Jets will not turn off so no heat! HELP please!?

[Meekyman]

Hi all,

I will try and give as much information as possible to help aid this.

So I bought a 2nd hand tub locally (UK) and before I picked it up I saw it all running and at 38 degrees and it was all working perfectly.

I installed it into my back garden this week and had it all wired up yesterday. When I turned it on the jets came on straight away and since then they will not turn off,

This means the heater will not kick in as it will draw too much amperage. It has gone from 7degrees when I filled it to 16 degrees in roughly 13 hours which seems very long to warm a tub up. I presume that this is because the heater isnt working so is most likely getting its heat from elsewhere and not the heater.

 

I have set the filter program to F2 as suggested on another post but it still will not turn off the jets!

As you should see in the attached image the little red light next to "heat" has not come on at all since plugging it in.

The internals of the tub are all Balboa components so I am just hoping that I have missed a really simple step.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[RDspaguy]

Post pics of the circuit board, wiring diagram, and equipment area so we can see what you've got.

Do you have a multimeter?

It is typical for a spa to run high speed jets in response to cold water, but that usually stops once it hits 50 or 60f. Though it could be higher. 

This could be a shorted button or circuit in the topside or connection. Turn off power, unplug topside, check plug for moisture/corrosion, turn on power with topside unplugged. Does it still run high speed, or does it switch to low and turn on heater?

[Meekyman]

Thankyou  for your reply, Unfortunately I am not in today so wont be able to take some pictures.

Another update:

Got home last night around 8pm and it had warmed to 24 degrees C. Someone suggested that I turn the jets knob on the top off so I did that so the jets were not on full blast and overnight it warmed to 28 Degrees C. Something isnt right here, Surely it should warm more than 4 degrees in 12 hours?

I turned the temp on the controller down below the current temp and it turned the jets off. Is it just a really slow heater that is causing this?

?Thanks !

 

[CanadianSpaTech]

Is the spa wired for 120V or 240V I think that's 16 or 32amp. A 120V spa can take up to 36 hours to heat depending on the ambient temp. It would only heat at 1 KW VS a 240V hook up that would run at either 4 kw or 5.5 kw. A 7' 240V spa at 5.5 KW might take 8-10 hours max.

When the spa gets past the PR (prime mode) and you increase the temp by a few degrees is the spa running on high speed or low speed without touching any other buttons on the topside? It should run in low for filtering and heating cycles.

What brand and model of spa are we talking. Some spas don't even have a heater and use the heat shedding off the pump motor to heat.

[Meekyman]

Hi again,

So its 240V (UK) and 13amps. Now the guy we got it off was running it off a 15amp but that shouldn't make this much of a difference.

Another update - After 9 hours its gone from 28 degrees to 31 degrees. It does not make sense! ?The other night when it was below freezing it heated 10 degrees but today in the sun it only went up 3 degrees??

Its dark here now so I cant take a picture of the controls so I will in the morning.

Im losing my hair trying to resolve this !

[Meekyman]

Images attached

[CanadianSpaTech]

Not a big fan of how that transformer is stuffed in there. In behind it is the 2 hot 240V leads that attach to the heater element. Power off. Either disconnect the wires at the heater element or trace them back to the circuit board and disconnect them from the circuit board. Power ON and then test for 240V coming off the circuit board when the spa is calling for heat (heat indicator LED has to be solid and not flickering. If you get 240V off the circuit board then replace the heater element. If you don't get correct voltage then you might have a burnt heater relay or some other board related issue. Let us know test results and we can go from there.

WARNING: If you are not knowledgeable or comfortable testing with a mulit meter please hire a professional. Electricity can Kill.

[Meekyman]

Thanks again for the reply, My dad is a trained electrician so I will ask him to come by tomorrow night and do what you suggested. The heat indicator lamp has never come on though? That is why I don't think its heating properly. Its up to 32 degrees now. It has gone up 1 degree over night and it doesnt look like it will go up anymore.

When we viewed it before we bought it we saw it at 39 degree's, I just can't understand what could have caused it to stop heating properly.

[CanadianSpaTech]

The only other thing I can suggest then is to remove the 2 wires from the pressure switch that is located along the heater tube and "jumper" them together. Just touch/join the 2 wires together (paper clip/piece of wire)effectively bypassing the pressure switch and see if the heat indicator comes on. This can be done with the spa running. The pressure switch is a safety device and protects the heater from turning on when there is no or low water flow. Just jumper for testing only no longer. Also remove your filters and remove them from the equation. Dirty/clogged filters can restrict flow. 

[Meekyman]

Dude, you are a star (I hope), 

So first thing we did was check the pressure switch and it was working fine, followed the wires back and they were fine. Jumped them together like you suggested and nothing.

Tested the live wires on the heater and no voltage so we traced everything back and there was a loose connection. Now the heater light has come on the top controls and the heater element is at 230V ! Hurrahhhh.

Its pulling just over 12amps now rather than 4 before so thats a good sign.

Hopefully in a few hours it will have gone up in temp.

 

Thanks again for you assistance on this, You have been a huge help