I just purchased and started using a new (used) Hydropool 670 hot tub, our first hot tub, and I originally thought everything was working perfectly, but it turns out the air blower was shorted out and unplugged by the previous owner. I tried plugging it in and it immediately trips the GFCI so obviously bad. From what I understand this is fairly common for hot tubs.
So it doesn't seem to be a big deal to replace the blower, it's a CG Air SL0 240/60, 5.5A blower. I should be able to match specs fairly easily, re-use the existing cord (as long as it's not shorted/damaged) and be good to go... but I wanted to ask a couple of questions to be sure.
1. Is this a decent blower? Since I'm replacing it anyway, I don't mind spending a few $ for a better unit. Assuming as long as the electrical requirements are the same, then the blower brand doesn't matter much.
2. Is there a significant difference between the CG Air Silver vs. Millennium blowers? Mine is currently a Silver but most blowers I see for sale are Millennium.
3. Is there a benefit to purchasing a blower with an integrated heater, or is this just adding one more thing that can fail?
4. Lastly, my tub has a variable speed controller for the blower. Does this mean I need a variable speed blower as well, or does the controller simply manage the voltage to the blower to adjust the intensity? Would this work if the blower has a heater (#3) or would it cause issues?
Thanks for your help!
John