Should I repair or replace?

[DanH]

I have a bullfrog hottub where it would not properly keep temp. So a new mother board was needed. Cost to replace is around $1000. This happened outside in the winter and I drained the hottub just with the regular drain and did not pump out any water at the bottom. Presumably, it froze. I filled the hottub at it is keeping water fairly well (loses like 1-2 inches a week, which it did before I had this problem anyway). The company who was going to replace the motherboard said the hottub is ruined because it froze and therefore something would have broke and it would leak. He also indicated it would leak a lot quicker if it was hot. The water is still cold. He suggests replacing the hottub with something else.

Do people think it is worth repairing the motherboard? I figured if something was really wrong it should have drained itself fully by now, not just lose a couple of inches, at most, in a week.

Hottub is I think like 5-10 years old.

[Jersey Hot Tub Repair]

You said the original problem was the tub wouldn't heat.  Do the pumps come on?  If so, I would run the hot tub without the heat to see just how bad your leaks are.  Some leaks are much more prominent with pressure than gravity.

As to your question about freezing, if the temperature is below freezing in one pipe, it's going to be below freezing in all the pipes.  It's rare to have one pipe freeze and not have others. 

By the way, you weren't specific about the original problem, but heating issues aren't necessarily cause for a new circuit board.  Could be a lot of less expensive problems.

[DanH]

Thanks. The original problem was the heat sensor was reading 104 when the water wasnt warm and accordinly it wouldn't heat. I tried replacing the sensor and switching the sensor from the other sensor but that didnt fix it. Presently the pump won't turn on, but I am not sure if it is because the hottub is displaying the snb error which the manual indicates is spa has shutdown because of B sensor.

I was hoping to turn the pump on as I agree that could help show the leak. I guess I was surprised if there was a leak it was this slow with cold uncirculating water (I understand water does leak slower when cold and I am in the northeast so if I had to guess the water is somewhere between 45-55 degrees.  I had a slow leak I think before the heat problem which didn't bother me as I just added a couple of inches each week. Hottub is outside so it isn't really hurting anything with its leak.

I guess I was trying to figure out how much a difference either hot or pumped water might make toward the leak.

 

[Jersey Hot Tub Repair]

I've never heard that hot water leaks more quickly than cold water.  Water seeks the path of last resistance.  Hot tubs leak because of pressure from pumps and gravity.  In the big scheme of things, 104 degrees is in the same ballpark as 55 degrees, it's not like super-heated steam driving a piston in a steam engine.

Now, static water versus pumped water will make a difference in the leak.  Cracks in pipes will open when there's pressure in them.  I've seen plenty of tubs where you see a slight drip with the pumps turned off, but a powerful stream of water when turned on.

With a dual sensor Balboa package, you're supposed to replace both sensors at the same time. 

You can often test the pump by plugging it into an outlet.  Often, a 230VAC pump will still turn in a 115VAC circuit.  Just don't run it longer than a few seconds to test that it comes on.  If it doesn't, it could still be that it just doesn't like 115VAC.

From what you've written, I would change the sensors before changing the motherboard.  Bad sensors would affect the pump if they shut down the spa, but a bad pump shouldn't give a sensor error message.  Changing a motherboard before checking your pump and sensors is a nice high-priced repair for a service company, but it's a drastic action before eliminating less expensive possibilities.

Cost to repair a circuit board is usually in the $200-300 range, plus a service call to remove it and a service call to re-install it.  For a ten year old tub, I wouldn't recommend it.  If one component on the board has gone bad,  it's certainly likely that another one will in the near future.  Get yourself a new board with a warranty.  For a five year old tub, you could look at it differently, electronics should last longer than that.