GFCI Tripping on 110v balboa spa.

[AlexM]

Hello,

I have a 3 year old 110V, 225 gallon spa. The spa has Balboa internals with a 4KW heater and 2HP pump. The spa is connected to an outdoor GFCI outlet and the cord also has a GFCI plug at the end. So just recently the GFCI plug started tripping. I turn on the spa and it starts priming then after a few minutes the pumps lower intensity and the GFCI trips. My intuition is that the heater element kicks in at this point and trips the GFCI due to a bad heating element. My understanding is that this 110V spa is actually a 240 V capable spa and the only difference is that it is programmed by the dip switches so that the jets will not kick on to max at the same time as the heating element. This is fine for me living in FL since the heat doesn't dissipate nearly fast enough for it to cause issues.

What I have done so far is test the heating element for continuity, resistance, and voltage, I would have done current but don't currently own an amp meter and just have a multimeter so I would have to wire it in series. Anyway, the continuity test passes and the resistance is at 15k ohms. When I did the voltage test with power I saw that the voltage was 0 while the tub was priming then got to 120 V for about 1 second before it finally tripped the GFCI so Voltage drops to 0 again. 

Again this leads me to believe it's the heating element and basically just want confirmation before I go buying parts and trying them when it's not actually the issue. I'm just confused since the continuity resistance and voltage across the element seem normal... other than the GCFI tripping. The only other thing I'm suspecting is that it could be the GFCI plug itself is bad and it doesn't trip unless the heater is on which overloads it.

I attached images of the spa internals for reference.

 

Thanks for the help. 

[CanadianSpaTech]

See below. Do you have a multi meter and knowledge of how to safely use it? 

Lift the copper tabs up so they don't touch anything and try the power. If the breaker holds when the spa heat indicator light is solid and not flickering test the copper tabs for power. If you get 120V replace heater element.

[AlexM]

Hi CanadianSpaTech, thanks for the reply.

This tub doesn't actually have a heater LED just a pump and light LED indicator... anyway I did remove the nuts and bent the copper tabs up. The spa is running without the GFCI tripping. I was able to test with a multimeter and see a steady 123.5V A/C, see attached.

When you say replace the heater element, do you mean the entire metal pipe or just the inside heating coil?

Thanks again for your help.

[CanadianSpaTech]

https://www.poolandhottubdepot.com/balboa-4-0-kw-heater-element/

When you install it make sure the element is not touching the sides of the tube. Lots of youtube vids out there I'm sure. You should have a local store that will have them in stock.

[AlexM]

That link you gave didn't seem to have US shipping. Anyway, I ended up ordering a titanium HydroQuip heater element with hopes it will last longer.

https://hottubwarehouse.com/products/titanium-hot-tub-heater-element-25-4041-bi-ti

I looked at a bunch of vids already and know what I'm getting into.

Thanks for your help.

[CanadianSpaTech]

I normally remove the sensor in the side closest to the element to make it easier to get it in/out. Also there are small o-rings just make sure they don't fall off when installing.

[AlexM]

Update:

The new heating element just arrived and I changed it out. Apparently I lied about there being no heater LED because there is one I just didn't see it when looking for it when troubleshooting since it never turned on before.

Anyway, the hottub has been running without tripping the GFI anymore and it is currently heating with a solid LED light on.

Thanks again for the advice.

 

[CanadianSpaTech]

Thanks for the update 👍 . Wish more would do that and help the next person... so we don't have to...lol