Jump to content

Hotsprings Envoy Issue


liz42

Recommended Posts

Trying to diagnose an issue with our hot tub. It's an old one, but has been well cared for.

2004 Hotsprings Envoy KK2F1588

220v

2 jets

2 topside control panels

Installed outside

Water chemistry always kept well and filters cleaned regularly, last cleaned two weeks ago. They are not plugged.

Symptoms: Used tub an evening last week, and the jet button was acting up. It wouldn't come on when pushing it, but would after pushing repeatedly or holding it a while. Once the jets started up, they ran fine. There are two topside control panels, and symptom was the same from both. Water temp was fine. Ozone bubbles coming from floor.

Next day, red light blinking on topside front control, all panel icon indicators lit, and constant clicking noise from behind repair panel cover. No ozone bubbles. Breakers were not tripped. GFCI not tripped. Turned breaker off for 3 minutes, turned back on, same thing. Red blinking, clicking, panel indicators all lit. The panel indicators went off after a few minutes, but blinking and clicking continued. Jets would not come on at all. Circ pump not running. All connections and wires tight, nothing burnt or ruined.

Pulled front cover. On control panel, LIM light blinking green in time with clicking noise. Heater and control lights off. Lower mid on control panel, a red light is on which says D17. With control panel on, can hear circ pump come on for about 5 seconds, then shut off. Turned off breakers, removed hot tub heater, inspected for calcification or burning, everything looked great there. Reinstalled. Checked for continuous water flow to pump, that was good.  Turned on breaker, same thing *but now* the jets will come on for just a second or two (where they definitely would not before) - jet one will go for two to three seconds if I hold the button, jet two will pulse once for half a second, nothing more. Intermittent ozone bubbles from from floor. But really have to jack with both buttons to get them to come on for that brief time. Circ pump comes on for 5 or 6 seconds then goes off, LIM light still blinking, still clicking noise. When the jets do come on, the "control unplugged" light flashes red for a second along with the blinking green LIM.

Turned off breakers, unplugged all components, turned on breaker, still clicking and LIM light blinking green. Plugged components back in one at a time. Nothing changed.

Anyone have any ideas? The circ pump was replaced around 2015 or 2016. Can't remember exactly but it was definitely in that time frame.

Thanks for any ideas you can toss my way!

Edit to add: tested 2 and 5 main with meter, steady 120v  and  pulled circ pump, impeller spins freely

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Post a pic of the circuit board.

Do you have a mutimeter? Set it to 20k ohms and test both sensors by removing them from board and testing at plug. They should be within a few hundred ohms of each other.

Check if there is voltage to the heater immediately at power up. If so you need a heater relay board.

The pump behavior is odd. You may be looking at a circuit board issue. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Hi!

Thank you for replying. Sorry I'm so long in getting back to this. Swamped at work. We did check those, thank you. You are correct about the circuit board. After testing everything else under the cover (and under the sun), it turned out to be a bad mother board. We went ahead and replaced the whole control box yesterday, which comes with the heater relay board also and was a little more expensive, but the clips on ours had broken some time ago, and this way it's all new. We kept the old control box for good spare parts. We did the repair ourselves. It was relatively simple after watching a few videos and taking our time. Measure twice, cut once, and all that.

Replacing the control box fixed the tub, and it's working great now - except the jet buttons! They are still intermittently not working when button pressed (Jet 1 and Jet 2 on both the main and auxiliary control panels). Both jet pumps work great and have full power when we push the "clean" button. But have to press Jet 1/Jet 2 button multiple times to get either to come on or turn off. Everything else on the control panels works great - temp, lights, lock, summer mode, and clean button. It's odd. I know it's not air lock, as they work great on clean mode, and when they come on, they work great. No power/flow issues.

Again, thanks for responding to this. I appreciate your time. Sorry I didn't see it sooner.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi,

Thanks! We will try that. Would the aux panel being bad cause the main panel to also not work? 

