Cauterized Circuit Board

[ChrisJ]

I recently had technicians come out to clean our hot tub. The tech's drained the tub and refilled it, and left with instructions to add clean solvent once the water reached above 100 degrees Celsius. However, the water temperature never reached above 50 degrees Celsius, further, after a few days we noticed a leak on the diverter. The reason provided for this was possibly a pinched O-ring or something simple like that. On the heating issue, the reason we were provided why the water was heating was the heater relay became stuck and cauterized on the circuit board, hence resulting in no heat after the drain and clean. Whether they did the drain and clean, or we did the, this would have happened the next time the spa had to heat up from cold water. "Heater relays become worn out over time and weak as they have a life span of appx. 100,000 cycles. When the spa is shut off and has to heat up over 50 degrees, that is severe demand on a heater relay that is already weak and this heater relay could have been like this for a long period of time, as they can still send power until they finally cauterize and stop working:.

Is this normal occurrence or could have it possibly been a result of the leak?

We have been provided two quotes 1) Artic Spa Pack for C$1,295.5 and 2) Coast Spa Retro Fit Kit for C$950. Any recommendations? Are we getting ripped off?  Thank you to all respondents !!

[Dr. Spa™ Ret.]

100 degrees Celsius??? That's BOILING! Is this a hot tub, or a lobster cooker? Hot tub temp, in Celsius, is I believe a little over 40

[Water Boy]

I highly doubt the leak caused that. I have seen heater relays get stuck before and cause a board to burn up. That price sounds about right to me.

[JacuzziJack]

Do some youtube video searches on burnt spa relays. It's not a rare ocurrance. The root cause as I recall are worn seals in the heater, or a failing heater coil. The Spaguy has a couple videos on this and so do others. I mean, if you're handing with a soldering gun and meter, just remove the board and resolder the burnt connections, pop the top of the relay off and run some 1500 grit through the contacts to clean them off.  Or buy a replacement from Mouser, Digikey or even probably Ebay for a couple bucks.  The relays should be marked so you know what to get. Take a picture of the circuit board so you remember how it's connected. It's not rocket science.

If you need your H/T fixed next week, then yeah, probably go ahead and buy a new board then. But keep the old one for parts and have a go at repairing the relay at your leisure and have a spare in case the new gives up the ghost someday. Make sure you or your guy addresses the 'root' cause of the problem.