2003 Sundance Caprio not heating

[Chas]

I have a Sundance Caprio which will not get hot. It runs on high and low speed, the circ pump puts out enough water to close the flow switch, and the filter is brand new today. I got rid of the Micro filter and just put in a C-8326 filter.

The red light which indicates heat just goes on for about 5-10 seconds, then goes off for about 20 seconds. The time is not exact nor is it consistent, but it is close to the numbers I gave. I can hear the heater relay click when the light cycles.

There is enough power - I have it running in the shop on a special power distribution box just for testing spas.

Can any of you Sundance geniuses tell me where to start with this thing?

Thanks in advance...

 8-)

[Chas]

My ace repair man (Joel - the super spa savior of San Pedro) put in a new circ pump and we are off and heating!!

The old one had flow, but just not enough.

Go Joel  !!!

And a special thanks to all of you who offered your help.


 8-)

[Jacuzzi Jim]

 Whats strange is that the heater came on then shut off, normally you would get the FL1 error at that point???

[Chas]

I did get the "flo1" when I first started up - but I figured it was just air in the lines or something like that since we had just brought the spa into the shop. I let it run awhile and then restarted a bunch of times. The Flo alert went away and the heater started cycling. I don't think it's a very good design for the heater to come on and off like that - if there was no water moving the heater could burn - unless there's a high limit built in to the heater?

In my case there was water moving, just not enough. I took the old pump apart and it had a small bit of rust in it - I cleaned it all out and ran it (for a second) open. It acted just fine. I closed the pump back up and tried it again - still sounded like it was running fine. I put it back in and got water moving through the system. But when I checked with a meter - the flow switch was NOT closing! I was wrong when I first checked it out. D'Oh!!

We checked the flow switch and it was fine. Just not enough water moving to close it. That's sort of why it's there, of course.

Joel came on the scene - popped open the ozone injector and saw water backing out of it. That is a sure sign of low flow. Where was he before!?

New pump (had to take a blue Caldera pump and swap the volute off the Sundance since I don't stock Sundance pumps....) and we are off to the races. If I had any more energy I would swap it out to 220 so it would heat faster, but I will let it go over night on 110. It has already come up a couple of degrees.

Thanks.

 8-)