Canadian Spa - Swift Current Flow Issue

[JCSPa]

Hi All,

We bought a Canadian Spa Swift Current V2 around 2 years ago. It's not had a great deal of use, but been well maintained (it's become a hobby) and is stored as per the guidance during the winter.

We have numerous issues with it, however most recently and since getting back out of storage, is a persistent flow, or lack of, issue. It seems as if the pump circulating the water (the one that contains the impeller I assume) doesn't kick in, causing insufficient flow and then the PCU overheats throwing an E5 error. We can not clear this, unless we take it apart, remove the impeller and reseat it... although I'm not entirely sure what that achieves. We've done this 4 or so times. 2 occasions its just randomly stopped working. The other two have been when we stop the jets before they're scheduled to finish their cycle.

It's all very strange, and I'm at a loss of what to try or do. We've tried to speak to Canadian Spa (in the UK) however their customer service is terrible. When I contacted them a few months back, before stripping the unit myself, they didn't reply for 2 months. Then more recently when I emailed asking for advice, they rang up and made it clear that they hadn't read my email or were aware of the things we had tried. Even when explaining on the phone they weren't listening. They want to charge £60 to courier it too them, then £60 to replace the impeller (that may not actually be the issue), then send it back 'working'. My concern is that I can get it 'working', only for it to die a few weeks/months down the line.

Has anyone has similar issues, or can suggest a way to resolve it. I can't seem to find the full circulation pump online to buy it myself and it seems pointless to just replace the impeller (although happy to be corrected).

Ive stripped the unit almost completely to ensure theres no muck in any of the pipes. I use an anti limescale solution once a week since we initially noticed a build up within the heat exchange, so that shouldn't be an issue.

[EDIT] I've seen another topic that mentioned a damaged impeller. Whilst the grinding noise etc do also occur although we can't remember if that was just general noise (its not that loud), the impeller itself seems to be in good condition?

Hopefully someone can offer some guidance, it would be very much appreciated 🤞

Thankyou

[Chippie]

had exactly the same occur.
it curculation pump works put blower option on. stop it before its run full cycle and then you can hear pump motor start but impeller doesnt turn. 

canadian spas, £60 postage, £90 new pump and £40 labour.
wont sell the pump 

did you find a solution ?

 

[JCSPa]

2 hours ago, Chippie said:

had exactly the same occur.
it curculation pump works put blower option on. stop it before its run full cycle and then you can hear pump motor start but impeller doesnt turn. 

canadian spas, £60 postage, £90 new pump and £40 labour.
wont sell the pump 

did you find a solution ?

 

Hi 👋🏼

In our case it seemed to be the impeller was blown and causing it to be out of balance. It was grinding on the shaft, wearing it down, and causing it to slip a few mm other side. Ultimately I believe it was hitting the little plastic triangle that sits inside the pump. That probably causes some sort of safety mechanism to kick in and so the impeller refuses to spin again. Taking it apart and reseating the impeller seems to reset that (I guess its some form of physical magnet reset?). 

But it happens again after. So we ended up buying an impeller on eBay for about £8. It wasn't an official one, but was the same sort of size. The fins ended up being a little smaller but it worked a treat and was so much quieter.

Sadly a few months later the blower jets refused to turn off. I was unable to work out why. We ended up buying a 'new' unit from eBay for £290. It was worth a punt (wasn't prepared to pay CanadianSpa any more money). Was brand new, unopened and has worked perfectly since. Hoping this one continues to work well. 

Id suggest reseating the impeller. Have a look at the ceramic shaft it sits on for any wear. Any rust around the impeller itself or cracks. If water gets in. It becomes unbalanced and shakes when spinning. Wont take much for it to hit the little triangle inside the pump.

Hope that helps!

[Chippie]

Hi many many thanks for swift reply 
yes founds its the impeller, re seated it and it worked but stopped again. re setted it worked again.
found one on amazon for £7.79. wahou! looks the fix.
save £190 with canadian spas! 
 

[JCSPa]

58 minutes ago, Chippie said:

Hi many many thanks for swift reply 
yes founds its the impeller, re seated it and it worked but stopped again. re setted it worked again.
found one on amazon for £7.79. wahou! looks the fix.
save £190 with canadian spas! 
 

Great stuff!!

Glad the new impeller is working well! 

[Pra]

I had the same issue, I took apart the unit, every part, it’s relatively simple. I found the heater or what I assume is the heater and it was clogged with calcified minerals from the water. Essentially the heater would heat the water in the unit and not push it through making the unit overheat and sending out the e5 code. Once I cleaned out the calcified minerals that accumulated inside the heater and put the unit back together flow returned. And the error code stopped coming. There also was a clunking/clicking noise that disappeared. Not sure if it was related but a win either way.