Hey all. I am new to hot tubs and I haven't been able to get my first one to heat since we relocated it. It is an '02 Hot Springs Jetsetter with a no-fault 6000, running 110v. We put it on it's side for transport (about 100 yards) and it may have been that way for half an hour. It was cold out and after another 45 minutes it was hooked up and and as the electrician was leaving he said to get heat into the tub as quick as possible. Having not read the manual (this gifting happened on short notice), I made a few stupid mistakes. The first was filling the tub from the footwell instead of the filter intakes. Second was energizing the tub before it was filled. Third was leaving it to do other chores while it finished filling instead of checking the control panel. When I returned and shut the water off, I noticed the red power light was blinking, which indicates a high-temp shutdown. Following the owner's manual I killed the power for few minutes to let itself reset. After I turn on the breaker I went back to the tub and had no power. The GFCI on the cord had tripped. When I reset that, it started then tripped the GFCI after 3. seconds, and did this every time afterward. Desperate, I finally pulled the heater leads off of the circuit board, which allowed the circ pump to work without tripping the GFCI, even with the heater leads reconnected.
One thing that changed was when the electrician removed the factory power cord he cut it off and replaced it with a longer one, going from 15 feet to 20, while the manual says maximum of 10, could this be an issue? Talking with the dealership, they were saying maybe heater, thermostat, or an air bubble. To make certain there was no trapped air the tech told me to kill the power and remove the top hose on the circ pump, which I did and got a steady stream of water from both sides. After reconnecting it and powering up, everything was the same as before the purge. The circ pump is currently running and I have an incandescent light in the equipment compartment to hopefully keep it from freezing (overnight temp right at 32°). Through all this the protective breaker on the heater hasn't tripped, are there any other reset buttons I may have missed? tomorrow I will be checking voltages at the cable to tub connection, is there a way to test the heater or thermostat by voltage or resistance? Unfortunately I am kinda on my own as it will be a bit before I could get a service call as we are a little remote and about to get dumped on with snow. All help is greatly appreciated and happy holidays!
