Hurricane Katrina Hot Spring Vista Start up????

[bodguy]

Hello All,
Havent seen you all in a while. Im a hotspring vista owner, and well my tub went for a swim in 9 feet of water during hurricane katrina.  It floated all the way to the roof, then 55 feet into my back yard when the water receded.   Not only did we lose the tub, but everything else we owned LOL

Long and short of it, I cleaned it and rinsed it 2 weeks after the storm. I have had it covered since last September. The breakers were off when I left the house so there was no power to the tub. The control box in the tub appeared to have had water in it.  I work with electonics for a living so I inspected the board, relays, etc, all were dry. I cleaned the entire board with alcohol and an acid brush.

I finally got it moved back to the deck and am getting ready to put power to it. I need to know if there is anything I should or can do to the pumps before I try to put power to it? Lube em, spray em, rockem em manually etc.

Remember I got nothing to lose really if it is fried, so I want to give it a try.

Steve....if your still here, I beleive you sold Hotsprings Spas. I don't suppose there is any chance in the world that Hotspring would honor the warranty, is there? My flood insurance coverered our house, but niether the flood insurance or the homeowner would cover the tub.

Lastly, I can't find anyhwere that sells Hotspring parts, should I need any. The estimate on fixing the tub is over $3000.00 with out the cover or cover lifter, and  I'm already in a pinch money wise fixing the house and buy all new stuff, but really want to get my tub running again

Any help from anyone would be appreciated

Scott

[hottub.pool_boy]

Scott,
Would love to help you revive it! My site can help.
Online hotspring stuff. www.scarritt.com. call me any questions. Dave Scarritt

To SITE ADMIN.- If by listing my site here, please administor any appropriate lashings.

[hottubdan]

I am surprised flood insurance won't cover it.  I have a friend in Florida who is rebuilding about 100 flood/hurricane damaged Hot Spring Spas and he told me insurance is apying for the repairs.

Hurricanes are considered acts of God, wouldn't you know, so the damage is not warrantable.

I, too, can help you with parts.  IM me if you need help.

Good luck!

[Chas]

First unplug all of the equipment from the IQ box. That would be ozone, circ pump, jet pumps, heater, light, everything. Turn on the power with nothing but the thermisters and Aux panel connected. Look on the board for the three leds which announce, "Aux Connected, Heater ON, and Hi Limit," or whatever they say. They should let you that the Aux panel is connected, the hi limit is not tripped, and then after the startup is complete  and you turn the heater up, the "heater on" light should come on. Power light on the main control panel should be on and steady.

As far as the motors go - they will most likely be history. But if you want to try them, be sure you turn them by hand first to assure they are not locked up, then meter them for ground. If they check, temporarily wire one at a time to the 20A breaker and have someone flip it on for about ten seconds while you observe the motor.

If it runs ok (hate to say so, but I doubt it will) the next step will be to snap an ammeter on one of the leads to check and see if the motor is pulling the right amount of amps according to the rating plate on the motor.

If you are trying them with the tub empty (I would) you should only run them for a few seconds so you don't take out the seals.

The heater is most likely also gone, but once again, if you want to try it, be sure water is moving through it before you power it up.

I would meter the circ pump, heater and jet pumps before running power to them: if any one of the above is still wet enough (inside) you don't want to run enough amperage through the control system to damage the one part which may still be good.

I realize I am about as far away as any dealer here, but if you have any trouble locating parts please let me know. I will make them available at my cost, but of course the shipping will shrink your savings somewhat.

[Steve]

Hey Scott,

Nope, never sold HS. Seems you're in good hands here though.

Steve

[Cola]

You will need a meger to check for grounding of motors.  You could disassemble them and let it bake in the sun for a day.  Clean any just from rotor shaft then install new bearings.  If you just try to start them, then you might blow out the windings.
Good luck
Steve

[windsurfdog]

Considering the extreme nature of your experience, I doubt you were able to give any attention to the tub motors soon after the storm.  I'm assuming that the flood waters you experienced were salt water....if not, you stand a much greater chance of revival.  If salt water was involved, had you had fresh water available to you, a thorough rinsing of the motors, control box and everything else would have given you a chance to save the electrical stuff.  If salty, I imagine by now that the salt water has had its way with the motors, wiring and electronics.  But given that you really have nothing to lose, take the good advice and generous offers given in previous responses and good luck.....our hearts are with you even if our backs can't be there.

[stuart]

Have you gotten in touch with HotSpring? My guess is that they would love this story and help out where they can.