Temp Won't Maintain

[kirmie]

I have a Dream Maker Spa model#X4H-UHS-DMI-SD-F manufactured 2009-09-22 that is acting up. I haven't owned it long, but it was working fine before now. The issue I have is that after heating up it seems to stop maintaining the temperature. This seems like it may be intermittent.

Basically, the tub can be at 95F and be doing nothing. I hit the temp up or down button and a second or two later the jets kick on and the tub starts hitting and eventually hits the max temp. For some reason it seems to stop staying near that temperature and drops without attempting to heat back up until I hit a button again.

Any ideas on where to start with diagnosing this issue? I'm new to hot tub ownership since it came with the house I purchased a couple months ago. The filter is maybe a month old and it was used maybe 12 times with 2 people max for less than an hour at a time so I don't think it is the filter, but I'm going to try cleaning it.

[Jacuzzi Jim]

 Sounds like it might be in a economy mode, which means it only heats during a filter cycle. Worth a look.   I am not familiar with the brand, but if you go to mode or similar it will say EC, SLP or STD.  You want it in STD for standard.

[Hottubguy]

Sounds like it might be in a economy mode, which means it only heats during a filter cycle. Worth a look.   I am not familiar with the brand, but if you go to mode or similar it will say EC, SLP or STD.  You want it in STD for standard.

I thought that at first as well Jim. I don't think the older ones had economy mode. I don't even think they had heaters back then. They relied on the heat stick capturing heat off motor

[Tman122]

Sounds like it might be in a economy mode, which means it only heats during a filter cycle. Worth a look.   I am not familiar with the brand, but if you go to mode or similar it will say EC, SLP or STD.  You want it in STD for standard.

I thought that at first as well Jim. I don't think the older ones had economy mode. I don't even think they had heaters back then. They relied on the heat stick capturing heat off motor

If it has a heat stick then it relies on the pump to be working as the temp sensor tells it to. Maybe the temp sensor or pump relay are messed up?

[kirmie]

Thanks for the input. It doesn't seem to have an economy mode that I'm aware of. Very few options to mess with from what I've seen in the manual PDF I found. At least for the models with UHS in the name. Models with HU2 in the name do have economy mode, are described in the same manual, and have the same button configuration so it may be possible that mine was upgraded. Though the first time I noticed it happened I realized the filtration had been adjusted to 0 hours per day.

It's on a run of working since Monday evening when my wife noticed it was at 96 when set at 104, so figuring out the issue is odd to me. I adjusted the temp to 102 once I got home. I've been reading up on spas to get a better idea of what can pop up and I started wondering if it may be something like a soft high limit switch getting tripped that doesn't reset itself properly until there is user input. Though I have no idea how I would test that theory.