1988 Calspa Hawaiian Heat Re-Set Issue

[Cusser]

I have a 1988 CalSpa Hawaiian model. 220 volt, I have retrofiited to include 40-amp GFCI. I'm in Phoenix, AZ so not too cold here.

Lately, I've noticed that the heater re-set button needs to be pushed in almost daily to restore heating operation (the GFCI does NOT trip). I've also noticed that my water flow is pretty low (even with freshly-cleaned filter) unless the jets button is pushed in, but there is enough water pressure to activate the pressure switch even with the jets turned off.

So does this sound like

...bad heater element?

...bad hi limit switch?

...or maybe just clogged filter and I should get a new cartridge?

So what would be my first course of action? Thanks.

[Dr. Spa]

So does this sound like

...bad heater element? NO

...bad hi limit switch? NO

...or maybe just clogged filter and I should get a new cartridge? Maybe. It does sound like a flow issue. Run it without the filter and see what happens.

[Cusser]

OK, next time this happens - think my post here scared it into behaving - I will remove the filter and try that a few days.

Being a 28 year old spa, I have some phantom leak not visible through the equipment door and no leak in the equipment pack. I've even taken off the two sides not against the wall, but cannot find a leak even though I removed a lot of the expandable foam insulation, maybe on the non-accessible side. So I've used spa stop-leak maybe three times a year, that does work to stop the leak; the leak only bothers me because it will serve to rot the redwood spa, might damage my concrete slab too. So that stop leak - even though added while filter is removed, likely has clogged up my filter cartridge somewhat. Maybe I should add stop leak, then once leak has stopped, drain the water out and fill with new....

Anyway, last year - because the Cal-Spa filter was difficult to access, and I constantly had leaks around its huge O-ring, plus the knife valves no longer worked - I engineered-in a brand new filter unit and new valves, with filter element accessible from the top, figured that would eliminate my filter leakage issue and help with the stop-leak stuff too.

[Cusser]

OK, update. I think I've got what's wrong all figured out. The heater re-set trips only in the "Timer" mode, not the "No Freeze" (thermostat) mode.

The issue in the "Timer" mode seems to be a partially clogged filter cartridge, so I'm ordering a new one. Once that's in, I can adjust the switch for the pressure shut off device, right now it seems to be "always on", so it delivers electricity to the heating element even after the pump shuts off, causing the heater re-set to do its job. I'll buy a new pressure switch too if necessary.

In the "No Freeze" (thermostat) mode, the pump comes on automatically whenever the thermostat shows the temperature to have dropped, so it doesn't trip the re-set.

[Cusser]

Update: bought new filter cartridge from Ebay retailer, $21 shipped as opposed to $46 + tax if special ordered at local store, could not find it stocked locally except "maybe" downtown.

With my set up, under 5 minutes to replace the filter, just flip the two valves with blue handles, and unscrew the top of that external filter. So it turns out that my original filter was quite clogged, even though it's only 6 months old. This is likely due to my use of some leak seal fluid, which I treated with filter out, but did not drain the water out before putting the original filter cartridge back in, as instructions did not say that was necessary. So with new cartridge, water flow is substantially improved, and I marked its higher pressure reading too. So I adjusted the pressure/flow setting and now all seems to work fine.

So I learned (1) maybe it's best to drain the spa after the leak seal treatment (like twice a year)

(2) I should buy a spare new filter cartridge to have on hand.