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Hey All -I have a continual problem with my 2016 Caldera Vanto randomly tripping the GFCI breaker in the spa box. The break trips randomly when not being used. It never trips when manually being used. It happens some time when its filtering, heating, or just sitting there in the night/day. The serviceman came out the first time and saw the pump seal leaking so he replaced it, and it went about a month without tripping, but then it did. Then 2 weeks later it tripped again, the two weeks later..again. He came out today and checked out the breaker and was testing loads. Turn the spa on and let it run for 40 mins and none of his electrical testing resulted in anything even close to being alarming. I have also already replaced the breaker and the wiring from the breaker to the tub in hopes of fixing it. This was the last warranty trip as it is now out of warranty. The guy suggested waiting until something is more reproducible to call them back so they can try to trace it, but I hate having to check my hot tub everyday to make sure its on so that it doesn't freeze or the water quality doesn't get crappy. Every aspect of the hot tub works perfectly..heater, lights, all pump speeds, everything. Anyone have a suggestion? I feel like the only thing to do is replace the breaker AGAIN, but he even said it was unlikely as it didn't get hot and this hot tub doesn't even pull anything close the the 50amps its rated for.I've already spent countless hours doing research and just cannot find anything besides the typical person saying its the heater...which shows no signs of it being the case in this situation.The tub is wired correctly, before someone throws out the whole fact that people mess up the wiring a lot. It is wired directly in the spa box and is the only thing wired on the breaker inside the house. It is also wired with heavy duty 6 gauge through PVC with all the joints glued together. There is no water getting into the tubes, and the tub trips on perfectly dry days. He had all the covers to the breaker and the tub off today when it was pouring rain when he was diagnosing and it wouldn't even trip, so im confident its not a water problem. There has also never been any water seen in the breaker box or in the spa by the pumps/controlsHe also said the temperatures all seemed reasonable..touched the pumps...tried to move things around to make sure nothing was loose, etc.
No circulation pump and ozone is optional. I just went through something similar with a customer who has a 2017 Caldera Marino. Random breaker trips, but never could replicate it. Replaced the main control box and it has been problem free since.Not saying that is your issue, but it solved my customers.
Quote from: gmdodt on March 27, 2018, 04:11:47 pmHey All -I have a continual problem with my 2016 Caldera Vanto randomly tripping the GFCI breaker in the spa box. The break trips randomly when not being used. It never trips when manually being used. It happens some time when its filtering, heating, or just sitting there in the night/day. The serviceman came out the first time and saw the pump seal leaking so he replaced it, and it went about a month without tripping, but then it did. Then 2 weeks later it tripped again, the two weeks later..again. He came out today and checked out the breaker and was testing loads. Turn the spa on and let it run for 40 mins and none of his electrical testing resulted in anything even close to being alarming. I have also already replaced the breaker and the wiring from the breaker to the tub in hopes of fixing it. This was the last warranty trip as it is now out of warranty. The guy suggested waiting until something is more reproducible to call them back so they can try to trace it, but I hate having to check my hot tub everyday to make sure its on so that it doesn't freeze or the water quality doesn't get crappy. Every aspect of the hot tub works perfectly..heater, lights, all pump speeds, everything. Anyone have a suggestion? I feel like the only thing to do is replace the breaker AGAIN, but he even said it was unlikely as it didn't get hot and this hot tub doesn't even pull anything close the the 50amps its rated for.I've already spent countless hours doing research and just cannot find anything besides the typical person saying its the heater...which shows no signs of it being the case in this situation.The tub is wired correctly, before someone throws out the whole fact that people mess up the wiring a lot. It is wired directly in the spa box and is the only thing wired on the breaker inside the house. It is also wired with heavy duty 6 gauge through PVC with all the joints glued together. There is no water getting into the tubes, and the tub trips on perfectly dry days. He had all the covers to the breaker and the tub off today when it was pouring rain when he was diagnosing and it wouldn't even trip, so im confident its not a water problem. There has also never been any water seen in the breaker box or in the spa by the pumps/controlsHe also said the temperatures all seemed reasonable..touched the pumps...tried to move things around to make sure nothing was loose, etc.These are the toughest kind of problems for a tech. You can't replicate the problem but yet it keeps happening. There is a rhyme and reason to it you just haven't seen it yet.Has it ever happened when you are using the tub? You didn't mention if you had a circulation pump besides the jet pump/s?
Nuisance tripping is a pain in the arse. Only real way to solve it is one start replacing parts, which is expensive. Or start un-plugging things one at a time and let it run to see if it trips again. Start with ozone if it has one, run for a week. then pump 2 then pump one, or like mentioned does it have a circ pump. Most times it's the ozone.
Quote from: Jacuzzi Jim on March 27, 2018, 05:22:13 pm Nuisance tripping is a pain in the arse. Only real way to solve it is one start replacing parts, which is expensive. Or start un-plugging things one at a time and let it run to see if it trips again. Start with ozone if it has one, run for a week. then pump 2 then pump one, or like mentioned does it have a circ pump. Most times it's the ozone. The only problem is it takes 2 weeks to a month to trip!! I am going to start with this though. On the caldera main board, do I just follow the wires for say Jet 1 to the main board and pull off the connecting at the main board? Same with the heater? or do I disconnect at the actual heater terminals..I assume everything is just plug'n'play style so they can be pulled off the main board easily..
Quote from: gmdodt on March 27, 2018, 10:17:31 pmQuote from: Jacuzzi Jim on March 27, 2018, 05:22:13 pm Nuisance tripping is a pain in the arse. Only real way to solve it is one start replacing parts, which is expensive. Or start un-plugging things one at a time and let it run to see if it trips again. Start with ozone if it has one, run for a week. then pump 2 then pump one, or like mentioned does it have a circ pump. Most times it's the ozone. The only problem is it takes 2 weeks to a month to trip!! I am going to start with this though. On the caldera main board, do I just follow the wires for say Jet 1 to the main board and pull off the connecting at the main board? Same with the heater? or do I disconnect at the actual heater terminals..I assume everything is just plug'n'play style so they can be pulled off the main board easily..You really cannot disconnect the dual speed pump since that is the pump that feeds the heater.
As has been mentioned intermittent problems are very tough to trouble shoot. First it’s important to understand the difference between a GFCI and a Breaker. You said you changed the Breaker in the house that feeds the tub. Pretty sure that wasn’t required and as it didn’t solve the problem it wasn’t. The breaker is looking at load or current (Amps) and then protecting the wiring from melting down with high current in the case of a short. The GFCI doesn’t care about current it is looking for current going to ground by measuring the current going out the hot wire and the amount returning in the common / neutral wire. The same amount should be in both and if it is different by only a tiny amount it will cause a fault. The common place for that to happen is if the heater is weeping just a little providing a path to ground or the water. Without GFCI the current could flow and the problem would rapidly grow and melt things. With a GFCI you wont see anything heating up etc. as it will trip almost instantly at this very low current loss.Some things I wish they had in these tub boxes. I wish they had an audible alarm and also a light that would flash. Both could be rigged up. Something inside the tub or the wiring between the tub and the GFCI or the GFCI itself is causing the problem nothing up stream is the problem. It is doubtful something changed in the wiring as it sounds like it was done correctly. Something in the tub would have to be seeing some change that once a month there was a tiny short circuit starting. Moisture could be a clue except you say it does it during a dry spell. If the heater was weeping I would think it wouldn’t stop for a month and it would be getting worse not intermittent. If it was mine and I was at a loss I feel I would be testing the GFCI unit itself to see if the intermittent problem could be internal. Even replace it and see what happens.