Water won't get hot enough, spa tech says everything is fine.

[xenon2000]

We just moved into a new place, so we don't have much history with the spa. Which is using a Balboa controller and 5.5 KW 220v heater. It was able to have the water at 100 F about a month ago and it was still pretty cold outside.

It is now maybe 5-10 F cooler at night now. But our days are still hitting 70 this week. And it was fairly warm nights last weekend too for me due to rain. Yet last Saturday after running the spa in standard mode for about 36 hours straight, the water got to 85F within 24 hours but even after 36+ hours it would not go any higher. So I put it in sleep mode. The water is now about 64 F as it's idle temp. I just had a spa tech look at it yesterday and he claims everything tests out fine and he has no idea why it won't go higher than 85F. Recommended I power cycle the spa at the breaker box. So I did that, left it powered off for about 5 minutes. And it's been running now for about 17 hours. Went from 64F to 68F before bed in about 7 hours. And when I woke up, it was 70F after about 7 hours more. I will have to ask the wife what the temp is now. But a 6F degree increase after 14 hours of continuous heating and water flow seems extremely slow for a covered spa in a mild Phoenix, AZ winter. And it didn't have this issue a month ago with similar low/high outside temps. So I have a hard time believing that it simply can't heat higher than 85F during a mild Phoenix winter with continuous heating running. Plus now it seems to be worse as on last Saturday when it hit 85F in similar outside temps, that it hit 85 well within 24 hours of checking. Now I wonder if it will even hit 85F since the repair tech tested everything.

So it's obviously heating the water, so the single element is working to some degree. And the display shows the heating is actively on every time I go check it and the pump has been running non-stop since yesterday. Am I just naive to think that a 5.5 KW heater should be able to hit 100F water in a covered spa with outside temps of 50/70 F low/high temps?

[xenon2000]

Yesterday it got up to about 75 F outside and the spa still only maxed out at 72 F. I have another spa tech company coming out today. Hopefully they are smarter than the first company that came out.

[xenon2000]

K, well the 2nd company repair tech says it is the controller board and that it's not activating the element but that the element is good. So now waiting on a new controller board. At least this person has a solution and hopefully they are right. Sadly they are saying it will be 2 weeks. And I was really hoping to use it tomorrow night.

[Cusser]

 

 But a 6F degree increase after 14 hours of continuous heating and water flow seems extremely slow for a covered spa in a mild Phoenix, AZ winter. And it didn't have this issue a month ago with similar low/high outside temps. So I have a hard time believing that it simply can't heat higher than 85F during a mild Phoenix winter with continuous heating running. Plus now it seems to be worse as on last Saturday when it hit 85F in similar outside temps, that it hit 85 well within 24 hours of checking. Now I wonder if it will even hit 85F since the repair tech tested everything.

So it's obviously heating the water, so the single element is working to some degree. And the display shows the heating is actively on every time I go check it and the pump has been running non-stop since yesterday. Am I just naive to think that a 5.5 KW heater should be able to hit 100F water in a covered spa with outside temps of 50/70 F low/high temps?

I'm in Phoenix, my spa is 28 years old, a CalSpa with a 5.5KW element on 220 volts.  My spa will heat from 65F to 104F well under 2 hours in these temperatures, definitely NOT working correctly.  Yes, always keep it thermal-covered when not in use. 

Ditch the first repair guy, he doesn't know spas.  Your spa should reach the 104F even if it drops below 35F here.  I think your pump was running continuously but the heater element itself was NOT energized, because if it was, and heater element was OK, it HAS to heat, that's just physics !!!  Over the past 28 years I've learned to be my own "spa mechanic" after a horrible experience with one while the spa was still under warranty (same with an undercounter ice machine; repair guys might know refrigerators, but this is way different).

I'm actually surprised how few minutes per day of heating is actually required to keep my spa at 104F.

[xenon2000]

 

I'm in Phoenix, my spa is 28 years old, a CalSpa with a 5.5KW element on 220 volts.  My spa will heat from 65F to 104F well under 2 hours in these temperatures, definitely NOT working correctly. .....

Thanks for the confirmation. I figured that was the case too but wanted to ask since I am new to Spa ownership and know nothing of the specs, etc. As my latest post says, the 1st company finally admitted they didn't know what they were doing and so another company came out. Supposedly the controller board is bad and is NOT activating the element. No errors, so maybe it's just a relay issue on the board. But they want to replace the whole board. Since it's being done under a home warranty, they can do that. Otherwise I would just diag the board myself and see if it's just a relay or other component I could just replace myself.

[xenon2000]

UPDATE: The main board was replaced last week and sure enough that fixed the issue. Set to 103F and it stays at 103F with no issues. So it was the main board. Odd that the first company couldn't come up with the same solution.