Sundance ciruclation pump .. relay / flo error

[Jeff1969]

Just finished replacing the circ pump and the 30A main board fuse on my 2004 Cameo. Two issues, I believe related. First the circ pump won't shut off even though the duration is set to "0" on the display. Also unless either the heater is running, or one of the jet pumps are on, I'm get the solid Flo error. The flow switch opens when the power is off at the breaker, closes as soon as I turn it on and the circ pump kicks in. But as I mentioned above, as soon as heat of jet pumps are off, the circ pump keeps running and the Flo error appears. I've read about the Circ relay going bad, but not sure where it is or how to test / replace. Thanks

[Jeff1969]

from following one of the two 110 leads, one of the leads from the pump is white with the red connector, bottom center... the black lead goes to the two post crimp style holder with the black lead on the left, right is empty, just above the brass colored box. If I follow the board up from there it leads to what I assume is the relay number K10 I believe. Can anyone verify and tell me how to test it...or  if I am even on the right track with this issue.

[SerjicalStrike]

Since your circ pump is installed correctly, I would say you have a bad relay.  To save money, you may be able to move the black wire to the next slot over on the left and move the white wire to the right side of the terminal block.  If that doesn't fix it, you need to either replace the relay or replace the board.

[Jeff1969]

Well that seemed to work ! Thanks !!
If you could explain one thing to me though... I thought the relay was powering the black wire, though when circ pump powered down, I still have voltage coming through both the original B terminal that I was plugged into, and now the W term that I moved to on your advise. When I switched the terminal block connector at the bottom to the other side of the terminal, power turned off and the pump stopped. So I assume I was wrong on my belief the relay was K10, and they in fact are located to the far right where it says "K2 / High voltage" ?

[Jeff1969]

One last question (sorry).. will it hurt anything to have that bad relay in there since I see it seems to be wired to more than just the circ pump ?


Thanks again for the fast reply and getting my spa running again for the wife

[SerjicalStrike]

K10 is the defective relay.  We have had a few tubs with your exact issue and moving the wires has fixed the issue with no ill effects.  Some of them we just replaced the k10 relay.  It all depended on what the customer wanted to spend.

[drewskie]

Hello everyone, brand new here, but I have this exact same issue with my tub. I have a 2001 Sundance Altamar. Can someone explain how I can go about switching the wires to the second relay? My setup is identical to the one pictured.  Thank you very much.

[SerjicalStrike]

You move the black wire for the circ pump to the slot next to it on the left.  Then move the white wire from the left side of the terminal block to the right side. 

Is your circulation pump running while you have the solid FLO message?

[drewskie]

Hello, and thanks for the reply. I was hoping you would chime in. I just realized that the circulation pump does not work at all, I had a friend test it, and the pump will not run at all. It's only a year old or so too. I am going to try replacing it and see if that's what's causing the flo error. The tub was blowing fuses last week, and I replaced the heater, which stopped the fuse issue, but the circ pump did not come back on after the heater replacement.

[clover]

Hello everyone, brand new here, but I have this exact same issue with my tub. I have a 2001 Sundance Altamar. Can someone explain how I can go about switching the wires to the second relay? My setup is identical to the one pictured.  Thank you very much.

Maybe we should say you have a similar issue because you say your dirc pump is not running at all.  As per the picture above, use a voltage meter and check to see if you have 120 volts on the W (white) connector to ground, and 120 volts on the B (black) connector to ground, then test for 240 volts on the W & B relay connectors.

Presently, in the picture above, the white wire is on the incoming 120 line before the circuit board, and the relay is supplying the 120 to the black wire to provide 240 which will also operate the circ pump. 

Check for 240 volts between both wire configurations to verify 240 voltage, and we can determine which ones will solve your problem.

Rarely do we find bad heaters unless they are frozen and leak.

[drewskie]

Clover, thanks for the information. I tested the circulation pump, and it does not turn on. I will check if there is power going to it later on today. If the pump itself were to go bad, could it cause the 30a fuse to blow? I heard that only the heater has enough power to do that,

[clover]

Clover, thanks for the information. I tested the circulation pump, and it does not turn on. I will check if there is power going to it later on today. If the pump itself were to go bad, could it cause the 30a fuse to blow? I heard that only the heater has enough power to do that,

While I believe you have a bad circ pump, there are other issues that may apply.  I would like to know about the voltage being 240 at the two different configurations.  It used to be, all wiring was from the circuit board connections, then they started putting the white wire on the incoming power terminal.  I have had several failures with this configuration with what I will call "motor boating" causing error codes to appear on the control panel display resulting in shutdowns. 

Let us first deal with the answer to the question of the presence of voltage.

[drewskie]

Clover, thanks for your responses. I changed the circ pump with an older, used one I found online cheap, and everything seems to be ok now. However, I am curious as to weather a bad circulation pump would cause the fuse to blow, and the breaker to trip.
I did also replace the heater, and the breaker stopped tripping, however, I think it's not just a coincidence that the circ pump and heater went out at the exact same time.

[clover]

I can only say that electrical faults, and excessive draws will trip the breaker.  For me to speculate, would be assumption.

The dominant reason to change out a smart heater (Grey) is for leaking caused by ice fractures, the same is true for the black foam covered heater,  and not electrical failure, however, it could represent an occasional replacement.  But, They are pretty good heaters.