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2003 Tiger River Bengal M - No Heat/tripped 30A/flashing READY


itgogitrev

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Current issue is a 2003 Tiger River Bengal M that has no heat. Below are the symptoms and repair history associated with it:

- Panel will show the flashing READY with 2-3 minutes after resetting the breakers in the panel. Circ pump, ozonator and jet pump continue to function as normal.

- When setting 30A breaker in panel to ON position, it will sometimes drop to the tripped position 1-2 times before staying in ON position

- Heater relay board was replaced in April 2020 with P/N 77119 (newer 2 relay design). Main control board was replaced in June 2021 with P/N 77087.

- Heater assembly is original to the hot tub (Watkins twin tube No-Fault)... so it's nearly old enough to vote.

- Heater HAS WORKED since the last board was replaced in June 2021

- Spa is wired for 230V, 30A for heater/20A for jet pump

 

Although the boards are relatively new and the heater is old, I still would like to go through the proper diagnostics to verify the heater has failed. Where is the best place to start?

Thanks in advance for any advice you have!

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I'm no expert but it sounds like your spa is possibly going into protection mode due to faulty (or failing) temperature sensors.

If you have a multimeter I believe you can test the impedance of the sensor to see if it has continuity (should be in the 10k to 15k range if I'm not mistaken, but I could be wrong).

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On 11/23/2021 at 10:14 AM, itgogitrev said:

Current issue is a 2003 Tiger River Bengal M that has no heat. Below are the symptoms and repair history associated with it:

- Panel will show the flashing READY with 2-3 minutes after resetting the breakers in the panel. Circ pump, ozonator and jet pump continue to function as normal.

Remove filters. Post pics of circuit board, wiring diagram, and equipment area.

- When setting 30A breaker in panel to ON position, it will sometimes drop to the tripped position 1-2 times before staying in ON position

A tripped breaker must be flipped to the off position before resetting. Check and tighten breaker wire terminals. How often does it trip?

- Heater relay board was replaced in April 2020 with P/N 77119 (newer 2 relay design). Main control board was replaced in June 2021 with P/N 77087.

- Heater assembly is original to the hot tub (Watkins twin tube No-Fault)... so it's nearly old enough to vote.

I'm pretty sure it did...😉

- Heater HAS WORKED since the last board was replaced in June 2021

- Spa is wired for 230V, 30A for heater/20A for jet pump

 

Although the boards are relatively new and the heater is old, I still would like to go through the proper diagnostics to verify the heater has failed. Where is the best place to start?

Thanks in advance for any advice you have!

Post those pics.

 

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Quote

I'm no expert but it sounds like your spa is possibly going into protection mode due to faulty (or failing) temperature sensors.

If you have a multimeter I believe you can test the impedance of the sensor to see if it has continuity (should be in the 10k to 15k range if I'm not mistaken, but I could be wrong).

Yes, I have a multimeter. I have not replaced the sensors, so that's a good thing to consider.  I'll check them out.

Quote

Current issue is a 2003 Tiger River Bengal M that has no heat. Below are the symptoms and repair history associated with it:

- Panel will show the flashing READY with 2-3 minutes after resetting the breakers in the panel. Circ pump, ozonator and jet pump continue to function as normal.

Remove filters. Post pics of circuit board, wiring diagram, and equipment area.

- When setting 30A breaker in panel to ON position, it will sometimes drop to the tripped position 1-2 times before staying in ON position

A tripped breaker must be flipped to the off position before resetting. Check and tighten breaker wire terminals. How often does it trip?

- Heater relay board was replaced in April 2020 with P/N 77119 (newer 2 relay design). Main control board was replaced in June 2021 with P/N 77087.

- Heater assembly is original to the hot tub (Watkins twin tube No-Fault)... so it's nearly old enough to vote.

I'm pretty sure it did...😉

- Heater HAS WORKED since the last board was replaced in June 2021

- Spa is wired for 230V, 30A for heater/20A for jet pump

 

Although the boards are relatively new and the heater is old, I still would like to go through the proper diagnostics to verify the heater has failed. Where is the best place to start?

Thanks in advance for any advice you have!

Post those pics.

- Filter is out. I will get pics of the boards, diagrams and eq. area this weekend

- I pulled the breakers out of the box and inspected them. All connections are tight. 

- The 30A breaker doesn't trip when the spa is in use. When the spa display starts flashing READY, I'll switch the breakers to cut the power and that's when the 30A will need 2-3 tries to get it to stay in the ON position. During the 18 months we've lived at this house, neither the 30A or 20A has ever tripped on their own accord.

 

Thank you both for the assistance and I'll report back when I have some more data!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sorry for the delay, attached are the pics of the boards and wiring diagram PDFs from the upgraded board PNs. I did not include a pic of the original wiring diagram on the inside of the lid; the boards are different enough to where the original diagram is obsolete.

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77119-New-Heater-Relay-Board-Instructions.pdf Instructions_Wiring_IQ2020_System-77271_Board-77087.pdf

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The pdfs are unavailable. 

The wiring diagram is needed to check the jumper pin settings. If it has worked properly since the board install, these should be fine.

Under the red light by the small board on the main board are 3 lights, labelled "HTR ON", " CONTROL UNPLUGGED", and "LIM OK". If "htr on" is not lit the spa is not calling for heat. If "lim ok" is not lit it means the high limit thermistor is reading higher than the temp thermistor or has reached an overheat temperature. Both conditions are usually flow related, but can also result from faulty thermistors or scale. Remove filters.

Boilout in a heater leaves scale on the element. This can insulate the element and, if so thick it reaches the thermistors, give false readings. So just because it tests good doesn't mean it is. If you have excessive scale you will see the buildup inside the heater tube and thermistor mounts. You may be able to remove this using an acid solution, but if it removes scale it also deteriorates metals, like your heater element, so be careful and check it often.

Test voltages on and off. Stuck relays can cause all sorts of problems, so make sure everything is turning off when it should as well as on.

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