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LA Spas HEET CP Tripping Breaker


Hicks6

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Hello Again,

My LA Spas HEET has been working great for the last couple of months. I've been keeping it running with the temp set at 84, and today I turned it up to 101 because its started cooling off and my wife wanted to get in tonight. About two hours after I turned up the heat the breaker tripped. I happened to be in earshot when this happened. Flipping it back on only saw the breaker trip again about two seconds later. After doing a little bit of troubleshooting I found that If I unplug the circulation pump from the board, the breaker does not trip. I checked the fuse and that is still good. My guess is there is a ground short somewhere, but I don't really know where to start looking. Anyone have some insight on what my next step might be?

Thanks!

LA Spas HEET Wiring Diagram.jpg

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I would try reattaching the circ and first try disconnecting the ozone and try the breaker if it still trips then try disconnecting the heater and trying the breaker again. If it still trips then I would then investigate the circ further. Only takes a few minutes and might save you from buying a circ and finding out it's the heater (most common cause of breaker tripping). Other thing is you haven't really used the heater much and then you crank it up and have an issue. 

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I disconnected the OZ and the Circ, then plugged in the OZ and nothing happened. Then I plugged in the circ and it tripped. I unplugged the circ the OZ and disconnected the heater (P20 & P21), then plugged back in the OZ, nothing, then the circ an then it tripped. I think its definitely something to do with the circ pump, just not sure what, or where to start looking. Thanks for the help again!

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@REA when you get to it there should be a circular dust cover dead center at the back end of the motor. Remove the dust cover and you will see the shaft of the motor. It will have a slot in it that you can place a flat head screwdriver into and try and spin the motor shaft to see if it is locked up or if it spins freely 

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Okay, I was mistaken. I mislabeled the plugs to the cpu when I first messing with this thing. It is not the circ that is tripping the breaker, it is the OZ unit. Attached is a picture. Is this something that can be troubleshot and repaired, or does it need to be replaced? Also, is it okay to run the spa without the OZ?

OZ.jpg

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I don't know what the heck is going on now. The heater does not appear to be heating. It has power at the board and the unit itself, and now the topside is going crazy flashing all over the place. Resetting the breaker does nothing. I'm overwhelmed at this point. It's been working just fine until this issue popped up. 

 

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4 hours ago, Hicks6 said:

it is the OZ unit. Attached is a picture. Is this something that can be troubleshot and repaired, or does it need to be replaced? Also, is it okay to run the spa without the OZ?

What has likely happened with the ozone is that there is a one way check valve inline that has failed and water has gotten past the check valve and into the ozone unit and it is shorting out and causing the breaker trip. Yes it can be run without it but the unit should be disconnected from the pack and the check valve replaced otherwise it will just keep leaking. It may dry out in a few days but the damage may already be done and might require replacement.

Check valve will look like this: https://www.poolandhottubdepot.com/ozone-check-valve-1-4-x-1-4/

 

1 hour ago, Hicks6 said:

topside is going crazy flashing all over the place.

Did the board get wet? I would leave it off overnight and give it a chance to dry out. Was the ozone leaking onto the pack? If it got wet before turning it back on use a hair dryer on low heat to remove any remaining moisture. 

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I'm guessing that something has gone wrong on the board in relation to the topside. It could also be the topside itself, however I just installed that new about 3 months ago. I've been trying to find some sort of troubleshooting guide for the topside aside from the user manual, but I've had no luck. This behavior should be symptomatic of something diagnosable I would guess. 

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The topside is just a display and some buttons, all control happens in the board. The circuit board is unlikely to cause this behavior unless it is wet near the topside plug, or inside the topside itself. This is the most likely cause, and it doesn't take much and it can take days to dry without help.

Are the pumps coming on, acting strange, or not working at all? Does it still turn on to heat or filter?

Unplug the topside. It should still run automated functions such as filter cycles and heating. If it does not, you need a board. If it does, you are probably looking at a topside. 

 

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Pumps work but heater doesn't? Do they work with the buttons or just auto? 

That's some strange behavior if it's not wet somewhere on the board or in the topside. I would check incoming voltages and fuses, since you've had a tripping breaker, and make sure that's all good. Then pull the board and check it out for burns, discoloration, or moisture. You might bring it to an electronics repair shop.

I can do no more from here. I carry known good used topsides around for testing purposes, and I buy from a supplier that I can return parts to without question. I would plug in a topside and see, but that's money for you and it is new (which does not necessarily mean good).