Also, plot thickens - when messing around with it yesterday trying various settings on the comfort control valves to see if the jets responded any better on any particular setting, I noticed (previously did not notice), a slow but steady trickle coming from each of the two main comfort control valves. It's leaking right back into the shell, so the water levels weren't affected, which is why we probably didn't notice. Would leak in either or both of those valves cause the jets to not respond to the on/off buttons? Or do you think that's a 3rd, separate, and coincidental issue? 

Thanks again for your time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks! I thought it was probably a separate issue, but hoping...since the valves are cheaper than the control panels. Definitely not leaking on any electronics, just from the top, under the valve handle and back into the tub. And talking about the diverter valves. The diverters for both Jet 1 and Jet 2 have the small leak. That's easy enough to repair.

For the control panels, there's a main and aux. Would one panel going bad cause the jet buttons to be intermittent on both panels? On both main and aux, when you push Jet 1 or Jet 2, jets only respond intermittently. Can get them both to come on by pushing several times, holding, etc...and when they come on, they have full power. Then also have to push them several times to get them to turn off again. On main panel, all other functions work great. Good flow through circ pump/heater. Nothing in lines. Heater is clean inside, no build up. Control box (mother board) and heater relay, all capacitors, etc...all new. Just replaced this weekend. Jet problem existed before replacement.

Haven't had time to get the cover off and unplug one control panel at a time yet. Will try that at next opportunity. 

Thank you, again, for all your time. I appreciate it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Unplugged one at a time and tried the jet buttons on each, each way. Did 't respond any better either way.

Two days later, jets now (newly) don't respond at all from aux panel in any scenario (lights still work from aux panel). Main panel, everything still works except jet buttons, which respond intermittently. Jet 1 button responds more often than Jet 2 button. Both jets still full power when they do come on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We are going to pull the front control panel, pull the control head off that, line them up, and see if the corresponding tabs for the jets on the control head work well when pressed from there. Can't do that for a few days, as it's cold and snowing here. Will report back any findings.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/19/2020 at 3:57 PM, RDspaguy said:

Well, at this point you need a controller to plug in to determine if it is the board.

Got it working!

Here's what I did: Removed front control panel, removed control head from that, placed side-by-side on cover. Pushed corresponding buttons on control head to Jet 1 and Jet 2 on control panel. They both work great, no issues, not intermittent. Reinstalled control head on control panel and tightened screws. Tried Jet 1 and Jet 2, both intermittent again. Removed control head, confirmed one more time both buttons work from there. Pushed control board inside control head (carefully) snug back into the box it sits in (it was a little loose). Tightened black center screw to snug. Carefully aligned control head with control panel, put the 4 screws in that hold the two together, and then snugged them carefully using a cross pattern. Gave one round robin tightening. Over tightened slightly, so "clean" button got stuck in on position and wouldn't turn off. Loosened that screw and others, went over them one more time in cross pattern until snug, then tightened a little less than previous try. Confirmed all buttons work well, including Jet 1 and Jet 2. Reinstalled control panel on front of hot tub.

It now works beautifully.

Aux panel still not working other than the "lights on" button, so will replace that. It's 16 years old, so it had a good run. And it's an easy fix. Will do that in the spring when it's warmer here or if we have a warm stretch in the next few weeks.

I appreciate all your help and suggestions, RDSpaguy. Your help at the beginning of this adventure led us to replace the whole control box (which includes the mother board and was definitely the problem when the controls were clicking and flashing and not working at all). I appreciate all your time and help!

Reported back with the fix in case someone else runs into this problem with the intermittent jet buttons. It was a very simple fix, other than freezing my hands off because it was 30 degrees and snowing when I did it.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

One more thing - forgot to mention this! - the process to fix the intermittent jet button issue was suggested to me by Backyardplus technical support! The tech's name is Craig. He could have easily told me to buy a new control panel and control head for the front, but he didn't. He responded to my question by email, then suggested the steps to check if I could fix it myself, then even took the time to call me and make sure I understood what he was saying. He did not just jump to trying to sell me a part. These guys are great! When the panel and control head actually do go out, I will definitely buy from them. But for now, this was a free fix. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...