Jet Flow Woes

[GroovyGrass]

Hello everyone!

We recently moved into a new home which came with a nice hot tub, a Proflow PFSG51030.  When we first filled and used it, everything worked great.  However, recently it seems that the tub has almost no jet flow compared to what is used to and seems that one jet is completely inoperable.  I've tried bleeding the air out, which required me to loosen the union nut since there was no air bleed valve.  I've taken apart the pump to get to the impeller, which had a small bit of fuzz, but certainly nothing that should restrict much flow.  It has a 2 speed pump that handles the circulation as well as the jets.

I can't remember at the moment if the motor would kick into high gear when turning on the jets, but I don't hear a change in speed when activating them.

I've worked on computers since I was 14, own a small repair service, and have quite a bit of experience in many different areas.  This thing has me stumped, and after many hours of reading, I'm a bit ready to give up.  Is it possible that the high speed in the motor is no longer functional?  Is there a way to test that?  I'm ready to buy a new motor if necessary but I wanted to hear from someone with more experience that it would be the way to go.  I know it's an old tub, but it's still in very decent condition and I'm certainly not ready to drop the money or time to completely rebuild the system with new internals.

Any help would be most appreciated.
Thanks!

[Jacuzzi Jim]

 Check the jets to make sure they are open (turn left or right)  Check the filter make sure it's clean, check and see when you remove the filter the jets feel like they should.     Pump wise it should run on low when heating and press the btn again it should kick into high.  If the pump is working as it should, it sounds more like a jet problem to me?   

[GroovyGrass]

Every jet is opened, the filter is new (even tried without filter just to see), and here's the weird thing: if I press the jet button, there is no circulation, even though it hasn't reached its target temperature, yet (80, set to 100).  I do know that there must be circulation or you'll burn out your heating element pretty fast.  What could possibly cause this?

And thanks for your reply!

[Tman122]

How old is the pump?

[GroovyGrass]

Motor says it's 14 years old.  I take it that motor is on its last leg?

I live in a house with another family who has five children as the butler and run my business from the home.  I can count two times that they've let the water level too low, they didn't turn the jets off, and it was left pulsating.  I'm guessing that they ended the last little bit of life of the motor.  We have no idea how much use the previous owners got out of it, but the rest of the house certainly wasn't kept up when we moved in, despite being a huge home with lots of fancy luxuries.

I'm guessing that since the impeller and innards all look swell and aren't leaking that the pump would still be suitable for use?  I'll take the motor out and give it a few tests.

[Jacuzzi Jim]

Every jet is opened, the filter is new (even tried without filter just to see), and here's the weird thing: if I press the jet button, there is no circulation, even though it hasn't reached its target temperature, yet (80, set to 100).  I do know that there must be circulation or you'll burn out your heating element pretty fast.  What could possibly cause this?

And thanks for your reply!

  If there is not enough flow the system will shut the heater off.  It's either a bad board or a dead motor/pump.   Your better off just buying new one on line than trying to repair a 14 year old one.  Check what voltage it is and the horse power. Guessing 2" fittings.  Slap the new one in and hope for the best..

[GroovyGrass]

I agree.  I'll get the multi-meter out and test to see what's coming out when it's supposed to be circulating during heat-up.  Thanks for the advice, guys.  I'll report my findings.

[Tman122]

I agree.  I'll get the multi-meter out and test to see what's coming out when it's supposed to be circulating during heat-up.  Thanks for the advice, guys.  I'll report my findings.

I'm a replace parts kinda guy when it comes to 14 yo pumps. It sounds like the tub is working fine but loosing power/flow. When it looses to much flow it will likely throw a OH code at the time of failure. Of it simply won't start. Fix it before winter.