But here's the thing, and I'm sure @CanadianSpaTech will agree, coincindence is rare in these things. Multiple sequential part failures are almost always related. The chances of this topside issue being unrelated to the problems and repairs that were just done is pretty small. Your ozone check valve leak caused your ozone to short out which caused your breaker to trip, now your new topside is going crazy... And 2 pros with over 50 years of combined experience both think it probably got wet.

It could be the board, but I would do a whole bunch of checking things before I bought a new one. Unless you wanted to have a spare...😉

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  • 3 months later...

I've stepped away from this for a while to take care of some other stuff, but now I'm thinking about it again. I found a place I can mail the board to in AZ (I'm in SoCal) and they will check it out and repair it if its possible for around $200. Beats the cost of a new one, and if its not the board, I can pretty much conclude that there are some serious problems with this thing that I just don't want to deal with. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

The circuit board repair guy just got back to me and said that the board is working fine on his bench. His topside was not doing the erratic lighting thing like mine was. He suggest that I have a bad topside, and I feel like I agree with that at this point. I'm just not sure why this new topside would go bad so quickly. I suppose I spend another $250 and replace the topside again and hope for the best.

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Okay, I think I made this problem myself. I put the control box back in. I installed the new topside, which doesn't have the erratic blinking lights like the previous one. However it is blinking three lights at the bottom, which can mean that there is a blockage or obstruction. So pump one turns on, but there is no flow into the tub. I've tried priming it but there is nothing happening in the jet selector switch. This would also explain why it isn't heating since that runs in low speed mode along with the CP to pump in the hot water. 

I feel really dumb about this, but I think I may have clogged up the jet 1 piping. When everything was working, it had a leak. I didn't want to take the tub apart to find the source because where it sits, would make me have to lift it up somehow to get to the side where the water was coming from. I found that fix a leak stuff that you put in the water is supposed to fill in small cracks in the pipes, and it worked. But, I think it worked too good and now the water can't flow, thus creating my issue. Thoughts? 

 

Here is a video from right before I came to my conclusion. 

 

 

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You say the circ pump is working but there is no flow over the flow switch to close it. Pump 1 should have no effect on the heating or filtering. It uses the circ pump for this. Pump 1 likely has an air lock. Loosen the union at the face of the pump a turn or 2 until you have dripping water and the air has been released. 

Air lock in circ pump wet end or the impeller has issues and is not moving the water. Spa starts up and runs circ pump first. Circ pump flow then closes the flow switch and this allows the heater to turn on. 

Remove the filters and try resetting the main power. Run without the filters until the issue is fixed. Take them out of the equation. Dirty filters (even ones that look clean) are a flow killer. 

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1 hour ago, CanadianSpaTech said:

You say the circ pump is working but there is no flow over the flow switch to close it. Pump 1 should have no effect on the heating or filtering. It uses the circ pump for this. Pump 1 likely has an air lock. Loosen the union at the face of the pump a turn or 2 until you have dripping water and the air has been released. 

Air lock in circ pump wet end or the impeller has issues and is not moving the water. Spa starts up and runs circ pump first. Circ pump flow then closes the flow switch and this allows the heater to turn on. 

Remove the filters and try resetting the main power. Run without the filters until the issue is fixed. Take them out of the equation. Dirty filters (even ones that look clean) are a flow killer. 

You sir, are a genius. I had already tried loosening the union to purge any air, but that didn't really do anything. I took the filters out, and pow! Now everything is pumping and the flow switch is closing. I just need to wait not and make sure that it is heating. I can't thank both of you guys enough for helping me with these issues. Its really cool that there are people out there that are willing to share their knowledge. Fingers crossed for heat!

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Although everything is pumping, the CR alone doesn't seem to have enough pressure to close the flow switch. I have to have P1 on high speed in order for it to be closed. Do I need to prime the CR, or is there some way check on the flow? It is pumping, just not enough it seems. 

 

From the owners manual: The JETS 1 key will activate a 30-minute automatic shut-off cycle (unless the spa is heating). If the spa is heating, pump 1 will run continuously at low speed until the pre-set temperature is reached. The set point light indicator will be on when the display is showing the water temperature set point. It will be off when the display is showing the actual water temperature. A new 30-minute cycle begins each time the JETS 1 key is pressed. This auto shut-off cycle is a safety device and allows for convenient filtration, immediately after use of the spa.

 

P1 is not staying on until it reaches the set point. I set the temp to 98 and P1 turns off after 30 minutes. 

2004_las_owners_manual_domestic.pdf

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