Sundance Altamar relays

[fil bagwadia]

I have a Sundance Altamar 850 year 2001. It has given me excellent service but recently its showing some erratic behavior. The pumps come ON, the heater icon shows that its ON and the temp. starts climbing up - working properly. All of a sudden, I hear a CLICK from the control board and the heater and the pumps (except circ. pump) turn OFF and the water temp starts climbing down. After some times I hear a click again and the heater, the pump are back ON again and the temp starts climbing up showing all is well.

The flow switch is new and circ. pump is always ON.

Please help.

[CanadianSpaTech]

If the spa has a circ pump the heating and flow of water across the heater and flow switch are tied to that circ pump and not the main pumps. Main pumps will have nothing to do with heating.  Always remove filters when trying to diagnose spa problems and leave them out until the issue is fixed. Remove them from the scenairo. Dirty filters are a flow killer especially with the small magnetic drive circ pumps Jacuzzi/Sundance uses. If you have a ozone or UV system also disconnect it until the issue is fixed they can cause all kinds of weird stuff.
If you recently replaced the flow switch that is where I would start after removing the filters.
Make sure the flow switch has water flow pushing the flow switch toggle closed and making contact with the post. If that all works/looks correct and the heater light is not coming on try to jumper (tie together) the 2 flow switch wires and by pass the flow switch. With the flow switch bypassed and only the circ running you should have heat. If you do check the alignment of the flow switch and reconnect the wires back to their proper location. If it is off center of the water flow just a bit it may not function (open/close) 100%.

[SerjicalStrike]

On a 2001, the 2 speed pump and the circ pump are tied in together.  When the 2 speed pump is activated, it will push water through the circ line. 

Is the spa in Standard mode? 

When the heater shuts off, is there an error message?  Like CanadianSpaTech mentioned, visually inspect the flow switch to see if the magnet is touching the post when the circ pump is running. 

[fil bagwadia]

Thank you both. Made checks as suggested.  The flow switch is working well as I see its closed when the circ pump is ON. When the heater shuts OFF, occasionally the FLO error will show but not every time. Yes, Spa is in STANDARD mode. The circ pump is ON 24 hrs.
I have also disconnected the Ozonator.

I have had this hot tub for a long time and do most of my own maintenance/repair. I have never before heard a loud click from the control board which makes me wonder if one of the relays is bad (just a thought). The issue I described is erratic and infrequent.

[fil bagwadia]

Thank you Canadian Spa Tech for your suggestion about disconnecting the UV Ozonator. I noticed that when the hot tub was not working, there was a water leak and the tub level was going down rapidly. On investigating where the leak was I noticed it coming from the Ozonator tubing that fed into the tub. The water flow was from the tub, through this tube and out from the ozonator box. Further looking I found that the one-way check valve in the tubing was busted. I have ordered one but in the meantime disconnected the ozonator and found that my intermittent issue disappeared. Thank you.

I would like to take this opportunity to ask how one can detect a defective relay on the control board and how difficult it is to replace the bad relay. Do you need to remove the entire board to do so? Appreciate some help.

[CanadianSpaTech]

If the check valve failed and water was getting past it and into the unit itself then it is likely toast. I have seen some spas with 2 inline check valves as a fail safe but not sure if it effects the flow/suction or if a different mazzi injector is used. Basically you want to follow the power flow into and out of the relay. You would have to remove the board to replace as they are soldered onto the backside of the board and have some basic skill and the correct tools to remove the old sloder. This video might help with some understanding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiQBBHtejMA&list=WL&index=7&t=685s 

[SerjicalStrike]

Is the spa flashing between FLO and the temperature, or does it just say FLO?

[fil bagwadia]

Great thank you.

I did see that video and it sure was helpful. I am just wondering if its possible to know, without removing the board, which relay is faulty.

To answer your question surjicalstrike, the tub just says FLO.

[SerjicalStrike]

Perfect.  If the spa say FLO only and the circ pump is running, then you are correct that the relay is bad.

Is your circ pump wired with one wire (usually the white wire) connected to the main terminal block and the other wire (black wire) connected to the circuit board?  Or are both wires connected to the circuit board?

If only one wire is connected to the board, you can turn the power off, move the white wire from one side of the terminal block to the other, and move the black wire to the opposite side as well. 

if both wires are connected to the circuit board, then you will need to replace the circ pump relays.  If you take the circuit board out, you can follow the tracers on the back of the board to the correct relays.

[fil bagwadia]

SerjicalStrike

Circ pump has white wire connected to the main terminal block and the black wire is connected to the circuit board.

I will try switching the wires as suggested. Many thanks

Is there a website where I can get a detailed circuit diagram for Altamar?

[fil bagwadia]

Many thanks to both SerjicalStrike and CanadianSpaTech for taking the time to help others who need assistance.

[SerjicalStrike]

You're welcome.  Were you able to resolve the issue for now?