a tech but I'm just wondering if they're are a few things I can try first.

Cheers'

Dave

[PreservedSwine]

ICE has nothing to do with voltage. sorry.