wieky Posted October 5, 2023 Report Share Posted October 5, 2023 When we bought our house it came with a hot tub. Its an older hot tub. I had to do a bunch of work to get it going again since it wasn't properly winterized after draining it. I do not know the make/model, I haven't been able to find any manufacturer tags.It has ran pretty good for the past 3 years. I couple of weeks ago it stopped heating. So I checked it out and found that the heating element was open, and I found that rather that the heating element was only getting 120 volts rather than 240. I have checked and the hot tub is getting proper voltage. I went ahead and installed a new heating element just to see what would happen. Now it does heat the water, even with only 120 volts. Now comes the next problem, once the water got to temp, the pump turns off like it should but the heating element is still getting the 120 volts. I'm thinking that's what burned up the last element. I pulled the board out to inspect it closer, and I can't see any burned spots on it, so I'm sure it's got a couple relays stuck. I have found new control board for around $300. I read somewhere that you might have to have someone program it, but i have no idea. The other option is I could upgrade everything for $600-$700. Can someone with more knowledge about this please tell me if I should order a board or will I end up being money ahead ordering everything. It's a balboa control system and its dated 2007. I would like to get fixed especially with winder around the corner. Thanks in advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanadianSpaTech Posted October 5, 2023 Report Share Posted October 5, 2023 Relays ($20) can be replaced fairly cheap if you have good soldering tools and DIY skills or if you can find a local electronics repair shop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDspaguy Posted October 5, 2023 Report Share Posted October 5, 2023 5 hours ago, wieky said: heating element was only getting 120 volts rather than 240 From terminal to terminal, or are you using a touchless voltmeter? 5 hours ago, wieky said: pump turns off like it should but the heating element is still getting the 120 volts. The heater has 3 relays, two of which close (turn on) immediately when power is turned on unless there is a high temp error. This sends 120v to the heater, and you will read 120v on a touchless tester, even though the heater is not on. The third relay is thermostat controlled and prone to failure as it is the only one to open/close under load. This one closes the 240v heater circuit and the heater heats up. If your relay was stuck your heater would run while the pump was off which would boil the water in the heater and cause a number of errors on the display. Is this happening? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wieky Posted October 6, 2023 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2023 9 hours ago, RDspaguy said: From terminal to terminal, or are you using a touchless voltmeter? The heater has 3 relays, two of which close (turn on) immediately when power is turned on unless there is a high temp error. This sends 120v to the heater, and you will read 120v on a touchless tester, even though the heater is not on. The third relay is thermostat controlled and prone to failure as it is the only one to open/close under load. This one closes the 240v heater circuit and the heater heats up. If your relay was stuck your heater would run while the pump was off which would boil the water in the heater and cause a number of errors on the display. Is this happening? I am not using a touchless meter. I'm using a milti meter. Checking from the heater core to neutral coming into the board. Even when it is not calling for heat, it still has 120 volts going to it. I have not seen any errors on the display Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wieky Posted October 6, 2023 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2023 14 hours ago, CanadianSpaTech said: Relays ($20) can be replaced fairly cheap if you have good soldering tools and DIY skills or if you can find a local electronics repair shop Thank you for the info. I will see if I can find the relays. My problem is that I'm not sure which relays to replace on the board Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDspaguy Posted October 6, 2023 Report Share Posted October 6, 2023 16 hours ago, wieky said: Checking from the heater core to neutral coming into the board. On 10/5/2023 at 10:02 AM, RDspaguy said: From terminal to terminal, One leg is always on unless there is an overheat. You will always read 120 to neutral or ground on a 240v heater. You must test terminal to terminal for 240v. 12 hours ago, wieky said: I'm not sure which relays to replace on the board The 3 closest to the heater connections. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wieky Posted October 7, 2023 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2023 On 10/6/2023 at 11:52 AM, RDspaguy said: One leg is always on unless there is an overheat. You will always read 120 to neutral or ground on a 240v heater. You must test terminal to terminal for 240v. The 3 closest to the heater connections. OK. I'm glad to know that the one is always supposed to be on. Thank you for you time and knowledge. It is very much appreciated. I'm out of town for a bit, but i will do some more checking on it when I get home Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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